Justin

The other day I was watching 16:9. They were airing a segment on Justin Hines who is a Canadian musician/singer-song writer. I had never heard of him before the segment aired, but instantly felt a connection to his music. I found out while watching the interview that it was in part because he was featured in one of the Ontario Travel campaigns.

His upbeat and positive approach to life, along with the fact that he grew up listening to 45's radiates throughout his music in a way that is very refreshing. In watching and listening to him perform, you can tell he loves what he does and wouldn't change it. His disability, therefore, is a non-issue.

A few days later, I just happened to be in HMV and came across his second album (Chasing Silver) which dropped this spring (I believe). It was fate. lol I had to have it. Since then I have been listening to it on my way home from work each night and can't seem to get enough.

The Hills Are Alive

On Thursday evening I went to see the musical stage production of The Sound of Music. Fantastic show. Highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to see it.

In many ways, the show is very much what you would expect The Sound of Music to be, but there were a few surprises in the story arrangement that I am mixed about. I guess you could call me a "purist at heart" which maybe the reason that the changes didn't thrill me all that much. (They truly failed to increase my already interest in the story. I liked the story just the way it was... 'nough said.)

Elicia MacKenzie, however, who was awarded the role of Maria via. the CBC's edition of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, did a fabulous job of portraying the role that was first made famous by the great Julie Andrews. As it says in the program, "this marks Elicia's professional debut". During the intermission Mum leaned over to me and said there was one line in the beginning where she thought the slight British accent was forced, but I didn't pick up on it and despite having said that, we both agreed that Canada had picked the right Maria. We loved both her and the kids!!

Tadoussac Pix

The town of Tadoussac is very small and built mainly on the summer tourist industry. We heard that in the winter months the town is virtually deserted because of its -40C temperature. We met a waitress in a cafe who had just spent her first year in the town and said "it was a long and hard winter with not much to do because most businesses closed up shop for the season". These conditions, of course, bring the many transient workers to the town for the summer months.

The Hotel Tadoussac (which is where we stayed) is the oldest and largest hotel in town. It first opened its doors to the European tourists, who wanted a taste of the Canadian wilds, in 1864. Since then it has become famous for its picturesque scenery and fabulous dinning. In 1 of the three restaurants they have an "all-you-can-eat" buffet, which we took full advantage of in both our breakfasts and dinners.

The picture of the painting (above) is of the Tadoussac hotel that was hanging in the lobby entrance. As we were leaving, I suddenly realized that I didn't have a picture of the hotel itself!!

As I've said before, the whale trip itself was fantastic. The boat we were on was called the Dufour. This 3 deck boat could have held a capacity of 500 people during the peak of the season, but since it was early we were only 75 (many of whom were local school children).

Tadoussac & Back

So, a few weeks ago my parents and I took a trip to Tadoussac, Quebec, which is roughly 3 hours outside of Quebec City. Traveling time was enjoyable, but long!! I think in total it was about 8 hours by train and then another 3 hours by car.

'Was the trip worth it?' Yes!! I would definitely do this trip again later on in the summer season.

The motivation behind this 3 day excursion was to go whale watching at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. To be honest, though, I think we were a little to early to see many of the whales and the different pods that feed there during the summer months, however, we did manage to see a few Fin, Minky and Beluga whales.

We have friends who did this trip a number of years ago one August. They saw many whales even from shore, (which is why I wouldn't mind going back).

Enjoy this vid. recap. I apologize in advance if the whale parts make you nauseous. The footage is not fantastic, but I was having fun with the camera. My disclaimer is that it was very windy (and therefore v. choppy) out on the water.