OUTAOUAIS, QUE. -- I hate French verbs. At least I used to, thanks in large part to my grade 9 French teacher, Madame Nugent, who insisted we conjugate verbs every day. Je suis, tu es, il blah, blah, blah. Even singing Madame's favourite Edith Piaf songs was better than conjugating verbs.
Then I visited southwestern Quebec, and those bothersome verbs came alive. With mon mari and deux fils, 14 and 16 years old, I explored the Outaouais region from its eastern edge at Montebello, 124 kilometres west of Montreal, to Ottawa. Along the way I gained an appreciation for these five fine French verbs.
Observer les animaux
sauvages (Wildlife viewing)
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In Parc Omega, my family and I learn firsthand that wapitis, a.k.a. elk, have spectacularly foul breath, wild boars love carrots, and bison own any road they choose to saunter across. And we learn all this from the comfort of our car.
Because at this 1,500-acre park four kilometres north of Montebello, visitors drive through forest and prairie landscapes where fallow and white-tailed deer, beavers, bison, porcupines, moose and other animals roam mostly free. So acclimatized are the animals to vehicles, they either ignore us or stick their noses in our half-open windows in hopes of being fed carrots (available for $2 a bag at the Park House). Animals higher on the food chain (think black bears, coyotes, Arctic wolves) are kept in large enclosures for safe viewing.
Highlights of our visit include wapitis sliming our windows in pursuit of carrots, snuffling, squealing baby boars foraging by the roadside, a busy beaver dragging branches to his lodge, and - at one of the designated safe walking zones - timber wolves visible from an elevated wooden walkway. Merveilleux!
Faire du kayak rivière
(River kayaking)
Hanging upside down under my flipped kayak, I am calm. With eyes squeezed shut, I feel my way to the tab on the black neoprene skirt that holds my lower half inside the kayak. I yank the tab to release the skirt, give a mighty push, and break the surface of the water with my helmeted head.
My sons give a cheer from their kayaks. "That was a good wet exit," says Roch Parent, owner of the Aquaventure Petite-Nation kayaking school in St-André-Avellin and instructor for our two-hour introductory lesson. "Please do it again." And so I happily drain my kayak and prepare to dunk once more. Who knew getting wet could be so much fun?
Well, Parent did. And that's why this soft-spoken high school teacher established his home and whitewater kayaking school on the banks of the Petite-Nation River. The location is ideal, with a small bay offering calm water for practice and frothy rapids just beyond.
In two hours, we perfect our wet exits, practise paddling in straight lines (harder than you think) and learn a couple of whitewater techniques. In the end, we realize we've barely got our feet wet - so to speak - and vow to return for Parent's two-day weekend course.
Conduite hors-route
(Driving off-road)
Imagine being handed the keys to a Land Rover LR3 and told to go play outside. That's the rush awaiting you at the Land Rover Experience Driving School.
The fun takes place north of Montebello in a vast wilderness of forests, lakes and isolated cabins belonging to the Fairmont Kenauk. During our two-hour lesson, my husband and I take turns navigating a gnarly, muddy, rock-filled obstacle course. Instructor Catherine Lemieux teaches us to not hook our thumbs around the wheel (thus avoiding nasty sprains), to believe in the vehicle's capabilities (such as the automatic braking in hill descent mode) and to not rush into obstacles (and potentially hurt our $60,000 toy).
Lemieux stresses the correct approach to off-roading: "As slow as possible, as fast as necessary." Sounds like a good strategy for vacations, too.
Faire de la bicyclette
(Bicycling)
Pedalling along the trails of Parc national de Plaisance, 50 kilometres east of Gatineau, I decide that the 100,000-plus Canada geese that call on this park each spring are on to something. The park's features - a mix of marshes, wetlands, islands, bays and freshwater channels that stretch like taffy along the Ottawa River's north shore - offer visitors, both feathered and otherwise, a natural playground.
