Friday July 29: Hawksbury, Ont

We're at a small town 60 miles from Ottawa - making the most of a rainy day. Yesterday we had been up early and on the blue line (place where you wait to go through the lock) just in case they started boats down the set of 8 flight locks first but no such luck. The lockmaster told Steve it would be 11 or 11:30 until they would send us down. So we went to see the changing of the guards at Parliament. It was quite impressive as the Canadians do like their ceremonies! It took a total of about 45 minutes for this - I don't know how the guards could stand in the heat as long as they did. Band, bagpipes and marching guards - it was pretty neat!

More pictures of the changing of the guard. The guy with the flag seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time marching from one side of the grounds to the other! The last picture is of another cool building in this same area.

Finally! It was our turn to go down. The day was getting progressively hotter and the locks of course block most of any breeze. We went into the first lock about 11:30 and expected to be out by 1:30 - which is pretty much how it went. Fortunately for me, Steve is very smart! He duct taped a large umbrella to the aft railing and viola - shade for me!! He could sort of get into the shade in the front of the boat but on the back there wouldn't have been any at all. Go STEVE!!! Finally - we were through the last 8 locks on the Rideau and on the Ottawa River (which we take to Montreal).

Fortunately our dock was awaiting us only two miles downriver from the locks at the Luc Leamy Casino!! Free dock with power and water plus a 2 minute walk to the casino. What could be better :-) Narrow entrance way to a flooded quarry made for an interesting passage. We had to check in at the guard gate at the narrow entrance so they could verify that we did indeed have a reservation. All went well, cool fountain + lights at night!

Tomorrow we'll be up early to arrive at the next lock prior to opening. It's a holiday weekend up here and will prove to be crazy!!! Montreal in a day or two :-)

Wednesday July 27: Ottawa Again

Our second day in Ottawa has gone well but it's still way too hot to be out in the sun for any length of time. Let's hear it for the bridge that provides us shade for a good part of the day. The picture left is an aerial view of downtown Ottawa. If you double click on it, you can see where our boat is docked relative to the Parliament buildings and downtown. Apparently the bridge we are partially under used to be the haven for the homeless until the city decided that just wasn't working. It's now a lovely place to stop. I also marked where the laser light show was held and where we were sitting. You can also see the 8 flight locks that connect the Rideau to the Ottawa River. Colonel By (statue of him facing the flight locks here in Ottawa) is mentioned everywhere as the one man force behind getting this canal built. Now he sounds like a genius - not so much in the days when the work was done though (guess that's how it always is, right?). Anyway, he discovered that lining the bottom of the locks with oak rather than the way more expensive stone worked well. Apparently, as long as oak is constantly underwater it takes decades to rot away. Of course we discovered that when we ran up on the stump! Anyway, the center picture is of the Parliament buildings looking from across the river. And the last picture is of the flight locks coming up yesterday. I think there are 6 of them in the picture but a total of eight altogether.

The boater behind us (he's here visiting his daughter that lives here in Ottawa) tipped us off to be sure to go to the laser light show at the Parliament. It didn't start until 10 pm but somehow we managed to stay awake! Wow - was it ever good. Unbelievable really. The Parliament building was the backdrop for the show. Basically it was the history of how Canada came to be. Really hard to describe but here's a few pictures which I know don't really convey how crazy good this was.

Overall, Ottawa is pretty biker friendly - including putting a little ramp in the middle of the stairs going up to the next level. Of course have you ever tried pushing a bike up something like this??? It's not fun (not that I would know - Steve took mine up :-)) There is a section of old Ottawa similar to the West Side Market in Cleveland or Pike's Market in Seattle. Many, many restaurants of every type - including the center picture of a place that features Pelee Island wines! I guess that makes sense since Pelee Island (in Lake Erie) is a part of Ontario. As you would probably think, there are many old and very unique buildings due to the French and British influence over the years. Canada became a country sometime in the late 1800's but had settlements long before that. This is a picture of the US Embassy - quite a bit more modern than most of the official buildings here.

Tomorrow we head out early to go through the 8 flight locks and then a short distance to a casino that provides docks/power/water at no charge - so we'll spend the dock money in the slot machines - sounds like a good trade off to me!

