If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you must have read or picked-up on the fact the I am from Québec. People outside of Canada call us French Canadian. People from Canada call us Quebeckers. We call ourselves Québécois.

Emily was also born in Québec.

It’s really cute when she says “I’m French you know”… She says it in English… 😊

Almost 10 years ago, my mom sold the house where I grew up and moved closer to her family.

When Emily was younger, we would go home (my home) once or twice a year.

Over the last 10 years, Emily made it to the Gaspé coast maybe twice…

I miss it and I know my mom misses it too. It’s difficult to go back home when there is no longer a home there. We only go home for funerals and last November, after the latest funeral, I told mom we had to make a trip just for fun.

So this past August, we did it!

I packed suitcases for Emily and I and left home super early one morning. Mom hopped on the bus around the same time and we all met 5 hours later in Carleton.

We ate breakfast and went up the Mont St-Joseph (altitude of 555m). We drove up and I will forever be in aw of the people walking, running and biking up there!

After that we continued the drive to my hometown of Paspébiac.

We spent the week driving around the south part of the Gaspé coast, walking through towns & hiking trails and speaking French.

For the first time in Emily’s life, she went to bed willingly at night. Exhausted physically from the walking around and exhausted mentally from the French speaking.

I knew she understood French. I knew she could kinda speak it but I had no idea how good she was. She speaks mostly English at home and knows we understand English but in Paspébiac or Percé… I made her speak French! She was awesome.

Here are some pictures of our week!

It was awesome to play tourists at home!

I ate fresh crab every single time I could.

If you are ever considering traveling that way, let me know, I know all the best spots!