The days are growing shorter now. Each morning, the sun rises a little later. Each evening, the sun sets a little earlier. In a matter of weeks, the Autumnal Equinox will be upon us.

With summer now drawing to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the season that was. Whether one is in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, or elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, one is sure to have one’s own unique memories. Long after the seemingly endless days of sunshine and warmth have been lost to the passage of time, those memories will still be with us.

A tiny slice of those recollections is preserved in photographs. Even better, that piece of personal experiences is available to all who look. At Ipernity, one has access to memories—and even more precious, friends—from around the world. Neither time nor distance is a barrier.

In the New York City area, following an abundance of rain that resulted in the second wettest June on record (records go back to 1869 for those who are interested), July featured a wealth of heat. The month saw a heat wave with 7 consecutive days on which the temperature reached or exceeded 90°F (32.2°C). During the height of the heat, nights offered little relief. July 18-20 saw low temperatures of 80°F (26.7°C) or above, tied with the longest such stretch on record.

With the heat baking the northeastern United States throughout much of July, it proved a good time for me to travel north to Quebec City where cooler weather prevailed. The trip was planned well in advance, but its timing could not have been better as summer’s fiery heat enveloped the NYC area.

Quebec City is one of the world’s cultural gems. In its 2013 “World’s Best Awards,” Travel+Leisure ranked Quebec City as Canada’s top city. To those who have had the chance to visit that storied city with its more than 400-year history, this outcome comes as little surprise. Instead, many of us would ask how Quebec City could not be Canada’s top destination.

Quebec City’s unique confluence of rich history, ornate architecture, commanding views of the St. Lawrence River and adjacent towns, French culture, flavorful cuisine, and friendly people, makes it one of the world’s jewels for tourists. The surrounding area adds to what Quebec City has to offer with contributions ranging from the 83-meter (272-foot) tall Montmorency Falls to the spectacular Charlevoix landscape.

With everything it offers, no matter how often one visits or for how long, one can only leave the Quebec City area with fond memories. Consequently, as the days grow steadily shorter, mornings begin to dawn on the crisp side, and the first Monarchs and hummingbirds take flight for their extraordinary migrations, I will be able to look back at Quebec City as a highlight of what proved to be another great summer.

Perhaps, as one looks back at a season now nearing its end, the words of 19th century poet Sarah Helen Whitman’s “Summer Call” are appropriate. She wrote:

The summer skies are darkly blue,
The days are still and bright,
And Evening trails her robes of gold
Through the dim halls of Night.

Just maybe one will be able to savor a few more moments when the sky is lit in nature’s “robes of gold” through the now gradually darkening “halls of night.” One should make the most of what the last days of summer have to offer. As the seasonal transition nears, the summer’s warm breezes will begin to yield to a colder wind from the north.