Passion for Québec and Elsewhere

Pour la version française de cet article, cliquez sur Souvenirs et anecdotes de vacances en famille.

On my homepage, I mentioned having traveled since I was a young child with my parents. I will share with you some of my souvenirs from my family holidays and some anecdotes.

Unfortunately, I will not have many photos to illustrate my point, and those I will have are old photos taken by my parents with a Kodak Instamatic camera and then with another rectangular shape camera that we had to insert a Magicube flash on top for the pictures needing more light. The quality of the pictures is far from the one we have today with our phones or digital cameras.

Washington – 1969

The first trip I remember happened in summer of 69. We had left Montreal by car, my parents, my sister and I and we were heading towards Washington DC to visit with my uncle and his family. He worked there for a few years before coming back to Quebec. It is a twelve hour drive, but made longer with all the stops we had to make. My mom had installed an infant car bed on the backseat for my sister who was only a few months old. I was able to sit beside it, but when I wanted to rest or sleep, I had to slide under the elevated bed and lie over the metal bars that supported the bed. Keep in mind that back then we did not have the same car safety rules as today. Seat belts were not mandatory for any passenger and there was no requirements for a child seat for someone my age, only for babies or children under 2 years old.

We finally arrived at our destination where we stayed for a few days. I remember it was a very hot summer. We were in July. Does July 21, 1969 ring a bell? On that day, all the adults were glued to the black and white television looking at the Apollo 11 take off with Neil Armstrong and two other astronauts aboard. They were on their way to the moon. I did not really understand what was happening, but I was looking at the screen like everybody else around me. All I could see was a large ball of fire under a stick.

During that trip, we also visited the Arlington Cemetery. We found ourselves in front of the grave of John F. Kennedy. My mother was very emotional and kept telling me to look at Kennedy’s grave. I tried looking for the person my mom kept referring to, but all I could see was a flame coming out of the ground and I kept saying I could not see him. Again, I did not understand anything. In retrospect, it was a hot trip! All I seem to remember about the trip was the July heat and the fire of the rocket and the grave!

Wildwood – 1971

Two years later, we went back to the United States for our summer holidays. This time we were by the sea in Wildwood, New Jersey. I can tell you, the travel time was shorter. We stayed in a motel with a kitchenette. This way, my mother was able to prepare breakfast and lunch and we went to the restaurant for dinner.

During the day, we were doing sand pies, we were not proficient enough to tackle a sand castle! We also went paddling in the sea. My parents had bought us floats, a small inflatable mattress, fins with a mask and a snorkel to play in the water.

The holiday week ended and we loaded the car to head back home. When we arrived at the customs, the officer asked us if we had anything to declare. My parents said no. And I, very precise as always, interrupted my father to remind him that we had the scuba diving equipment in the trunk of the car! The agent looked at me, then looked at my dad… my mom looked at me, then looked at my dad… Finally, my father explained to the officer that I was referring to our little fins and the plastic masks to play in the sea. The officer understood, smiled and wished us a safe trip home. My parents sighed with relief, they did not see themselves emptying the car and the trunk to show him our beach trinkets!

Isle-aux-Coudres – 1972-1980

Imagine a small island with a 20 km road circling it and another one of about 3 km crossing it in its center. To get there, we had to head for the beautiful region of Charlevoix, then we would arrive in the village of St-Joseph-de-la-Rive, located about an hour and a half east of Quebec City. From there we had to take the ferry to Isle-aux-Coudres. There is no bridge so you have to check the ferry schedule ahead of time. So here we are, finally at our destination: Isle-aux-Coudres. By the way, the word ”coudres” means a nut resembling hazelnuts, the fruit of the ”coudrier” tree.

Note that the photos of Isle-aux-Coudres are the ones I found when we went back there in the fall a few years later. So you will notice that the landscape is more colorful than during the summer, you will also see the snowmen in the windows and that the pool had been emptied for winter. But it still gives you a glimpse of the place.

My father had booked our stay at the Hotel La Roche Pleureuse. At the time, a warm, family-friendly place, with accommodation including 3 meals a day. We occupied the same room from then on, suite 10 which offered two adjoining rooms on the ground floor of the hotel. From one year to the next, we were pleased to encounter the same employees and the new ones who joined the team. Even the other vacationers were the same, all the families were meeting again during the last two weeks of July. These are my best holiday memories as it felt like coming back home every summer.

