Hello and happy Friday! Welcome to my 4th and final post recapping my trip to Canada last week. If you missed the first three recaps, check those out first. Thank you so much for sharing in my travel adventures with me!
- Exploring the Outaouais Region of Canada: Day 1
- Exploring the Outaouais Region of Canada: Day 2
- Exploring the Outaouais Region of Canada: Day 3
On our final night in Quebec, we stayed at the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, which is the world’s largest log castle! It was beautiful and cozy inside – check out that massive fireplace.
Apparently Santa comes out of it on Christmas Day and gives out presents to the kids staying on the property. He also arrives by sleigh on the frozen lake! I totally want to come back here in the winter – it sounds magical. 🙂
One of my other favorite things about this hotel was that they have a canine ambassador!
How cute is he?! He was so sweet and friendly. I couldn’t get a good photo of him since he was so active, but here he is saying hello to Jenn.
After we checked in, we had a couple hours to kill before dinner, so Julie and I headed out on a walk around the grounds. There was a beautiful lake and all sorts of nice trails on the property!
By the time we got back, a beautiful sunset was beginning.
For dinner, we were treated to a meal at Montebello’s restaurant, Aux Chantignoles. I had a salmon appetizer and the steak for my main course, plus a fun pudding type dish for dessert. It was all great!
One page of the menu had all sorts of special diet options – vegan, diabetic, macrobiotic, raw, etc. How cool!
The ladies at dinner, from left: me, Candice, Julie, Kate and Jenn.
It was such a fun group! We were all sad it was our last night together.
The next morning, our last day in Canada, Julie and I got up early for another morning workout. When we got out to the lake, we were treated to a stunning sunrise!
We started on the trails for a quick 2.2 mile run.
And then ended back at the pretty gazebo on the lake for a short HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout, dreamed up by Julie! She even played some music on her phone to pump us up. 🙂
We did the following for three rounds: 20 burpees + 5 push ups + 20 sit ups + 5 push ups + 20 walking lunges + 20 pulsing squats + 20 jump squats. WHEW! My quads were burning and we were both breathing really hard after this one. I love HIIT workouts – so effective! Julie is a personal trainer and is the queen of quick HIIT workouts– if you’re looking for some new ideas check out her circuit workout page!
After checking out of the hotel, we headed to our second to last stop of the trip: Parc Omega, which is a huge 2,220 acre park where you can drive around and admire typical Canadian animals like wolves, black bears, red deer, buffalos, and more, either from the comfort of your own car or, in our case, in a safari bus!
I’ll let the photo speak for themselves! It was really fun.
Our last stop before heading off to the airport was a chocolate tasting and lunch at ChocoMotive!
Lunch was delicious – I had a cappuccino and the veggie burger with a side quinoa salad. I loved their homemade sandwich thins!
For dessert, of course, we had some chocolate. 🙂 Chocomotive uses only chocolate, sugar and certified organic and fair trade cocoa in their chocolate – no fillers or soy lecithin like a lot of other companies!
With our bellies full, we all headed off to the airport and said our sad goodbyes. Such a wonderful trip with a great group of people. I can’t wait to return to Canada again someday – such a beautiful place! A big thank you again to the Outaouais and Quebec tourism bureaus for having me for this press trip and covering the trip expenses.
How do you stay active when you’re traveling? Running is obviously my #1, but I really love HIIT workouts, too – so quick and effective.
Have you ever stayed at a hotel with a canine ambassador?
