Posted by Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Liz Fleming
Cindy Lauper knew what she was talking about when she sang “Girls just wanna have fun.”
Every woman need a girls’ getaway now and then. The trick is choosing the right group, destination and the blend of activity – and inactivity – to keep everybody happy.
In our girlfriend gang there’s a broad interpretation of the word “activity.” While one of us would happily rise at dawn to attack the powder with her snowboard, others would rather loll until noon and then head for the spa. For the majority of us, a leisurely cruise through the mall is quite enough exercise, thanks very much.
If you, too, have a range of tastes to satisfy in planning a girls’ treat getaway, may we suggest that you follow in our footsteps and head for la belle province? Quebec City and the nearby eastern townships have everything a whole gang of girls’ hearts could desire.
Put on your princess finery and kick off your getaway with a dinner at the Chateau Frontenac in the heart of old Quebec City. Not only will the surroundings make you feel as if you’re in a castle, but the Fairmont’s chefs will make sure the dinner is fit for royalty. Next morning, explore the city and look for one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry, original paintings and chic fashions in the boutiques that line the narrow cobblestone streets. You’ll work up an appetite while you’re burning up your credit card, so pop into the city’s most famous poutine emporium, Chez Ashton’s for a quick, inexpensive bite. Made with handcut fries, homestyle gravy and cheese curds delivered fresh each day, Ashton’s poutine is to die for. My theory is calories don’t count on a girls’ getaway.
Some of my friends disagree. They don’t skip the poutine – they just serve themselves a side order of guilt with it. That’s where the eastern townships part of the trip comes into play.
Not only a great location for skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and every other outdoorsy winter activity you can think of, the eastern townships are also home to some very lovely spas. Our first stop was Spa Eastman, one of just three destination spas in Canada. It’s not merely a place for massages, facials and body wraps. Spa Eastman also offers all the amenities of a beautifully appointed hotel, a full range of therapies designed to cleanse and soothe both body and spirit, and a healthy menu to finish things off. It was the perfect place for poutine atonement.
Although we all chose and enjoyed different therapeutic treatments, the most unusual was the Watsu, a massage therapy done in a small pool of very warm water. With lights lowered, the therapist gently swirled me through the water, using my own body weight to stretch tight muscles. It was the closest I’ll ever get to a return to the womb.
No girls getaway would be complete without a touch of adventure, so we added a visit to the famous Hôtel de glace (Ice Hotel) and a Nordic spa, Tyst Trädgård, to our itinerary – both beside Station touristique Duchesnay, just outside Quebec City. We luxuriated in sumptuous, steaming hot tubs carved into the rocks, and traditional dry sauna rooms, then hurled ourselves, shrieking with laughter, into snowbanks for a quick roll, or ran under tiny icy waterfalls to cool off.
When the time finally came for goodbyes, instead, we said "jusqu’à la fois prochaine!" We just know there’ll be another girls getaway to Quebec in the near future…