Tuesday July 26: Ottawa - Capitol of Canada

In the past 3 days we've traveled an additional 60 miles up the Rideau Canal – the same distance we traveled in the two weeks since we left Kingston! There's not a lot to see on the upper part of the canal system as it changes from lakes and islands to river channels. Working farms are a common sight along here. We spent the night at Burritts Rapids lock after having traveled through 7 locks on Sunday. Some of the locks have bridges over the center of the lock that must be swung before we can go into the lock chamber but the interesting thing is that the bridges are just pushed open by the lock crew! Once it starts moving it just opens/closes the rest of the way. Kind of fun

I found a squirrel that really liked peanuts and was willing to come fairly close to get them. Not like the ones in Orillia that the kids used to feed by hand though. Steve was up early the Monday morning and caught a relatively small bass but the picture he took (by himself) makes it look HUGE and fake. The second picture of it is more realistic :-)

Rain the next morning so we were really glad we had spent the time Saturday finishing up the plastic for the flybridge – it worked great! The travel is now truly just a river (no more wide marshy areas) complete with the mega-mansions and large home developments as we are within 30 minutes (by car) of Ottawa.

Only 4 locks today with another 4 tomorrow and we'll be to Ottawa! We stayed at Lock 13 at another great little park like lock. Even had shore power so that was a bonus. There was a small creek that we thought would be good to kayak but it turned out we could only go up it about 20 feet so no kayaking. Instead, Steve decided to finally try his hand at pizza making on the boat. It was great pizza but he is out currently seeking an oven thermometer as there was clearly some issues with the oven getting hot enough. There was even a nice cat that apparently lives at the locks – she was helping Steve look for fish this morning but no luck.

Finally – Ottawa!!! Capitol of Canada. And the canal just goes right through the middle of the city. We found a place tucked under a bridge – busy today so we were happy to find a spot. And shore power to boot as the boat behind us was kind enough to share this plug with us. But that's the way boaters are :-)

Tomorrow – more about Ottawa. Right now, I'm looking for an internet connection to post this ….. other than the convention center internet that is $25 for 2 hours! Really??

Saturday July 23: Smiths Falls

After an early departure yesterday, 1 lock and 3 miles later, we arrived in Smiths Falls. Somehow I thought it would look familiar - not even close! A couple in Westport shared with us their favorite spot to dock here - shade all day long and off a little from the main channel. Luck was with us - so we have our own little park-like area. An overhead view of the area is courtesy of the Chinese restaurant we found for lunch (which was great by the way :-)) Double click and you'll see where we are docked.

Spotted a golf course off of the river on the way here - Mom would have wanted to jump ship and play a round if she were with us. As for me? I was happy as a clam with actually internet service - two computers going: one with my e-book and the other to use the internet. After a very warm day again (made quite comfortable by the shade and breeze), sunset was a welcome sight not that it cooled off much - down to a low of 74 degrees. Like everywhere in the east, just hot.

Steve was at it again by putting a shade structure over the front of the boat - admittedly it worked pretty well and funnelled the wind right into the boat. It also helps that we are parked in front of the old locks as the wind is directed down this old channel. The three locks in the picture were replace a number of years ago with a single hydraulic operated lock so it's much faster than going through three locks. The new lock is about 30 feet west of the old locks. Too bad the original builders were limited to a 15 foot lift (due to the lack of the technology) when the locks were built. Most locks are 2, 3 and sometimes 4 in a row.

Steve's stove cover project: first flatten the plastic by sitting in the hot sun with weights and clamps to hold it down. Then file the edges (cut by the magnificent multi-tool) for a smooth finish. Lastly, glue the two pieces together (for a double thickness), clamp and wait 24 hours.

End result? A nice cover for the stove which will not slid off! Worked like a charm - plus holes so it's easier to pick up and store when cooking.

All of that was yesterday and I also managed to finally find a place to get a haircut. I had very briefly considered letting Steve cut it I was so desperate but fortunately I came to my senses :-) Today up early and out to breakfast before it was too hot again. Backpacks included so Steve could go to the store. I just find a shady spot and wait :-)

More work today: finished fitting the plastic flybridge enclosure (it seems it just has to rain one of these days). Of course it took much longer than expected as does everything we do. Steve's kayak also got a patch job but really after 5 years of the inflatables, we are not disappointed that we may have to buy a replacement. Who would have though they would last so long!

Tomorrow we leave and continue north toward Ottawa. It's mostly going to be river travel with no lakes and no towns so (one exception is Merrickville which we may or may not stop at). Should be in Ottawa in 2 or 3 days!