The Eternal Sunshine of My Spotless Mind: Tremblant 2006: Part I

I'm baaaaaack! Back in good ol' English-is-the-best Ontario. Not that I don't like Quebec, but it just feels good to be able to read a sign without looking for the English version. So here goes my uber long travel entry. Be prepared for lots of words, pictures, and even video!

Mont Tremblant was stupendous and I can't wait till we can go back. As mentioned before, we ended up leaving on Saturday. We stayed at Iljya's house in Richmond Hill and then set off. We drove in two cars, Nam's and Iljya's. We (me, Nam, Alex and Yuri) were supposed to be following Iljya, Kathy and Mel because Iljya's car had the GPS (and our car didn't even have a map. Stupid Road Trip Move #1). God cannot explain why the world is round. Nor can he explain why Nam does the things he does. While in search of a Tim Horton's, in true The Fast and the Furious fashion, Nam got a little impatient and suddenly drove onto a 401 off ramp between pylons (Stupid Road Trip Move #2). I have to say it was dumbest and the most dangerous move ever, yet the most thrilling. Props to Nam for not hitting any of those pylons while going 100 km/h.

Somewhere around Kingston, our cars finally met up at a Tim Horton's pit stop (P.S. We didn't end up finding a Tim Horton's earlier. That thrilling moment was for nothing).

^The Obligatory Pre-Road trip Tim Horton's Group Shot

^Yuri making a CD of Road Trippin' tunes

^My conventional cup holder

^Alex reads

^Comfy in my niche: pillow, headphones, window

For those who don't know about The Sandwiches, they are these fantastic sandwiches made primarily for our trips. Alex has been particularly keen on having The Sandwiches again, ever since our Algonquin trip. He missed The Sandwiches on the Montreal trip, so he actually volunteered to make the sandwiches this time, for prime sandwich enjoyment, I guess.

Just after we entered Quebec, we stopped, hungry and eager for The Sandwiches.

Alex: Guys, what car are The Sandwiches in?

Mel: Our car has our sandwiches, you should have your own in your car.

Alex searches both cars from top to the bottom and then calls Iljya's house.

Alex: FFFFUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK

Stupid Road Trip Move #3: Leaving Alex in charge of anything. Needless to say, my car continued on the trip starving and pissed at Alex (who contends Iljya should have seen The Sandwiches on the porch when he checked the house, but the verdict is in: Alex, you're the worst).

We finally arrived at our condotel, Tremblant Residences. It was a quaint little hotel on the mountain. I guess the only word I can really use to describe the place is 'rustic' because that's what it essentially was. Plus, I soon learned why the maximum occupancy for the room was four. Sure, you could easily sleep seven people. Seven neat and tidy people, that is. Everyone was too lazy to cook, so we just popped a couple of pizzas in the oven and tried to settle down. We made use of the hot tub and then watched a movie. A 7-hour road trip can really take it out of you.

^Cheers!

^Hotness in the hot tub

^My friend. My enemy.

^The mess begins...

...and continues

The sleeping arrangement didn't seem too awful (one bed, one sofa bed, one mattress)... until the morning when we realized that the sofa bed was worse than sleeping on the floor or the mattress. Ugghhhhh. We also decided that morning it was not ideal weather for boarding/skiing that day so we opted to do what we could in the area.

Oddly enough, we managed to find a lot of things to do, even though we spent a good chunk of time together in our suite (and the trillions and trillions of Borat impressions). We brought DVDs, Boggle, cards, plenty of booze and five, yes, five people brought their laptops (Yuri probably would've brought his if it wasn't in repair and I am not a dork). Talk about preparing for a rainy day.

And although we guffawed at those who stayed home and went to Captain's Pool for Christmas, guess what we also did? We found our own Captain's. *sigh.

^Worst bed ever.

^You can take the boy out of Captain's, but can you take Captain's out of the boy?

While the guys chose to stay indoors, the girls set out to hike and browse the little village on the mountain. Honestly, I think we had a better time than the guys in that stuffy pool room. But whatever. The scenery was postcard-worthy and the weather was perfect for a walk. Leave it up to girls to find something productive to do. We even found firewood for the fireplace! As they call us in the Lem Si Ho Tong Society, we truly are 'The Dream Team'.