Nomad: Mission: St Nicholas: Quebec City

On Christmas morning my Mom opened up a special message in a colourful package from St Nicholas. "A huge storm took my sled off course," the letter explained, "I need the purest beeswax candle. The candle light will reveal my way home to the North Pole." Since my Mother makes beeswax candles, that clearly meant we had to make the trip to Quebec city and hide the candle in a special vault. That way St Nicholas could find his way home!

I helped my parents make a scavenger hunt, so the children would have fun packing their bags. The next day we took off in two cars for the seven hour drive to Quebec City!

Us older kids all gathered in my brothers car for the long drive

We stayed at Delta hotel right by old Quebec. Since there wasn't a room for ten people, we spilt into two rooms for five. The food at the hotel was fabulous and it wasn't very busy in the gym! I got the whole gym to myself for an hour! It has been a really long time since I've done any serious running. In high school I used to do track and cross country. I've been so caught up in jiu jitsu that I haven't had time to do other sports. To my surprise though my cardio is actually way better then it used to be before! I think jiu jistu has actually improved my ability to run!

Later that evening us older family members explored part of the old city at night. It was really spectacular, especially with all the Christmas lights!

The next day we packed up and went out as a whole family into the old city! The plan was for me to find a geocache large enough for the special candle. I tried, but being stealth in a high tourist location is difficult, and it was very, very cold outside! In the end we decided to hide the candle under a large Christmas tree in the town square! Not far from the tree we found a choir singing and St Nicholas with them, so the little girls were convinced that our mission was legit!

The tree where we hid the candle!

Old Quebec made me think a lot of Europe. The cobblestone roads, the architecture, the language, and music. It was cool to experience that European culture so close to home! It was very cold while we were there, so hopefully next time I come explore this city it will be much warmer!