HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!
Our sweet, kind and fun daughter-in-law, wife to Michael and mom to Drew, Davis, Brady and Blair....
we are so blessed to have her in our family!
Lots to report today.....we are in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada (pop 1,451,571), the 4th largest city in Canada ! We completed the last of our 36 locks on the Rideau. Here's how our day went,
We were up early and left our rafting buddies with good byes and thank you again to John and La Loli. The sun was brilliant and blinding but only 59 when we departed at 6:45 and hard to see the red or green buoys as much of the first part was thru a narrow channel.
Passed many farms and silos and oodles of lily pads. Clouds overtook the sun and the wind picked up - chilly..........and what a big difference as boaters were wearing swimsuits (so hot and steamy in the locks) yesterday and today we had on jeans and sweatshirts.
Many many cottages have adirondack chairs out in their yards, on decks, etc. Red is the primary color (Canada's color) although we see white, yellow, turquoise, blue, etc. But today it was all about RED.....took several pics of all these neat chairs....(I know....flowers and chairs make me happy)! 😊😊😊
Just a few...
Around the fire
Kelly's Landing in Manotick
The only restaurant on the water along the Rideau
They would not be able to accommodate Catrina
We passed these Holstein cattle today - 1st livestock we've seen on the canal.
Grazing on the farm
Saw 2 large jets fly over us from the Ottawa International Airport which we were close to.
On the outskirts of Ottawa, we saw many huge, gorgeous homes - way too many to get pics as my head was going back and forth across the Rideau River oohing and aahing.
These ladies were exercising before doing their dragon boat race outside the
Hog's Back bridge We had to wait 15 minutes for the bridge to open
cause of maintenance issues.
Our buddies from Montreal we were with most of the day
Church of the Latter Day Saints in background
Cruising on the Rideau in Ottawa with great walking/biking/roller blading/stroller pushing trails on
both sides of the canal and pretty lights all along the way
We were settled along the wall in downtown Ottawa at 12:48. Our Montreal buddies are right behind us and behind them in the last spot are 3 guys and 2 little boys from Wildwood,, MO (my cousin Carol lives there)! We also saw boats from Jupiter and Vero Beach, FL today.
Wall of boats along the wall (Catrina is 3rd from end).
So, time for lunch and after checking Trip Advisor, we headed towards Cooper's which was about .3 away. As we were walking, we came to the Cartier National Armory built in 1679. Several uniformed men and women and many others were there for a funeral with a lone bagpiper playing.
Drill Hall
Celebratory drinks, lunch and desserts after completing our 36 locks
Excellent + a nice waitress from Lexington, KY!
We walked back to Catrina and put our leftovers in the fridge and then set out to see some of Ottawa. It sure was cool and windy! We came upon the City Centre Mall (200 shops) and tah dah.....here was this lady! We sooo enjoyed our coffee fix! There was a large LCBO (Ontario's liquor stores) in the mall and we were going to pick up a few libations, but the doors were closed and then we remembered hearing (when we were in Whitby) that these stores were going on strike July 4th affecting over 9,000 LCBO employees.
Happy happy boaters
We walked along the water with our coffees (warmed us up 😋) and saw the Parliament Building and other government buildings + the massive and beautiful Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel built in 1912.
The Fairmont Chateau Laurier
The last 8 locks here in Ottawa are called the stairsteps as they are one right after the other and after going thru them, you are on the Ottawa River. People call these locks the "Hateful Eight" as they can take up to 2 hours to lock thru. 😐 No thanks!
We kept meandering and came upon an absolutely beautiful park along the canal and talked to one of the gardeners. He used to travel to Homestead, FL to buy plants but now can order online. Here are some of his gorgeous blooms including my favorite summer flower - zinnias
We did 7 locks today, passed under several bridges and finished our 126 miles on the Rideau. Marinas are small, few and far between and can't handle Catrina's width. The 4 nights we were traveling, we only had power one night besides tonight (rafted off with John and La Loli last night) and never water. There aren't a lot of anchorages especially in the 2nd half of the trip.
The sun came out at 6:30 - yeah! Feels good! We got out our little washing machine that Michael and Brooke gave me for Mother's Day and did 4 "mini" loads - pretty nifty!
So tomorrow, we'll be reversing our cruising on the Rideau and staying at different overnight spots. We keep hearing about the next 2 weeks starting this weekend and "Construction Holiday" happening for all Canadian construction workers who will be on a 2-week holiday and the canal and boating will be CRAZY....................so, we'll be on our way and let them have their fun and hope it doesn't slow us down too much going thru the locks!
Reading about Ottawa and all there's to see and do, they suggest you spend a week here visiting.....but we've got to keep a'movin. Sure enjoyed what we did see, + lots of people and of course our Starbucks treat!
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