Family Vacation

Some family vacations are better than others--my grandson Jon and I rate our 2006 experience in Quebec the "best family vacation" ever! Read Jonathon's A Kid's Trip to Quebec

With no experience at all in the French language, eight-year-old Jon started out somewhat worried about how we'd manage in Quebec. My French is so-so, as long as I can read or write it, I can likely manage. However, we soon discovered the langauge wasn't a barrier for English-only visitors. By the end of the trip Jon had made friends, and even learned a few phrases to share with his classmates back home!

In fact, the friendliness of everyone we met contributed to our ranking the trip the best family vacation ever. Some of our other favorite Quebec family activities included: new experiences like dog sledding and watching the Quebec City dogsled racing during the Carnival de Quebec; skiing down the pine forest covered hills; discovering so many ways to slide down a hill (toboggans are old hat when you're in Quebec--try tubing or rafting for a thrill a minute); exploring the historic streets of Old Quebec; and most important, meeting the Bonhomme and experiencing the world's largest winter carnival, the Carnival de Quebec.

Quebec Eastern Townships

Our family vacation in Quebec's Eastern Townships was packed with things to do and places to visit. Flatlanders, both Jon and I enjoyed strapping on skis and taking lessons on the snow-covered hills at Sutton's Mountain Resort. Of course I never made it off the bunny hill, but Jon proved his expertise by taking the trip to the top twice and skiing right past me at the bottom. Mind you, there were a few falls involved.

Other family vacation highlights included visiting the Confiserie Tentation (Fudge and home-made candy) store owned by Dianne Beaudry in Sutton; watching the miniature train roar over its snow covered track in Knowlton; night skiing at Ski Bromont, and a great time at Chateua Bromont. Our Quebec dog sledding adventure was in Magog with Adrenlin Adventure. Martine Nadeau, the owner, taught us a little about mushing as she handled our team and led two other teams. For more information just contact Martine at: 1-888-475-3462.

Quebec City

Kids have lots of winter activities, from sliding down snow covered slopes at Village Vacances Valcartier; to bumper cars, ferris wheel, and Imax theatre at the Mega Parc des Galeries de la Capitale; to the the Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada; to the incredible Carnival de Quebec.

We played by day and by night sampled the cuisine Quebec is famous for. Even our breakfasts of crepes with maple syrup left us with a taste for more--we had to bring home Quebec's maple syrup to share with everyone who couldn't come along.

Quebec and the Carnival de Quebec are truly family vacation experiences you'll treasure for a lifetime.