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 :-)