To be honest, I was only vaguely aware of Laval, Quebec before this trip. I thought of it only as a ‘suburb’ of Montreal and believed that the only reason to go there was to use it as a less expensive base with free parking to visit la ville de Montréal.

I was mistaken.

True, downtown Montreal is only 25 minutes away. But Laval is a destination in its own right with a surprising amount of family fun activities packed into its very own island.
An island? I had no idea, either. 
Bordered by Rivière des Prairies and the Rivière des Mille Îles, Laval is the third largest city in the Province of Quebec with a population of 422,993 (2016). Once mostly known for its agriculture, it has developed into an important commercial centre with much to offer its inhabitants and visitors.

Our family had a blast on our weekend trip to Laval without once setting foot off the island or venturing into that other nearby bigger city.

Defying Gravity at the Cosmodome

The Laval Cosmodome is the only Canadian institution solely devoted to space sciences. Unlike other space centers, this facility is truly interactive. We’re not talking about ‘hands-on’ exhibits with a button you press for a video or a quiz. The immersive activities at the Cosmodome simulate space environments and are authentic training exercises that real astronauts have used to prepare them for space travel.

“So cool,” my teens kept saying as they hung on to the anti-gravity wall with one hand, took giant leaps on the 1/6th gravity chair that simulated walking on the moon, rotated in cylinders designed to learn how to move inside a shuttle while in orbit and operated jet chairs.

Next, we went on a virtual mission to become the first humans to set foot on Mars. The 60-minute interactive expedition took us through six modules with different tasks and assignments. Educational and entertaining at the same time, it kept us fully engaged while we gained insight about the mental, physical, and technological challenges an odyssey to the red planet would entail.

More Adrenalin Thrills

Our next adventure was at Maeva Surf, an indoor surf venue.  A combination of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding techniques, it wasn’t an easy sport; but even as my teens wiped out, the grins never left their faces.

Since I was ‘too chicken’ to try the surfing, the kids pressured me to participate in our next thrill, which just happened to be indoor skydiving. Gulp. At SkyVenture, the experience started with a class in both French and English, where we learned the proper body position and were encouraged to ‘smile and relax’.

“Yeah, right,” I thought. “There’s no way that’s going to happen!”
Nevertheless, I leaned forward into the wind tunnel and with the guidance of our reassuring instructor, managed to feel like supermom for a brief moment in time.

Mangez Bien

Who knew you could find such fantastique food in a mall? Located in a strip mall, Oregon Bar a Vin was a chef-driven restaurant that hit the nail on the head in every way. The ambiance was open yet intimate; the staff were knowledgeable but unpretentious and the food, well, what can I say? It was so delicious that my teens even gobbled up the fried cauliflower, not to mention the agnolotti, fried chicken sliders, seared scallops and cod. Other memorable meals included authentic French crepes at L’Antre-Nous, burgers and brews at Les Insulaires Microbrewery and ribs at Les Enfants Terrible.

Nature and Culture

At Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, we toured the wildlife sanctuary and museum housed in a newly-built facility. We met Rex, a prehistoric-looking snapping turtle, one of a number of rescue turtles the center has taken in. Exhibits in the museum featured the nature and culture of the region, including its dance hall history. Up until the 1960s, holiday-makers and music lovers flocked to the area to tap their toes and dance to performers the likes of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong.

The park itself is 26 hectares and includes 10 islands. In summer, visitors can rent kayaks and paddle boards to explore the reserve. The trails can be used year-round, but the ice on our winter visit made walking impossible. We’ll do it next time we’re here.

Now that we know about the ‘Island of Fun’, we’ll definitely be coming back.

www.tourismelaval.com

When you go:

Accommodation:  We stayed at the Laval Hilton, which was ideal for our family because of its central location and family-friendly suites with full kitchen and pool.

Local Transportation: With free or inexpensive parking almost everywhere, driving is an easy option. But public transportation is also available with three subway stations and the 360 Shuttle, a free transit service that loops past the city’s best attractions.

Road tripping in the Acura MDX

For our family adventure in Laval, we were lucky enough to test drive the 2020 Acura MDX. It was especially difficult to hand over the keys at the end of this trip!

On the one hand, this crossover was a family workhorse with three rows of seating (fits up to seven people), towing capacity of up to 5,000 pounds and a powerful 290-horsepower V-6 engine. On the other, it was just a pleasure to drive with none of the heaviness we’ve sometimes experienced with other bigger vehicles.

Here’s what our family especially loved about the Acura:

The safety and driver-assistance features were standard. This included lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and automated emergency braking. Fortunately, we never had to use the latter, but the others made our road trip much more enjoyable. The technology worked especially well on busy highways with the vehicle braking and accelerating on its own. It also kept the vehicle centred in the lane without any input from the driver. Even in some less than ideal winter driving conditions we encountered on the way home the system worked well. When flurries did affect the cameras, a warning appeared, letting us know that the driving assist features weren’t available.  We were impressed and grateful that the Acura MDX handled so well under these winter conditions.

The seats were ultra-comfortable and adjusted easily. A large console fit all our road trip essentials of snacks and drinks along with my sizable handbag. The second row was also luxurious and spacious with even enough room for my six-foot-three teenage son. The third row looked less comfy, but we only used the space for our luggage (both rows folded down easily). The steering wheel was comfortable and was heated, though on the highway, we barely had to grip it at all because of the driving assist features. Esthetically, I loved the electric blue colour (Fathom Blue Pearl) and the red and black leather seats.

Two screens meant that navigation and entertainment each had their own monitors. My iPhone synced seamlessly with the system so sometimes we used the Acura’s navigation system and other times Google Maps. We could listen to Sirius classic rock just as easily as our road trip Spotify play list.  ♫ ♪Life is a Highway…. ♫ ♪

Most importantly, the 2020 Acura MDX was a joy to drive on our family winter road trip to Laval.