Canada July 2005

Nope, there's no typo in the date above. Today's the day where OrangeX and I were supposed to leave for 3 weeks of vacation to Canada. Unfortunately, we had to postpone our trip by 6 months. Why 6 months? Because OrangeX just moved the company he's reponsible for into our (where I work) offices, had to hire and train a newcomer (so forget July!), August and September are the last preps for the biggest European Rehab exhibition and a training week for all European Product Managers on our line of products, October the big exhibition and November is end of the fiscal year for us, so again a no-no for OrangeX. We're left with December/January in Canada. The good thing about it is that it will be my first Chistmas and New Year there since I left in 1984... Can you believe it? We're both looking froward to that.

As you all know, OrangeX and I are preparing to move to Canada as of mid next year and we had planned a trip to "check out a few things there" before we move. Well, that trip would have been today, but because of professional reasons mentioned above, we had to postpone.

Yesterday morning, I went on MerlinPrincess' blog and found that she had put up a post and pictures of the Perreault brigde. The thing is, I was there just last year at about the same time of year while visiting a good friend of mine. That bridge is in a tiny village called Notre-Dame-des-Pins in the middle of nowhere. Well, when I saw the picts on MP's site, it took me back to our visit one year ago an I could hear the laughter, smell the air and I was just back there again. This gave me the idea of today's post.

Since we're not really going anywhere this summer, I thought I'd tell you about our trip last summer. So the first thing I did yesterday after the groceries was to go through our Canada pictures of 2005 and set up an album. OrangeX made a movie DVD out of our trip, but I think 25 minutes would be a bit too much for blogger :)

Our trip started at my Dad's house in L'Orignal, a small village right next to Hawkesbury where I grew up. Both towns are situated pretty much between Montreal and Ottawa. We spent most of our time visiting friends and my family. The first friend I was to see was of course my best friend Christiane!



On the 9th of July, we were invited to my uncle André's 60th surprise party. It was fun to meet with the whole family again. I must say that my aunts and uncles on my Mom's side - without exception - love a good party and are all big kids inside, which makes it a fun bunch to be with. I can't remember one party with them where I didn't laugh tears at some point. Oh, and I'd never call them "uncle ..." or "aunt ...". They all say: "I have a name; use it".

The birthday boy (BTW, today's the 9th -Happy 61st, André!)

I did want to show Orange a bit of the region so we arranged a trip to Montreal, Québec City, through the region of Beauce, Québec and back home throught the Eastern Townships. We first went to Montreal to visit Jesper, OrangeX's previous boss, who has moved there 3 years ago.


Having a typical French Canadian beer: a "Bleue"!

After our stop-over at Jesper's, we made our way to Quebec City where we met our good friends Julie and Harold. I hadn't seen Julie in about 6 years, so it was great to see her again.

Julie and I meet again after 6 years

We drove to Lévy where we took the Ferry to the old town of Québec for lunch. Harold gave us a tour of the old town and then we left late afternoon for their home in Notre-Dame-des-Pins in the township of Beauce. We spent a few wonderful days with them and of course visited the Perreault brigde. Sadly, we had to return, but only to meet up with other friends. But we shall return to see them again.

The Château Frontenac

The Perreault bridge

We also arranged for some relax time. One can't party all the time... Well, we did anyway... party that is; only the surroundings were more relaxing. My best friend, Christiane, her husband Bob and their two wonderful boys, Gab and Christophe, had rented a cottage at a Lake Craig, about 30 minutes drive from Hawkesbury. Believe it or not, I felt like I was in another world. I had forgotten about the beauty and untouched nature that was so close to my home town. Michèle (Christiane's sister) and her hubby Patrick met us at the cottage and Sylvie and Jean-Yves were already waiting for us to arrive. So, continuous partying in a peaceful environment. See for yourselves:

View from the cottage on Lake Craig
Orange and Patrick - Is there no beer left?

I think I've posted enough for today, but I think you will understand why I miss Canada so much. Anyway, you can find the album here. I have of course not included the cleavage shots that Orange and the other guys did during our time at Lake Craig. Must have been Christiane's strawberry daiquiris that made 'em do it.....????...... Naaaahhh.