This trip was built around a chance to participate in a literary retreat in rural Québec based on a series of books that I love by Louise Penny. In her books, the author takes your mind right into the community, the bistro and shops, and the living rooms of a fictional town called Three Pines. Three Pines was based on a small community east of Montréal and 1/2 hour north of the border with Vermont.
I traveled near this area in 2022, and the countryside and fall colors were beautiful. I’ve never done anything like a literary retreat before but thought I’d give it a try. It promised a lot of hiking, a lovely spa environment, and is led by a couple of people I’ve been familiar with through a podcast one of them hosts. So here I am at Spa Eastman.
Today included a tour of Abbaye Saint-Benoit-du-Lac. It is the Benedictine abbey that inspired a fictional abbey that was central to one of the murder mystery books. It felt just like Louise Penny described (but without the deceit and murder). We had the option of staying and sitting through Mass, which I did to hear the monks sing the Gregorian chants.
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| The fall colors are beautiful, and I look forward to them getting prettier each day I’m here |
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| Spa Eastman grows much of the food they serve, all over the resort. The building I’m in has a conference room, six hotel rooms and a communal living and dining area. This little garden space is part of the building, next to the living room. |
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