Little overdue but this past long weekend, Victoria Day I got to spend some quality time with my family and repeat the Mont Tremblant and Ottawa trip but summer edition!

We drove ourselves to a buddhist temple that my dad had went to last he was at Mont Tremblant. The drive was a long one about 8 hours, given we hit a huge road detour. Never rely on GPS up near Tremblant… It gives you the worst route! Google Maps on your phones work well though.

The temple was nice and quiet. It was massive and requires quite some hiking. Neat to see the statues all outdoors and up in the forest.

The drive from the temple to Mont Tremblant was not long, about 1 hour but be prepared for gravel roads. We checked into Comfort Inn up in Mont Tremblant and the drove to the village to walk around and get food.

Yah’oo Pizza was a economical and good choice but the highlight was this maple butter soft serve ice cream I had. Expensive at $4.50 but it was so soft, smooth and creamy. The maple was a nice touch but needs a stronger taste.

We went back to the hotel, relaxed in the “hot” tub and called it a night.

The next day, we started with the gondola ride up to the summit to do some hiking on the easy trails. It was good until the silly 360 trail leads us into a forest with fallen tree everywhere covering the path. My mom was such a go-getter and was like let’s go! But eventually, we didn’t want to get lost so we turned back. Great summer view and I can’t wait to go snowboarding.

We went on the luges next! Luges are… It was my dad idea! The single ride was about $12 a person but goes down if you purchase multiple rides.

Super fun and my parents were totally getting into it. My mom even zoomed passed us all — we thought she was out of control but she said she wanted to go fast like the other little kids.

We ate poutine afterwards at Smokes’ and then drove to Ottawa. The drive is about 2.5 hours. Once again, don’t use GPS for this route… It tells you to take a damn ferry!

Hungry in Ottawa, I made my parents try Schwarma Palace. The chicken is way better than the Beef plate. My dad liked it and my mom eventually liked it after she had the hummus. She thought it was all spicy but it was only the red parts.

We drove to see the tulip festival fireworks after and it was a grand spectacle! Very nice set. We went back to rest after that.

Our last day started with free breakfast that I scored via foursquare. We walked to Byward Market to browse the local shops and artisans. We also saw some interesting tulip art around the area for the festival.

We went to Commissioner Park to see the tulip festival but they were all bloomed. Disappointing! So, we decided to do some shopping at the Rideau Centre and get Iced Coffee from McD’s instead.

We started our long drive home around 2pm. Lots of traffic but it was a enjoyable ride. The best part was when my sister did her Vietnamese accent impression and my parents laughed their heads off.

It’s always nice to spend time with the family.