Laurentides: summer ski resorts

Because we were a bit fed up with Montreal, we decided to head out to the Mountains for a day. It was Sunday and we felt like doing what most people in Montreal seemed to do: leave the city. The Laurentides are a small mountain range in Quebec which has the most popular ski resorts of the country. Now driving in the mountains we tried to image how it would look like in the winter, and we would really want to go back one day to see it for real. This Sunday was sunny however. We had great weather and could stop in several ski resorts, turned into mountain bike resorts during summer time.

The people in the hotel had recommended us two places. One was Mont Tremblant and the other was Saint Saveur. Both excellent tips for a fun afternoon. Mont Tremblant is incredibly kitchy. A real tourist trap. All the houses look like they are built to be places in Disneyland. The city centre is hilly and you can go from the parking lot to the central square with a ski lift. Nice! That's exactly what we did, planning to walk back the nice main street downhill. THere was a band playing on the main square and there was a lot of action going on. During summer month a New Zeeland company operates a cart-like descent on the hills around Mont Tremblant. When i informed about it, the cashier said, efficiently, that it was a 'guy thing', so i bought two tickets straight away. It was fun. You take a helmet, a cart, get on a ski lift and then race down the hill. AWESOME!!!! The view up the hill was beautiful too, so i wasn't bored queuing for a silly but great attraction.

We tasted the Beaver Tail, a typical pastry thing from the region. It's like a mix of a boule de Berlin and a pancake with all kinds of flavours, especially cinnamon. I loved it. We got really hungry and stopped at Saint Saveur, which is another mountain town that looked quite Swiss, but that was unique because the main street was just filled with restaurants. I mean, honestly, it's like all the restaurants of the region were located in that one street which also had art galleries, small boutiques and a typical new england (or better new france) white church.

After two disappointing days in Montreal, this was a real treat!