Birthday Trip 2018 – Hotel de Glace

For my birthday trip this year, we decided to go somewhere very different from previous trips. We continued the theme of looking for a unique experience and this definitely met those conditions. We actually went way up north to the very cold and snowy Quebec City. We spent 2 nights at the Valcartier Vacation Village including one night inside the Hotel de Glace (the Ice Hotel). Our first day we did a bunch of tubing despite high temperatures in the 20s. It was my first time riding a tube lift where you just sit in the tube and ride it up to the top of the mountain. We had a good time and die quite a few of the hills.  We also went in our hot tub both nights despite temperatures below zero at that time. Our night in the Ice Hotel went well and was definitely a unique experience. There were a lot of beautiful ice carvings and many of the rooms had themes. The combination of ice carvings and some well placed colored lights made for a nice presentation. The sleeping bags we slept in were very warm with only a bit of your face exposed. My wife and I both slept pretty well. The last day we spent in Quebec City and walked around the old city. Purely by coincidence, we ended up stopping at a restaurant for lunch that my parents had eaten at around 40 years ago and my mom still talks about today. On this day the high temperature was around -4. It was cold, especially when there was some wind down by the Frontenac hotel and along the St Lawrence River. We were outfitted pretty well with a bunch of clothes we bought before hand from L.L.Bean that kept us pretty cozy most of the time. The day of our flight back to Florida I made one last excursion to get some snowy photos of the area since I don’t have too many opportunities to take snow photos in Florida.

Christina and I inside the Hotel de Glace
Christina and I inside the Hotel de Glace
The Ice Chapel at the Hotel de Glace
The Ice Chapel at the Hotel de Glace
Ice Carving in Hotel de Glace
Ice Carving in Hotel de Glace
Main Bar at Hotel de Glace
Main Bar at Hotel de Glace
Main Hallway at Hotel de Glace
Main Hallway at Hotel de Glace
Ice Chandelier at Hotel de Glace
Ice Chandelier at Hotel de Glace
Tubing Hill at Valcartier Vacation Village
Tubing Hill at Valcartier Vacation Village
Ghostly Trees in Quebec City
Ghostly Trees in Quebec City
Wall of Old City in Quebec City
Wall of Old City in Quebec City
Buildings of Old City in Quebec City
Buildings of Old City in Quebec City
Snowy Tree Black and White
Snowy Tree Black and White
Colored Buoys along St Lawrence River
Colored Buoys along St Lawrence River