Previous – Québec City 2

Jan 2 – We had a chill morning, before going out and grabbing a quick lunch at a small Tim Hortons. Then we went to the dog sledding place. This was kind of our big tourist event for the trip. I’ve certainly never been dog sledding, and it’s not really a thing in Europe. The receptionist lady was from France, which was cool. She helped us get the right gear, snow pants and outer snow boots as well as a helmet/goggles and also snow gloves for me. Putting on the pants and boots felt like putting on a space suit. :3

The dogs had had a break for the holiday on the previous day, so they were full of vim today. It took them a bit of time to hitch up all the dogs, and give the safety presentation, and the ‘how to drive a sled’ presentation. Tharash is happy to give the dogs hugs and pets. I’ll only do it if they stay away from my face.

We were the last in line, and Tharash started out driving. We set off, and the front two dogs just… stopped for some reason. Then they were just standing beside us, slightly tangled, as if they were waiting for something. The snowmobile driver who was keeping an eye on the sleds had to come and help us out.

After that the dogs would not slow down at all ever. We had to constantly worry about catching up to and even bumping into the sled in front of us. The landscape was very pretty, but the wind was VERY cold. I’d take a bunch of pictures on my phone and then quickly jam my hands back into my snow gloves. I think if this had been a ‘real’ dogsledding trip I would have been packed in with luggage which would have kept in a bit of warmth on my legs anyway. This post is basically about dog butts!

The grinding noise is Tharash standing on the brake so we don’t slam into the team in front.

In a forest, we stopped at a cabin for hot chocolate and maple taffy which was fun. We’d seen some stores selling maple taffy in Québec City, but hadn’t actually gone in to them, so we were glad to now get to try it. I also took advantage of the break to put two of my hand warmers in my gloves. Tharash hadn’t wanted them, but I did. Also I did not have the finger strength to pop the metal discs (fingers too cold) so he had to do it for me. This was partly because I was driving next. Tbh the warmth in them did not last very long, but it was helpful for a bit.

The start of my drive was punctuated by a lot of screaming and jumping on the brake. It’s pretty scary starting out in the forest, where the turns can be pretty steep. The second team ahead of us (not the next team but the team after) kept stopping and slowing down for some reason, even though they had eight dogs to our five. I felt a bit bad for our dogs that I was on the brake as much as I was. But I made it, and I made sure to thank all our dogs with pets.

Back to my pictures : )

We went back to our hostel and had an afternoon break, drinking tea and reading books upstairs in the very comfy lounge.

For dinner we drove to Resto-Bar la Queen, but they were were SUPER busy so we went on a 20-minute walk and looked at a lake under the moonlight. The moonlight was so strong it was casting shadows, which looked a bit odd because there was just enough electric light behind us that the trees cast shadows the other way as well.

Then the restaurant was able to seat us. I drank half a 5% rose cider before I remembered that I drove there and I would have to drive back. Tharash had a local beer that was quite hoppy, he said. He also had fish and chips. I would have had the salmon burger but they were out, so I got the chicken burger. It was rather overdone and much too salty (maybe partly because of the two strips of bacon on it). Martijn’s food was not overdone, but also not as good as he was hoping. He also drank the rest of my cider even though I told him not to for health reasons. I took the leftovers home, and we went grocery shopping for the next day’s dinner, and we finished up 3 minutes before the store closed.

When I got back to the hostel and parked, I was really drawn by the lights they have strung up around the sauna – but also leading into the woods. So we put away the food we’d bought and went on a walk because I wanted to. o_O The path went very steeply up into the woods, illuminated with pretty twinkly lights, and at the top of the ridge the lights stopped but there was so much moonlight and snow that it was easy to see the path. Not as easy as my phone makes it look, my phone is actually much too good at capturing faint light, but it was trivial nonetheless. I wondered how many of my distant ancestors actually lived this experience.

And then what with all the hockey we’d been seeing on TV recently – including at Resto-Bar la Queen – I was filled with the desire to listen to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, so I did, and introduced Tharash to this vital piece of Canadian cultural history.

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