As it was a very safe place, I had a lot of freedom and I seldom saw my parents except for the meals and in the evenings. The rest of the day, I could do whatever I fancied. Do not think I was not being watched, in fact there were several pairs of eyes watching over me, whether it was the employees or the owner of the hotel as well as other parents. The owner, affectionately known as Aunt Rita, had two daughters, who came to the hotel almost every day. My sister and I spent a lot of time with them. We were each one year apart, I was the oldest and my sister was the youngest.

Every weekday morning, there were tournaments organized on the grounds of the hotel, one for the children and another one for the adults. Prizes were awarded to the winners in the evening. Once, the tournament was over, I often would join the waitresses in the small cabin they occupied between services. The best place to get the latest gossip and trade tips. It was with them that I learned how to polish the cutlery with a cloth soaked in vinegar, shape the paper towels into a small hat, set up a table and the dining room. Very useful things as later in life I worked several years in the restaurant business.

The hotel is located on top of a small escarpment, a staircase of 108 steps allows people to go down to the pool across the road. The pool is lined with motel rooms on two sides and faces the beach, overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Everyday, at noon sharp, one of the waitresses or the hostess went on the hotel’s porch, at the top of the stairs to ring the bell announcing that lunch was being served. You can guess that in turn, the four girls we were, were asking to ring this big cow bell!

In the afternoon I was going down to the pool, but I never liked to swim much. After a few minutes in the water, I would go out, take my towel and go to the beach to look for shells and rocks. I often walked to the water’s edge at low tide and then came back. I learned at a very young age to watch the tide and I knew which places to avoid because of the mud that would suck my beach sandals. Then I would lie down between the big rocks that were warmed by the sun. From time to time, my mother would come to make sure I was still there. I would observe the cargo ships gliding by, the course of the clouds in the blue sky, the shimmering of the sun rays on the crest of the waves, the aerial ballet of the seagulls above the beach. I let myself be exhilarated by the wind and the sun. I doubt that a child today would appreciate these simple moments of communion with nature.

Around 4 p.m., my mother would come to pick me up to go back to the hotel to take my bath and get dressed up for dinner. When I was ready, I would usually go to confirm the reservation of our table for the second service. By the way, I forgot to mention that when we stayed at the hotel, we always had the same waitress at every meal for the duration of our stay. Afterwards, I would go for a walk along the lovers’ path meandering around the hotel to read the thoughts left by Quebec artists and personalities. One of them comes back to me: ”a path too wide for two but too narrow for three”. After dinner, there was always a planned evening organized for all the vacationers featuring social and folkloric dances, singing, music, wooden horse racing or special activities.

All good things have to come to an end, time to leave my childhood behind and enter my teens.

I went back to that hotel from time to time over the years. When I am on the ferry, I watch the shore move away and my worries stay behind on the dock. A great feeling of calm and inner peace spreads through me. Once on the island, I can afford to rest, recharge my batteries before resuming the rhythm of my somewhat infernal life out of this haven of peace.

The last time I was there was six years ago, my parents came with me. We stopped to visit one of my childhood friends, co-owner of the Cidrerie and Vergers Pedneault (Pedneault cidermill and orchards) and to make some purchases. Then we spent the afternoon on the hotel’s terrace. We were greeted by one of the waitresses we had known since our first stay in the early 1970s. The hotel had just changed hands, Chinese interests had bought it a few months prior. Already, changes were beginning to show. Previously, the waitresses wore a folk-style costume with an apron and a small white bonnet. But when we were there, our friendly waitress was dressed in black pants, a dark red blouse and a small black jacket. Modernity had just settled in at the Hotel de la Roche Pleureuse…

To write this article, I consulted the hotel’s website, among the changes, I noted new ones, including some at the pool and in the guest rooms. The rooms had a very rustic charm back then, I do not remember seeing such colorful wallpaper when I was a child.

Windsor – 1980

Time for new experiences. The high school I attended offered students the opportunity to partake in an immersion trip to English Canada during the summer, under the auspices of a national organization. I asked my parents to register. I was paired with a girl my age who lived in Windsor, Ontario. In the days following the end of the school year, here I am preparing my suitcase for my first trip without my family. My mother took me to the train station and she cried as she saw me going down the escalator with my big suitcase. The chaperones of the organization accompanied us on the train until the family at our destination picked us up. The train was chartered for all Quebec students going to Ontario. I was getting off at the last stop, Windsor, 12 hours later.

The family was looking forward to meeting me. What a difference it is to be in a family with four children plus me for two weeks. I am a very solitary person, more of an intellectual, not at all into sports. It was a very challenging experience .and really exotic!

We visited Windsor, fished on Lake St. Clair, spent an afternoon in Detroit, visited Point Pelee National Park, which is the southernmost place in Canada, and we went camping for a few days at Niagara Falls.

