Displaced Beachbums

We decided to drive from Ottawa to Mont Tremblant for a day of skiing…or in my case, a day of enjoying the resort town. I’m a “snow-weather skier” which means I only ski when there is powder, preferable fresh powder. I was nineteen when I first attempted to ski and, for years after that, I only skied in Jackson, Wyoming where there is nothing but powder, talk about spoiled! Unfortunately, Mont Tremblant hasn’t had new snow for awhile so it was only Favorite Girl and Man who took to the slopes. They’ll ski in ANY type of weather or temperatures.

As for Tremblant, it’s BEAUTIFUL. The town itself is nestled at the bottom of the mountain with plenty of hotels, shops, restaurants and bars. Of course, there were lots of beautiful people to look at while I waited for FM and FG. Ski resorts are always filled with good looking people and, being in French-speaking Quebec, it seemed like we were back at a Europen ski town.  We’d been warned that not many people spoke English in Tremblant and I started having flashbacks of my attempts to communicate while we visited France. Me speaking French is not a pretty sight. My “Bonjour” must be OK though because I said it upon entering a shop and then the shopkeeper would ask “Parlez-vous francais o anglais?” And thankfully their English was leap years ahead of my french speaking abilities. I did give the “Merci” a try as I left each shop which brought a smile to their faces. They were probably thinking “thank goodness she didn’t torture us with any more lousy french.”  FM said “Bonjour” when we went for lunch and the host immediately launched in English which didn’t make FM happy since he took French in high school.

As for the skiers, it was a great day to spend on the slopes. Sun shined all day and, although it was a little cold (18 degrees), it was worth it. There were more than a few icy spots so it was just as well I go.  Mini-holidays such as this makes it easier to tolerate the cold, snowy winters or, in other words, we’re trying to “Embrace the Cold.”