Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We spent close to a week at a resort in St Hippolyte.  We did a number of hikes, canoed, played games, visited a nearby town, and generally relaxed.  (Our last day and half were misty and cold.)

We took a day tour to Montreal.  We began at  St Joseph’s Oratory one of the world’s largest basilicas and an important shrine.  In 1904, Saint Andre Bessette began the construction of St. Joseph’s, a small chapel on the slopes of Mont Royal.  The small chapel was soon too small and a larger church was built in 1917.  The Basilica was soon begun and completed in 1967.  Many miracles have been attributed to St Andre.  In the Basilica there is a wall covered with thousands of crutches from those who were allegedly healed.  We were impressed with how simple the Basilica was in comparison to many other cathedrals which we have seen.

We drove up Mont-Royal, the highest point on the island of Montreal.  We stopped only briefly because of the cold and wind!  (No photos!)  We took an hour cruise on the St Lawrence River, giving us a good view of the city skyline, Expo 1967 buildings, Olympic Park (1976), and other sites.  One interesting site was Habitat67 — designed by an architectural student and built as lodging for Expo 1967.  It is composed of “box-like” structures where no windows of any apartment look into another apartment.

We went to the Botanical Gardens where we spent most of our time in the Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, and admiring the in-process exhibits which opens June 22.  See Mosaicultures Internationales Montreal “Mosaïcultures Internationales® is … an exhibition of horticultural art and a chance for the representatives from parks, gardens and green spaces around the world to exchange ideas. All works presented must represent something of the participant’s culture …[and comply] with the principles of sustainable development.”

In the evening we attended a “Sound and Light” show at the Notre-Dame Basilica which highlighted the history of Montreal.  This church is intertwined with Montreal’s history and the first church built in 1659.  Afterwards we had time to explore the Basilica briefly.  The present building was begun in 1841.

From Algonquin we wandered our way through Pembroke, Ontario, across the Ottawa River to Quebec, south to Mont Tremblant and to St Hippolyte.  We traveled through wilderness, passed farms, and went through small towns. We discovered a 230 km linear rail trail and wished we had our bikes.  We ate wonderful food.

We spent time in Mont-Tremblant National Park which is the oldest of Quebec’s national parks being established in 1895 and is one of its largest.  As we entered the park we finally saw a deer.  We hiked to a lookout and did another short hike to some falls.  We drove about one and half hour on a dirt, back road as we exited the park.  We had been told there would be lots of deer, including many fawns, and possibly bear.  However, all we saw was one squirrel on the road and a loon in the water—and that was the extent of the wildlife.  From the Park we drove small hilly, winding roads to our resort—like a roller coaster.