As some of you may know, this summer during a vacation through part of the province of Quebec I proposed to my beautiful girlfriend (now fiancée). This wasn’t an easy process. I did not have any apprehensions about whether or not to pop the question but, I did have the big challenge of figuring out how and where.  Here’s how it went down.

The trip began at Jacques-Cartier National Park where we planned on canoeing down the river. The question was – do I get on my knee in the canoe while running a set of rapids?  The answer – no I don’t. Common sense says there is too big a chance of losing the ring.

Next stop on our travels was the Sainte-Anne de Beaupré Shrine. This could have worked. It’s an absolutely beautiful setting but the place is set-up as a huge tourist attraction with bus loads of people being ushered around and flatscreen displays all throughout the church. Not the romantic place I envisioned.

We moved on to Grands-Jardins National Park. This part of our trip was a huge surprise to us. We arrived to discover a park that had been burned to the ground in the 90′s. After a few hours of learning the history and understanding what this area has gone through, we become overwhelmed by the beauty of its state of transition. So, do I pop the question while fishing for arctic char in a very remote lake? Maybe I should attach the ring to her fishing line so when she’s about to make a cast the diamond catches her eye. Thankfully, after thinking of the possible consequences – especially if she doesn’t see the ring – common sense prevailed again and I vetoed the idea.

Finally we arrive in Old Quebec City. Ok now “time’s a wastin” (as Johnny Cash would say), with only one last destination on our trip, the pressure is on. It doesn’t get more romantic than Old Quebec unless of course, you go at the height of the summer tourist season when the place resembles Disney World. I spent our first day in Quebec dropping subtle hints and formulating a plan. So, there we are on the boardwalk beneath the Château Frontenac. My first challenge is to find a place where we can be alone in such a popular area. I spot the last pavilion, the farthest from the crowd. Then we wait, unfortunately the pavilion was occupied by skater kids doing whatever they do and, they were taking forever to move on. At this point I feel Lise knows something’s up. I was extending our stay at an unusual area on the boardwalk and paying more attention to skater kids than her. Finally, they leave and it’s my chance. We’re alone in one of the most romantic places in the world (minus the distant noise from those skater kids). I ask Lise to stand in the middle of the pavilion. “I want to take your picture” I tell her. I turn around, put my camera bag on the bench and pretend to take my camera out. I pull the ring out instead. I turn to face Lise and I can see the confusion on her face, I know that she’s thinking “uh…don’t you need your camera?”  I get down on one knee and pop the question. I don’t get the answer I was hoping for, instead she said “Isn’t that my grandmother’s ring?”  The tears started and again she asked “is that my grandmother’s ring?”  At that moment, I look into her eyes and say “yes, but can you please answer my question, my knee is getting sore.” She does finally say yes, I slip the ring on her finger and we are engaged. Now the next question becomes when and where does this wedding happen? TBD of course.

We had one last stop on our tour of Quebec – Gatineau Park. I could have easily ‘did the deed’ here. We were in a beautiful location and completely alone (for the first time since we started our adventure.)  If I had proposed here, I would have followed in the footsteps of Lise’s brother Denis who proposed to his wife Becky by the falls. Who knows, maybe we’ll have our wedding in Gatineau Park…