Charlevoix – Day 5 can be found here.
No lessons today, so we were able to sleep in all the way until 7:30 am!
Off to breakfast, where it is definitely busier than the day before – though we still had no issue getting a seat, nor in getting ourselves fed within about 20 minutes.
My wife also spotted someone enjoying a breakfast beer, so that answers another question – yes, those taps of Maudite are fully functional throughout the day.
We also seem to have finally figured out how the lockers work and – though crowded – we were able to get ourselves out the door in record time.
And the gondola was working! Could it get any better than this?
Well, yes. Because it was -20C this morning.
They say that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. But that’s thin comfort when a razor-sharp Arctic wind is whipping at your face.
Still, this isn’t our first ski trip – when we previously made the mistake of dressing ourselves based on the weather report from the bottom of Tremblant rather than the peak. That was uncomfortable.
We’ve since learned our lesson. Everyone was decked out in thermals, balaclavas, and glove warmers. So we were relatively comfortable, if not quite toasty.
No new runs open this morning, sadly. It’ll be the weekenders that will gain most of the benefit of Le Massif’s efforts, as it looks like they are close to mapping a route from the top to the bottom.
As for the existing runs? They’re showing their use, and starting to get icy.
But that didn’t stop us from doing our usual cycle – several runs of La Bouchard, and La Simard. Conditions gradually warmed up and the gondola stayed open the entire time.
I’d hoped to get some video via my GoPro, but unfortunately it was too cold for that particular piece of technology – it only lasted a single run. Oh well, we’ll try again next time.
We came in a bit later this time – after 11:30 am – and so we managed to miss the chaos of little kids and magic carpets.
This being our last ski day – sad face – it was then time to load the equipment into the car so that we wouldn’t have to do so first thing tomorrow, which should (theoretically) mean that we could sleep in a bit later.
It was a pain to have to walk down to the parking lot, warm up the car, drive up to the lodge, gather all the ski equipment, and then load it into the roofbox – but I was still glad to have it done.
My wife then wisely suggested that I could ask about parking indoors for our last night (at a cost of $25), which would’ve made it easier to load the next morning. The car was already back at the parking lot at that point, but I think it’s something I would consider next time.
And if the weather was bad throughout the trip, I think I would just park indoors – it is a vacation, after all, and no one wants to brush a foot of snow off their car when they’re on vacation.
Then off to lunch, where we had crispy fish nuggets and rice:
A tuna poke bowl:
And roast beef and French fries:
We’d originally thought that I might run another D&D one-shot, but the kids were mostly off at lessons. So we decided to leave it at just the one. I’m glad I brought my supplies, though, and plan to do so again for future trips.
On the plus side – it meant I got another nap time, followed by some more pool time.
The pool was again quiet until about 3 pm, when lessons wrapped up. I also managed to get in another couple of steam room sessions. This has been incredibly relaxing – particularly after a day of skiing – and it’s probably the part of Charlevoix Club Med that I’m going to miss the most. (My wife agrees.)
Back to Le Chalet to read and relax for a bit – and to enjoy a few bites of poutine:
Then we went to the theatre for another round of aerial circus lessons. This time my daughter did the trapeze, which may have been her all-time favourite.
The other kids were about the same as before – more climbing over couches, a couple of minor head injuries. We’ve been able to get high-top tables every night we wanted one so this has been less of an issue since the first day or two.
I’d forgotten to mention what happened the previous night, when they were having the kids’ club festival: my daughter had gotten some cotton candy and – after she finished – a girl came around to ask if she could have the leftover cotton candy cone. We agreed, but were confused as to what possible use a pre-licked paper cone could serve.
I spotted the girl later, and she had a row of these cotton candy cones on her fingers as though they were claws – each of which had been licked clean by another child. Blegh.
Someone also left a tin of chewing tobacco on the floor near where the children were playing:
So… yeah. Keep an eye on your kids.
Amazingly, our appetites had not been completely destroyed by recent events so we went to dinner, where I enjoyed some seared tuna:
As well as some flank steak that was so good, I never managed to get a picture of it. We got three orders of it and demolished every single one of them. Oops!
Back to our room to pack for a bit, and then my daughter and I took in one last round of Just Dance.
And that was it – six days, gone in the blink of an eye.
But stay tuned for details regarding our check-out experience, as well as some final thoughts about Club Med Charlevoix, including our rating and whether we plan on returning at some point in the future.
Continue with Charlevoix – Day 7 here.
Ready to check out the Club Med Charlevoix? Contact me at unknownlongitude@gmail.com for a friends and family invitation that will save $100 off the cost of your trip.
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