last blogger on the block: Summer Road Trip

Finally we got to the place that started this whole road trip in the first place... Quebec City! It's still as amazing as I remembered from 14 years ago. Of course, we headed straight for Old Town as soon as we checked into the Delta Hotel (which was pretty ghetto, if you ask me, but in a great location just outside the fortress wall - and easy to spot from anywhere in the city.) There's tons to do in the area, but we were starving and decided to grab some lunch first thing, even though the ice cream shops and popcorn factory were hard to pass along the way.

From lunch, we walked and shopped around Old Town until we made it to the Fairmont Frontenac Hotel (the most photographed hotel in the world, so they say). We watched street performers outside the hotel and walked along the waterfront and up to the top of the Citadel for beautiful views of the water, city, and Plains of Abraham. On our way back to the hotel and swimming pool (of course), we walked by the Hotel du Parliament bulding and Fontaine de Tourny fountain, which were incredible! The gardens around the Parliament Bldg were beautiful, too!

After swimming in the hotel pool, we walked back to Old Town for dinner and ice cream. As we wandered around we found a fun little splash pad/fountain area that Kendall and Hudson played in until they were soaked through and cold. Day one in Quebec City was awesome!

Ella heading through the old fortress walls into Old Quebec City...

Happy to be back here again after fourteen years...

Hudson making interesting new friends the minute we enter Old Quebec City...

Admiring the street performers and the Frontenac Hotel...

The beautiful view from the top of Old Town...

Ryan and B just chillin...

The Parliament Building...

and fountain...

It's so nice to have one child who doesn't whine and complain the whole time we're traveling...

Eating ice cream while watching Kendall and Husdon in the splash pad/fountain...

Nothing like finishing off the night getting soaked in the fountain...

Day two we woke up and walked to a famous grocery store on rue Saint-Jean (I think the street was called) for breakfast. The store is said to be the oldest in the country and a lot of the items in the store were straight from France. The rest of the day was spent outside of the city at Montmorency Falls, which was just a 15 minute drive from downtown Quebec City. This was a fun outing where we hiked to the top of the falls, got soaked at the bottom of the falls, then hiked back up and ate lunch at the old hotel at the top.

From Montmorency Falls, we drove a short distance over a bridge to the Ile d'Orleans - a rural island of Quebec where they are famous for their locally grown strawberries. We stopped at a road-side stand to sample the strawberries and then found a place called Confiturerie Tigidou, (www.tigidou.ca/en/home/) which was the cutest farm where they make their own uniquly flavored jams, jellies, and syrups! We sampled five of their many options until we could all agree on which ones to buy. Everything was grown and packaged right there and it was all so good!! Brilliant find!

Swimming back at our hotel finished off our late afternoon, then to a delicious creperie for dinner. There was rumor that there would be fireworks in Old Town just off the water to celebrate Canada Day, but we waited for them to start as long as we could while watching more street performers before calling it a night and heading back to our hotel for BED!

JA Moisan, the French grocery store we loved...

Breakfast outside the grocery store...

Looking down from the top of Montmorency Falls. As soon as we cross the bridge, we're heading down those stairs to the bottom of the falls...

View from the top...

The bridge across the falls...

Kendall getting SOAKED...

Lunch at this cute hotel at the top of the Falls...

Tigidou and their jams...

Our third and final day in Quebec City was spent on the lower level of Old Town... and this was probably my most favorite part of the city (and the one I remember most from my first trip to Quebec City). We wandered around the old cobblestone streets, ate lunch at a small cafe, and took the Funicular back up to the top of Old Town. Then we packed up our car again and headed back out on the road to the good'ole USA again.

Ryan and the kiddos sampling the many popcorn options and trying to make a choice on which one to buy for a mid-morning snack... chocolate covered popcorn was the winner. Their maple syrup popcorn was delish, too...