Parlez Vous Francais?

We just got back from Quebec! Brad was going to the Adventure Travel World Summit for his job but I got to hang our for the first 4 days. We went on a canyoning and rappelling tour. Neither of us had done "canyoning" or rappelling for that matter. Canyoning is where rappel down waterfalls! It was pretty sweet!

We got there the first day and the guides gave us about a 5 minute lesson and before you knew it we were rappelling down 50 ft waterfalls. The water was cold but you work so hard that you barely notice. After canyoning for a couple of hours we dried off and then went to a little French restaurant and ate fantastic food! After lunch we went on a zip line tour across a deep canyon. The guide (Renee) then took us to a cute old bed and breakfast in the country in this little village where we ate dinner and stayed the night.

The next morning we had breakfast and then went off for more canyoning early in the morning. This day was super cold in the canyon because there was no sunlight...but we still had tons of fun! After drying off and warming up we headed off to our next journey to a place called Palisades in Charlevoix, Quebec. It's the tallest "Via Ferrata" (literally "iron way") in North America. It's a rock face that is over 3,000 feet tall that you scale while being strapped in the whole way. (For the Spokanites...imagine Minni-Ha-Ha Park times 300!) This climb would come later however because daylight was nearly gone. We did practice for a couple of hours on some smaller rock faces before the day was over. We went to bed excited for the next day's challenge!

So in the morning we headed out! We dressed for the cold but did not realize that we would be shedding clothes the rest of the day! It was tons of work but so much fun. Looking down and out to the country was absolutley amazing. At the top there is a wired bridge 3000 feet in the air that you cross while being strapped into a metal wire. Super scary! Then you strap in and repell down a 200 foot drop! After hiking back down they reward you with a long zip line over a lake. We then quickly ate lunch, went to a whale museum (which we could have done without) and then went to a "Sugar Shack Party" that Quebec threw for the group.

What's a "Sugar Shack Party"?....well, imagine beef, potatoes, macaroni salad...you know, all the helpings of an American meal...but WAIT...now pure maple syrup on ALL OF IT! That's right...smother the entire meal, including your drinks, in maple syrup. It was NOT good! But they did treat us to some traditional Quebec tap dancers who were very fun. That evening we went to where Brad was going to be staying for the next week at a Castle called Manior Rechilieu. It was beautiful! Brad would stay their for work for the next week...and finally came home last night but has the flu :( We'll be sure to post pictures of the trip soon!