Montmorency Falls

Okay, sorry for the lack of updates but I'm back and ready to get back to my routine. I didn't finish our Canada trip so this post will be about Quebec and our outing to Montmorency Falls. When we arrived in Quebec, we were given several brochures on various tours. I read that the falls was only about 7 miles from the city so I thought everyone would enjoy it. The brochures had the falls included but other destinations were included over a 4 hour period. Tours are nice but I don't like feeling rushed and the kids can get squirrelly too. The only tour offered with the falls was $120 for a family of four but Hector said he would be able to find an affordable way to the falls and cut out the other stuff. The concierge looked shocked that we wanted to find a bus and head up there on our own but Hector made some calls and found out what bus we needed to take.

So the next morning we headed out and managed to find the correct bus stop. We bought bus tickets at a convenience shop and got on the bus. Even though the falls aren't too far, the bus was crowded but started to thin out as we drove further than the city. Josh fell asleep so that was nice he would be refreshed once we got there. After 45 minutes we arrived at the falls and walked to the park with beautiful autumn foliage that led to a bridge that spanned the beginning of the falls. We stood on the bridge looking out and seeing all the water flow over the edge. Btw, the Montmorency falls boasts the fact that it is 90 meters taller than Niagra. Okay, true although I've never been to Niagra. There is several view points of the falls. a couple of lookouts at the side of the falls and another huge concrete lookout that is at the base of the falls which is constantly wet from the spray. To access this area from we were we had to walk through the park and reach the stairs and walk down. The only thing is there are about 500 steps....good thing we were heading down and not up! The kids were having a great time running around and checking out the waterfall. Tyler and Hector decided to go to the observation deck at the base so they walked down another set of stairs while Josh and I watched and took pictures. Hector brought an umbrella which shielded them from the spray but they still managed to get very damp. Once we joined them at the bottom we walked to the main building where cable cars carry people back up to the other side of the falls and we rode the cable car up. Once we got to the top, there is a hotel with a cafe so we stopped for a nice leisurely lunch (I don't think is such a thing as a fast lunch in Quebec). We calculated how much we spent on our do-it-yourself tour: the entrance to the falls = FREE, bus tickets (rountrip) = $18, cable car (one way) = $15 and lunch (food is pricey overall) = $70. Sure we spent almost as much as the tour but we spent 4 hours just at the falls taking out time and that alone was worth it.

The sun began to peek out later in the day but I must have took over a hundred pictures that day. We even saw rainbows!