OH Canada, Ottawa

09/30-10/03

Wesley Clover Campground in Ottawa

Site 4, group 3

$47/night ... seems a bit high

I had sent a text to Mr SMT, which he ignored.  So I thought we were skipping Ottawa.  Pembroke is not that far, afterall.  During this short drive he said, “Well I was doing some research last night, and I’d like to see Parliament Hill.  What do you think?  And what do you think about my post jamboree idea from the other day?  You never responded.  You are doing that a lot lately.”

And my comments were, “I think our goals for this trip are not aligned.  I started ignoring your ideas because you ALWAYS change your mind.  And I figured we were skipping Ottawa since your main goal is to lookie loo Lac-Mégantic.”

Mr SMT, “Ignoring me is not good.  My main goal is to make you happy.”

Kira - Snort.  “Then stop with the short overnight or two days here, two days there stops.  I am sick of traveling this way.”

Result, we have stopped in Ottawa for three nights.  Our minimum stop we agreed, unless we are just driving through.

Ottawa is pretty awesome, except for the parking garages.  By just wandering the downtown area we strolled through: Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal (oldest lock system in North America), and the Byway Market stalls (where Mr SMT purchased an entire flat of raspberries).  The last two being Kira's wish list for Ottawa.

Oh look!  The US Embassy.

Oh look!  How much the US Embassy does NOT want you to visit.

Back to Parking Garages ... Your 3 Challenges:
Now, FINDING the vehicle entrance to the parking garage is the first challenge, followed thereafter by finding the human exit from the parking garage, and finally completed by finding the human entrance to the parking garage (since the exit doors lock behind you, barring re-entry).  Whew!

Our Ottawa day closed with a visit to Whole Foods, since Mr SMT needs his yogurt, and that was another parking garage nightmare.  The garage entrance is WAAAAAAY in the back of the property, several buildings away.  And no signs point the way.  Arg.  Also, the grocery comps your parking ticket, as long as you spend $10 and less than 90 minutes in the garage.  Mr SMT was seriously sweating the time as the store was down to two cashiers, and a loooooong line to check out.  We were safe!  As in, we made it under the 90 minute mark.  Just barely!

A rainy day stuck in the camper: embroidery, reading, and research commence.

It FINALLY dries up for a bit of kickboxing the day we pull out.

The dump station is a joy for Kira, as the view of the sewer pipe exit is highly visible, and therefore, entertaining.  As long as I provide no running commentary to Mr SMT, who wanders around to check out the passenger side of the truck during the dumping of the black tank ... proverbial fingers in ears "La la la-ing."

This was a great way to check out:

     A)  How well our bacteria are working

and

      B)  How well our toilet paper is breaking down.

In Kira’s opinion, “looks good to me.”  :)