"Skiing at Mont Tremblanc"

March 19th, Wendy and her son Matthew joined Richard in Sudbury and we all embarked on the five hour drive to Ottawa. We were on our way for a ski weekend in Mont Tremblant, Quebec and had decided to stop in Ottawa on the way and visit with Sandi and David Martin of Melodia Shih Tzu fame.
We had a fun drive down and arrived just before supper. Sandi and David were great hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed our night with them.

We left bright and early the next day for our short, two hour drive to the mountain. Mont Tremblant the town was very pretty and quaint and is developed for the tourist in mind. The main attractions are the 94 runs Mont Tremblant has to offer which draws over one million visitors each year. In the summer, it is a popular golf area and vacation spot which attracts more visitors than in the winter. We were joining friends Bo and Anne Skalin from Finland who were visiting Canada on invitation from the Nickel District Kennel Club to judge the March shows. They wanted to experience the Canadian winter activity and jumped at the chance to ski as they are avid skiers in their own country. Later in the weekend, we would be joined by friends from home, Paul Mercer and his son, Sam.

The Mont Tremblant Resort area is extremely well developed and is actually a self-contained town, with shopping, restaurants, pubs and a grocery store. It appears to be as if you are in a town in Switzerland with cobblestone streets and massive fireplace pits at the base of the mountain, where you can sit and enjoy a drink at the end of the day. We had obtained Fast Track passes which gave us first crack at the hill at 7:45am before any public was allowed access. Richard, Bo and Anne took full advantage every morning.
Mid morning, we would all meet at the lodge at the montain's peak or the quaint, hidden log cabin in the woods, "Refuge", for a cup of hot chocolate, then it was back on the slopes for more skiing.
We wound up every day in the hotel's hot tub and then would all join at one of our rooms for supper. Bo shared his culinary skills with us and made several Swedish dishes as well as pancakes for the kids.

We had a fabulous weekend which had to eventually end for us, as we had to return to Sudbury to help with the show setup and Matthew had to return to school. Bo and Anne arrived in Sudbury on Friday. They had done more Canadian sightseeing with a trip to Montreal and drive up to northern Ontario. The show was a success and we said our farewells to Bo and Anne, excited that we would get the chance to see them again in September when Richard would be in Sweden to judge.