Canada: Back to Quebec and Love
A third country for July 2024: To Canada we went to see the Caron-Turin crew. They have been some of our best friends since/from Abu Dhabi, and they moved back to Canada last year, but we hadn’t quite made it to see them there. We last saw the adults (Nic & Marie) AND kiddos (Victor & Margaux) in 2018 in Quebec, after we had moved back from Abu Dhabi, and they were visiting. We have seen Nic and Marie off and on since then, between their travels to the US for conferences and meetings, and coming to my Doctoral graduation, but we hadn’t seen the kiddos since 2018, and that reconnection was L O N G overdue. Seasonally, there are direct flight from Chicago to Quebec, so off we went for a long weekend!
Day One was a wonderful reception at the airport, followed by a relaxing evening at home with gaming, cocktails, dinner, and swimming in and lounging around the pool before taking a leisurely evening walk for ice cream.
Our second day, we had an adults only morning with kiddos at camp, with swimming, gaming, and cocktails, before venturing out. First stop was Noctem, a local brewery that we had enjoyed previously, for new beers to taste and lunch. Then, off to to a Stadacone Distillery, a local distillery with a built in escape room….that took us longer than expected to solve, but so much fun nonetheless! After a nap and some gaming, we then enjoyed dinner at Distillerie Arsenal (though the service was incredibly slow and lackluster), the atmosphere and food were awesome.
Day Three, we left Nic to work from home, and explored the outskirts of Quebec that we had not seen. First stop, Ashton’s for poutine, obviously. We then ventured out to one of the islands, a stunningly lush wonderful land called I’lle d’Orleans, for a wine and gin tasting at Saint Pierre Le Vignoble followed by Cassis Monna & Filles for fresh black current soft serve ice cream. TO. DIE. FOR. We then had another lovely evening of gaming, cocktails, Indian takeaway, and being captivated by the Olympics.
Our final day was the most relaxing and loved filled of them all, topping off the soul-cup-filling weekend, but homemade crepes by Marie for breakfast, more pool time, and gaming. Even though we had not seen Nic and Marie since April 2023, or the kiddos since 2018, it was like no time had passed and we just seamlessly picked up with where we had left off. The friends that are like family are THE BEST. They are everything.