The two weeks went by at lightning speed, it was time to get back on the train, but this time I was returning with the young girl from Windsor who in turn came to spend two weeks with my family in Montreal for her French immersion session.

Vancouver – 1981

The following year, I renewed the experience. This time, I was paired with a girl from North Vancouver. Unlike the previous year, I welcomed the girl home for the first two weeks. Again we showed her the attractions of our region. I was very happy to take her to Mont-Gabriel in the Laurentians, from there we could see the surrounding mountains. I introduce her to our mountains. She put her hand over her eyes and replied, ‘These are not mountains, they are just bumps!” I can tell you, I understood her remark a few days later when I arrived in British Columbia! The Laurentians are no match to the Rockies!

I remember visiting the city of Vancouver, Stanley Park, the Granville Island Public Market, Grouse Mountain and a suspension bridge similar to Capilano Bridge. We took a day trip to Squamish on a train with a steam engine. And another day trip to Victoria. We stayed a few days with her older brother who lived in the Okanagan Valley. On the way back home, the family stopped to take a picture. We were wearing shorts and sandals on a snow patch by the roadside. At the end of the trip before leaving Vancouver, I asked if I could stop at Granville Island and buy a fresh salmon and bring it home as a gift. I think I was the only teenager on the plane with a salmon in an ice box! You can notice that my interest in local products also goes back a long time.

A little anecdote about this trip, the family did not have a television because of their beliefs. I was devastated because the wedding of the century was taking place while I was in Vancouver. Charles and Diana were getting married. The girl’s mother called one of her friends and asked if we could go and watch the wedding at her home. She accepted and I was able to see this lavish event. Years later, when Lady Di died, I was still on vacation, but this time it was her funeral that I watched while on my trip. But that is a story for another time.

Florida – 1982-1983

Our last family trips were to Florida, where we went three times in 18 months. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale and then in Hollywood, north of Miami. During our first stay we visited Walt Disney World. At the time there was only Magic Kingdom, the Epcot site opened a few months later. My father was already impressed by the logistics behind this amusement park. Imagine today!

My best memories of Florida are two hotels we visited during our holidays. The first one was the Palm Beach Breakers, a luxurious hotel, with a pool overlooking the beach. During the summer afternoons, two singers with guitar entertained us to the sound of some bossanova.

On our second trip we stayed one night at the Breakers for New Year’s Eve. We started our evening with a non-alcoholic cocktail for my sister and I and a glass of wine for my parents at the hotel bar. The exterior lighting showcased the emerald waves that came crashing on the rocks leaving large trails of sea foam. Then we headed to the dining room. The meal was delicious and we were looking forward to the start of the festivities at midnight. My father had ordered a bottle of champagne and believe it or not, we were only a few tables left a few seconds away from crossing the threshold of a new year. Almost all the guests had left around 10 pm. It must be said that the average age of the people was quite high. Luckily, at the adjacent table there was a Mexican family. We exchanged a few words with them and the adults toasted the New Year. The next day, we had a surprise awaiting us, the Mexican family had settled our hotel bill to thank us for sharing the bottle of champagne and the evening with them.

The second hotel that caught my attention was Le Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. If you are a James Bond fans, it was at this hotel that Bond first met Goldfinger. You might remember the scene of the card game at the pool. It is a very beautiful hotel from the grand years of Miami. Among other things, there was a bar all pink, black and silver which name escapes me, we had ordered Shirley Temple with several cherries for my sister and I and probably a glass of white wine for my mother and a gin fizz for my father.

Another anecdote comes to mind, when we were in Fort Lauderdale, my mother, my sister and I were at the pool one afternoon and all of a sudden my mother looked at us and said that she probably had a sunstroke because she was hallucinating. She was seeing my father approaching us with a couple, friends of the family, from Quebec. But no, it wasn’t an hallucination, it was them. My father was their accountant and he mentioned that we would be in Florida in July. So they flew in and they were hoping to find us. That is exactly what happened, they found us! We spent our week with them. We had a lot of fun together.

One evening, we went, all six of us, in a restaurant called The Caves, (this restaurant no longer exists, but click on the link for a preview). We entered the restaurant, we found ourselves in the cavemen era, the waiters were dressed with animal skins, the tables were spread out along the walls that were shaped like caves. The menu resembling a tanned skin was hung at the end of the table and served as a tarp to close our cave. We were sitting, unable to order, too busy laughing, the jokes were fusing one after the other. I cannot remember the meal, but the decor and the atmosphere were memorable!

So ends my trip from today into my family vacation memories.

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