Rendezvous@NanoMakia

The title I call Step into the past because these are all old photos I digged up from 2007. First part we will start with Quebec City which was our last trip in the journey.

Québec or Quebec, also Quebec City or Québec City (French: Québec, or Ville de Québec) (pronounced /kw??b?k/ or /ke?b?k/),^[3] is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in the province – after Montreal, about 233 kilometres (145 mi) to the southwest. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the city has a population of 491,142,^[1] and the metropolitan area has a population of 715,515.^[2]

The narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River approximate to Quebec City and Lévis, on the opposite bank, provided the name given to the city, Kébec, an Algonquin word meaning “where the river narrows”. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only remaining fortified city walls in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the ‘Historic District of Old Québec’.^[4][5]

Quebec City is internationally known for its Summer Festival, Winter Carnival, and the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the city skyline. The National Assembly of Quebec (provincial parliament), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) are found within or near Vieux-Québec. Among the other attractions near the city are Montmorency Falls and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in the town of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

References: Quebec City in Wikipedia.

Here are some of the photos I took a few years ago:

Halifax Regional Municipality is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The municipality is commonly called HRM or informally, Halifax (pronounced /?hæl?fæks/).

The population in 2006 was 372,679;^[1] the urban area of HRM had a population of 282,924,^[2] giving the municipality the largest urban area in the Atlantic Canada and largest population centre in Canada east of Quebec City.

HRM’s urban area is a major economic centre in eastern Canada with a large concentration of government services and private sector companies. Major employers and economic generators include the Department of National Defence, various levels of government, and the Port of Halifax. Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry and natural gas extraction are major resource industries found in the rural areas of HRM.

Reference: Halifax Wikipedia page.

We went for a short trip to Halifax around March break this year. It was quite a fast trip but totally well worth it. Time flied fast but we also enjoyed our stay there fast… haha.. Here are just some of the photos of the city. More specific photos of the attractions we visited will be updated soon.

We went to Mactaquac last weekend just for the Treego trip (thanks to adeline and miles for inviting us!). A trip where you challenge the heights for the sake of promising fun, adrenaline rush, excitement, and of course strenuous exercise! But personally I think those who are always in tip-top shape wouldn’t find this a big problem, not for a person like me who seldom exercises. ;p Oh, but oh, those who are afraid of heights, I think this would be more of a stressing than challenging kind of activity.

Getting the hang of the feeling of the safety harness being tied around you, which was a little uncomfortable at first. Before we started out the activity, we had to go through a short briefing about the safety rules the participants should do before being given the safety harness. All of us were looking forward to it, as we were anticipating what obstacles would we be facing, how tall would we need to embrace, and so forth.

Looks easy eh? Tell you what, it does seem to look easy to tackle as we see one of the Treego guide demonstrating to us the way we should handle our Treego course and harness and safety clips. The way she demonstrated to us as she was standing on the cable and swinging herself on the rope and zipping across looks so easy. But oh my, when we (the participants) were asked to try out at the demo stations, oh my, all of a sudden fear gripped me (mildly) as it was not as I expected it to be. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Because you’re enveloped by that lil’ wee bit of fear, everything while you were standing on the station, away from the firm ground, your confidence starts to sway and somehow it’s hanging on that safety clips. For the adult’s Treego course, there’s 4 routes to accomplish. However, participants get to choose whether they want to continue to finish all the 4 routes  (there’s the green, blue, red, and black – with the difficulty challenge increases with each route) as at the end of each route, participants have the chance to not continue. Phew, I guess that’s a REQUIRED move! Or else Paul would’ve jumped down from one of the stations even though some of the stations are more than 30 feet high! The blue route was the starting route that made me thought twice about moving on to the next route. It was too long from one point to another and that with my short legs, I literally had to jump from one plank to the other with me hanging so high above the ground with one a rope which was round my waist which was my assurance (and the only one) that I would be safe even if I’m gonna fall. At least I won’t need to splat down flat on the ground but hanging helplessly on the safety cable with my dignity hanging there with me, too. (Oh, me and my dignity…) Heehehehe….

We have just completed the green and the blue. John and I had to wait for Paul (he’s the cause Adeline and Miles are slow) by the creek right before the starting point for the red route. By then, the lactic acid was building up and I was wondering whether should we continue with the last 2 routes. But I was thinking that since we have come so far for this and we had to pay that much just so that we could climb those trees and to challenge ourselves in doing it, we might as well go for it and I don’t even care whether I’m gonna get stuck in the middle of the latter routes. So, we went ahead with the red route. Before moving on to the last route, I was at the station whereby I could choose to quit or to continue the last one. But being ME, all I want to do at Treego was for the sake of attaching myself to the cable and zipping across from one station to another high up from the ground. Talk about the adrenaline hunger in me. That was one of the reason that made me continue with the black and final route. I couldn’t refrain myself from continuing it when I saw that the starting of the route was having 2 chance of zipping yourself across the lake! I was like YIPPEE!!!!!! I was thinking to myself that my brothers would have envied me doing that when they do not have the chance to do it! Oh, how I wished that my brothers were there at that time so that we could challenge one another or enjoy the fun together!

Finally when I managed to finish all the routes, PHEW! I need water. My whole body is dehydrating. My muscles are screaming aloud by the time I touch base with my knees going weak after going through some of the hanging obstacles that needed all my strength and faith in myself. Yes, at the very last route of the challenge, you will need your mentality to help drag you through it as you cannot stop halfway in a route. BUT, at the end of it, I’m proud of myself that I had accomplish doing what I did and what I came for that day. Tiring but satisfying. You might think that I’m a lil’ crazy for torturing myself to pull and drag myself through all those challenges of all the 4 routes, but at the end of the day, it was because of the fun and challenge that I came for and I got it! *Patting myself on the back for doing a great job!*

What can I say about Treego? GREAT!

Well, but of course after that I had to spend a couple of days later just lying in bed to tend to my very sore muscles, especially my shoulder blade muscles where I used too much of it and somehow sprained it a little all because I was too scared that I’d fall and had been holding unto the safety cable with all my might. Hehehehe…. The next day, I couldn’t even move! Hahaha. It’s not really rigor mortise kind of feeling but it’s just that my whole body is rigid because I don’t want to feel any pain surging along my poor muscles and veins. Was it worth it? Oh, yes. )