The day winter returned to Quebec

Short post day
Today was pretty uneventful for the majority of the day. We got up from Keri and Nathan's at about 8am but due to some overindulgence of the previous night we didn't really get going until a little after 9am. With a quick stop at the local tim's we were on our way.

We stopped over at Nacawic and saw that giant axe and I have to say it was pretty enormous. It was easily over 15 feet tall, you had to crane your neck at the base to see the top. Unfortunately we didn't stay for very long because it was pouring rain out (A theme continued throughout the day). We also stopped over in Hartland to take a trip over the longest covered bridge. It may seem pretty mundane but I had never been so I found it very exciting. I couldn't imagine that a wooden bridge that long could survive to present day, but there it was!

You could slay alot of goblins with that thing

At first I thought, why did they need a bridge in the first place? Then I realized that even back in the day people still needed a way to figure out how the neighbours were doing

For the next few hours it was pretty uneventful, on and off rain, good music and some droopy eyes on our way up to La Malbaie, QC. Unfortunately we got into Quebec City right during rush hour so we got caught up there, but other than bad traffic there wasn't anything too bad.

That story was not to last. Outside of Quebec City you immediately start ascending into the rocky Canadian shield that leads you into central Quebec. Unfortunately it was still raining, and more unfortunately, with the rise in elevation, the temperature dropped. By the time we got to the highest elevation (About 731m) we were driving through a full blown snow storm. To let everyone in the know, my car is not equip with anything that outfits it for winter driving so it was touch and go for a while. It got worse as the elevation dropped and increased over the final 100km of the trip so the snow went to sleet, freezing rain, rain and back again. All while the roads switched from snowy, icy and just slick every few kilometres.

Elevation: 741m

This is what May looks like when Mother Nature just doesn't care anymore

Finally, we almost got lost because I was not familiar with the route we were taking. When I came up with my Dad we always took the ferry over from Riviere Du Loup to Saint Simon so we were actually approaching the Manoir from the North. This time we were coming up from Quebec City in the south so I didn't recognise any of the roads. We relied entirely on our GPS to let us know where we are going and suddenly with 30km to go, it told us to turn around! We used some combined common sense and consulted with a map we had and determined the road we were on would also loop around to where we were going to we forged on and eventually got here! It was just like my Dad said, when you come to the Manoir Richelieu you feel like you're lost, you don't know where you're going, and then suddenly you are there. That is exactly how it happened.

The Manoir Richelieu is awesome, it has great rooms, it is a beautiful old CP hotel nestled in Central Quebec along the St. Laurence River. It has two pools: One indoor and one outdoor along with several dining rooms, a few trails around and a golf course. While we are only here for a day, I look to take advantage of whatever I can.