First things first, I would love to wish you all a happy new year and to thank each and everyone of you that have been reading and following my blog over the past year. At the end of 2016 I vowed to spend more time perfecting my blog and being more active on here and I’m happy to say that I’ve stuck through with it. Another thing that I set out to do in 2017 was to explore more of Quebec, my home province and where I’ve always lived. Though I may not have been able to discover as much as I would’ve liked due to some certain bumps in the road that I encountered this year, I’m determined to explore even more in 2018 along with other places. So with that said, please enjoy my 2017 recap of all of my favorite memories and highlights of the past year, here’s hoping that 2018 is even better.
Explored the Abandoned Town of Boscobel
One of the first major things we did this year was head to the ghost town of Boscobel found in the Eastern Townships area of Quebec. We decided to go explore this town after hearing about it and made the trip up there for my fiance’s birthday. Though it wasn’t entirely what we were expecting, it was still a great day out and only fueled our desire even more to find other abandoned towns to go explore. Like many other memories that I’ll be sharing in this post, I’ve written an entire blog post dedicated to our day discovering Boscobel which you can also check out for more information as well as more photos.
Spent Our Anniversary Weekend in Magog
For the past two years now my fiance and I have been going on mini trips/weekends away for our anniversary and so for this year to celebrate our 7th year together, we spent a peaceful weekend in Magog. We ended up also staying at one of the nicest hotels that we’ve ever stayed at together and it really was a much needed weekend away. Even better was that Magog is only about 30 minutes away from home so we didn’t need to spend hours driving to get to where we wanted to be.
Hiked to the Top of Mont Saint-Hilaire
This year one of the things that we set out to do more of was to go hiking and find cute places in nature to explore. My fiance had been talking to me about Mont Saint-Hilaire for a while, mainly due to the fact that you can catch a glimpse of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal from the top of the mountain so we braved the heat and headed up there. The hike itself was quite intense but the views once we got to the top were worth every step and each turn we took created for a different view point than the last time.
Visited the Village Quebecois D’antan
Visiting the Village D’antan was something that I did often when I was younger and so I really wanted to go back this year and experience it as an adult to see what it was really all about. We spent the day wandering through old houses and buildings all the whilst learning about how different life was back then compared to how it is today.
Spent My 22nd Birthday Wandering Through the Parc Marie Victorin
2017 was the year that I turned 22 and to celebrate this day, my sister and I headed to the Parc Marie Victorin, which is a botanical garden hidden away in the small town of Kingsey Falls. The park is known for its elaborate grass sculptures as well as the hundreds of different plants and flowers that can be found in the park.
Spent a Day Wandering Through Fields of Lavender
One of the many adventures that I took this year with my sister was to the Bleu Lavande lavender fields in Stanstead, Quebec where we spent the day taking pictures, shopping for lavender soap and bath bombs, and strolling through fields of lavender plants. Even though we didn’t choose the best time of the year to go as the plants hadn’t all bloomed yet, the day was still well spent and one for the books.
Visited the Parc De La Gorge in Coaticook
Coaticook is a small town in Quebec and is most well known for it’s ice cream shop where they serve homemade ice cream in a dozen different flavors as well as handmade cheese that is also made at the factory/ice cream shop. We actually made a trip out to Coaticook when we were staying in Magog for our anniversary weekend but since we weren’t visiting in season, we were only able to try the famous ice cream but we weren’t able to go visit the Parc de la Gorge. Since this place was high up on my summer bucket list, we ended up going back up to spend the day hiking in the gorge as well as walking across one of the longest suspensions bridges in North America.
Took A Road Trip To Kingston,Ontario
Every year I try to visit at least one new place that I’ve never been to before and this year after seeing so many pictures of the gorgeous buildings and architecture in Kingston, we drove the 5 hours to get there and spent three days exploring this gorgeous city. While we were there we ended up visiting the Kingston Penn along with the prison museum and a ghost trolley tour. Kingston was also one of my favorite cities for the amount of gorgeous limestone buildings that can be found everywhere you look.
Discovered the Saint Benedict Abbey
Known as a haven for peace and tranquility, the Saint Benedict Abbey overlooks the lake Memphremagog and is used to house monks that have devoted their lives to God and serving Him. Not only that, but this abbey has some incredible architecture that drew me in as soon as I saw photos of this place. We ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon here just walking around the grounds, taking pictures, and splurging on homemade apple sauce and chocolates.
Discovered the Old Prison of Trois Rivieres
After visiting the Kingston Penn while in Ontario, I started looking up more prisons that we could visit that were close to home and I came across the Old Prison of Trois Rivieres. Though small in size the prison still holds a rich history and was a great way to spend a day out of the house. Spending the afternoon here also made me want to visit even more cool prisons and buildings in the coming year so I’m making that one of my missions for 2018.
So there you have it, a few of my favorite memories and highlights from the past year a bit late but better late than never right? Let me know some of your favorite memories from 2017 in the comments below and here’s hoping that 2018 is even better and filled with more travels and adventures.
