We have a lot of reasons to be thankful. Thankful for being healthy, thankful for our loved ones, and many, many more. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Sunday of October. My family and I went on another trip to Quebec and stayed at another Fairmont hotel. This time it was at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. This Fairmont sits on a cliff along St. Lawrence River. It is actually only one and a half hours from Quebec City where the Chateau Frontenac is located. We drove to Rivier-du-Loop, and we stayed at the Auberge Inn because it’s very close to the ferry terminal to go to Saint Simeon early, early in the morning. Then it was just a short drive to Chateau Richelieu. But while we were still at Rivière-Du-Loop, I had a vanilla soft serve ice cream with mango popping boba! It’s called a bubble tea ice cream, and the tiny little mango flavoured balls pop in your mouth! It was so delicious!

The ferry ride was at 7:45 A.M. and we had to be there half an hour early. It was hard getting up early, (well, at least for my MOM it was hard getting up early. She isn’t a morning person), but we made it on time. It was only a seventy minute ferry ride. And while that may seem a little long, I’ve had to stay over night in a ferry before. Not a cruise ship, a ferry. It was too early to check in so we went to a quaint little town called Baie-Saint-Paul. This was my third time at Baie-Saint-Paul so I knew what stores I wanted to visit. There are lots of restaurants, art galleries, and boutique stores in this area. Don’t you just love fall? I love autumn because the fall decorations are so colourful!

At Baie-Saint-Paul my favourite store was the candy store! This candy store was very well stocked, lots of big bright colors, and LOTS of unusual candies that I’ve never seen before. I loaded up on sticks of gum that were wrapped to look like cigarettes, gummy vampire fangs, hard candy, more gum, and Krabby Patties. I don’t really recommend Krabby Patties though, they really taste awful… and so… fake. It’s obvious that they used some kind of chemical, and you can almost taste it 😶

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We had a quick lunch at one of the restaurants and then we went drove back to the hotel. The hotel was built in 1899, but it burned down in 1928. The hotel was rebuilt in 1929, and the 44th G7 Summit was held here in 2018. Our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosted it, and he was joined by President Donald Trump (USA), President Emmanuel Macron (France), Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany), Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (Italy), Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (Japan), Prime Minister Theresa May (UK), Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (EU), Council President Donald Tusk (EU), and presidents and prime ministers of twelve other countries. Lots of important people! We were there that year when the security was installing fences to prepare for it.

The hotel has very beautiful fall decorations every autumn. I have a lot of pictures because it’s very beautiful. The bat and the scarecrow can be moved. I had fun playing with them.

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The resort has a a golf course, casino, indoor and outdoor pool, hot tub, sauna, spa, fire pit overlooking the water, and a Ride Experience (ATV/Side-by-Side). And yes, my dad rented a Side-by-Side. It sat four people, and we took a ride around the forest for two hours. It was a beautiful ride because the colors of the leaves were changing. There was green, red, orange, and yellow! It was like the forest was on FIRE! It was soooo beautiful. Watch the video below and see how fast my dad drives! My dad let me drive it for a bit, but I almost crashed into the ditch… 😂 We still arrived back to the hotel in one piece! It was an awesome ride! 🤪

Day two of the trip was breakfast at the restaurant to start the day.

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We decided to go back to Baie-Saint-Paul because we had more time to walk around. It was only a forty minute drive and the color of the leaves were marvellous! We walked to see the stores, most of the products are locally made. From different kinds of jewelries, artwork, knit clothing, and so many other things. We went back to the candy store to get more candies! Because we had a huge breakfast, we went to a café for a light lunch. I had three macarons. My mom had a cute little lemon based dessert. It was weird because it’s black, but it was yummy because I tried it!

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One more thing we love at the La Malbaie area is the ice cream dipped in real Belgium chocolate. The business owners are chocolatiers and I think they’ve been around for a long, long time. My dad loves their chocolates, and it’s located between the Chateau Richelieu and Baie-Saint-Paul. My dad had been wanting to come back to this place to have this ice cream for SO LONG. He was sad because my mom snatched it away from him and stole it all. Then he wouldn’t let her buy him another.

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We arrived at the hotel and swam at the pool. I also read my latest Digitally Lit book! You can visit my TikTok account, arielaonthego_reads and see my video at the pool. 😀

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Another beautiful stay and fun time at Le Manoir Richelieu. After our breakfast at the hotel we went for another road trip. You have to come back next week to find out where we went, and don’t forget to watch my video down below! Bye for now!

~Ariela