While active options include hiking, canoeing and bird watching, my family opts to rent bicycles from the Interpretation and Visitors Centre in the eastern end of the park, then board a pontoon boat for a pleasant cruise to Presqu'île des Legault.
From the dock, it's an easy 10-kilometre ride through fields dotted with milkweed, stands of silver maple and watery landscapes that together serve as a habitat for 240 types of birds and 50 per cent of all the animal species in Quebec, including frogs, muskrats, beavers, turtles - snapping, map and painted. At the park's west entrance we devour a picnic lunch, then set out on our ride back to the dock.
Grimper dans les arbres (Climbing trees)
Making my herky-jerky way across a swinging log bridge, I feel young again. Although I'll be reaching for the ibuprofen tonight, right now I'm revelling in the chance to climb trees, scramble across suspension bridges and zoom along zip lines suspended as much as 35 metres off the forest floor.
The whole family gives Lafleche Adventure Cave and Aerial Park, a 30-minute drive north of Gatineau, an enthusiastic two thumbs-up. Here, youthful adventures are the name of the game, both underground - on an hour-long tour of the largest cave in the Canadian Shield - and above - in a treetop adventure park.
While the cave is interesting (particularly when we turn off our miner's lights and experience total darkness), the aerial park is the big hit. For three hours, we pull, push, wobble and fly across 82 suspension bridges - from simple wooden balance beams and cables to swinging stirrups and a Tarzan swing that deposits us, splat like bugs, on a spiderweb of ropes -- and 14 zip lines.
On the 401-metre-long extreme zip line, I whoop and whistle from the launch platform to the landing area, where my 16-year-old son waits. "Geez, Mom," he exclaims, "you're just a big kid."
Exactement!
Pack your bags
GETTING THERE
The Outaouais region stretches along the north shore of the Ottawa River from Montebello to Ottawa and north to the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. A portion of the author's trip was sponsored by Outaouais Tourism.
WHERE TO PLAY
Wildlife viewing Parc Omega, Route 323 North, Montebello; 819-423-5487; http://www.parcomega.com. Admission: adults $16; children (6-15) $11, (2-5) $6; reduced rates Nov. 1 to May 31.
River kayaking Aquaventure Petite-Nation, 450 St-Joseph W., St-André-Avellin; 819-983-3765; http://www.aquaventure.ca. Two-hour introduction, $35; two-day course, $139.
Driving off-road Land Rover Experience Driving School, office at Fairmont Chateau Montebello; 819-423-3038; http://www.landrover.com/ca. Two-hour lesson, $300 per vehicle.
Bicycling Parc national de Plaisance, Plaisance; 1-800-665-6527; http://www.parcsquebec.com. Four-hour bicycle rental, $19.53. Pontoon boat shuttle (return): adults $7.90; children $6.14; family $21.94.
Climbing trees Laflèche Adventure Cave and Aerial Park, Route 307 North, Val-Des-Monts; 1-877-457-4033; http://www.laflecheadventure.ca. Package including aerial park and cave: adults $42, junior (13-17) $34, children (5-12, at least 1.5-m tall) $32. Single activity and family packages available.
WHERE TO STAY
Fairmont Chateau Montebello 392 Notre-Dame, Montebello; 1-800-870-7619; www.fairmont/montebello. The world's largest log hotel offering a fine dose of history and long list of outdoor activities. Rooms from $229.
Parc national de Plaisance 1001 Presqu'îles Rd., Plaisance; 1-800-665-6527; http://www.parksquebec.com. Campsites from $21.94; yurts (including stove, fridge, beds without linens) from $63.
Hilton Lac-Leamy 3 Casino Blvd., Gatineau; 1-866-488-7888; http://www.casino-du-lac-leamy.com. Rates from $190.
MORE INFORMATION
Outaouais Tourism 1-800-265-7822; http://www.outaouais-tourism.ca
Tourism Quebec 1-877-266-5687; http://www.bonjourquebec.com
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