The Locks at Saint Anne de Bellevue.

We have driven past St. Anne de Bellevue a few times going back and forth to Montreal and thought it a very pretty spot. We took our bikes in - it's about 20 minutes east of where we're staying. It is a quaint town and home to a College - can't remember the name, and a campus of McGill. The locks here are to get boats past a section of rapids, rather than through a height difference in the water.

As an aside, we found out why they used to call Ontario, Upper Canada and Quebec, Lower Canada. Quite literally, the St. Lawrence River rises approx. 70 feet between Montreal and Kingston. I always thought it was geographically mixed up!!

Coteau du Lac National Historic Site was our accidental find of today. We started out our day with a swim. Jim and Yvonne have a traditional entry to the pool that consists of a race - her down the slide - him jumping from the side.

We had a quick lunch and started out on our planned bike ride. Our aim for the day was to find ice cream and jelly beans. Yvonne has had us on a jelly bean hunt for two days. On our ride, we decided to follow the museum signs and ended up at the National Historic Site. We had no idea we were in such a historically important spot. We ended up buying our annual National Parks and Historic Site passes - it's $155 for a family for the year and each site is a minimum of $10 to get into, so we're sure to get good value.

Here's what the National Parks say about the site:

"Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site is located 40 km southwest of Montréal on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and offers a window on a particularly rich history going back several millennia in time. Owing to its strategic position on the River, the main route into inland North America, this site has played a major role in the development of river transportation in Canada. At first a portage for nomadic Aboriginal peoples, Coteau-du-Lac later became a genuine bypass for travellers from Great Britain and France. By the late 18th century, a lock canal is constructed on this location. It was the first work of its kind in North America and was to serve as a forerunner of the modern-day St. Lawrence Seaway".

This was in fact, the first locked canal system in North America. The picture above is the entrance into the locks. Before the St. Lawrence Seaway was complete, the water was about 8 feet higher and the entrance to the locks was a big bay. Now it is shore and trees. The site has excavated remains of all the buildings at the fort. At one time there were over 2,000 soldiers stationed here. They have reconstructed the octagonal block house - that's where we took the picture from. A very pleasant surprize for us today.

The Basilica de Notre-Dame is pictured above and was an unplanned stop in our day. Our original plan was to spend the afternoon at the Montreal Planetarium (originally the Dow Planetarium). We got to the Planetarium at the very moment the English presentation was starting, so we were spirited into the auditorium immediately. They had a very informal and informative presentation geared towards kids understanding stars, constellations and our universe. Yvonne was spellbound with the night sky reproduced on the overhead domed ceiling. We forget that she's always in bed sleeping when it gets dark and the stars come out. After the presentation, we went through the small museum that circles the auditorium. It took us much less time than we anticipated and we found we had an hour and a half paid for parking remaining.

So, we decided to hike down Rue Notre-Dame to go see the famous Basilica. It was truly spell-binding. The art-work of the building itself and that hung, was breathtaking. We attempted to take pictures, but it was quite dark. The picture above has been enhanced as much as it could be without ruining it.

We're really enjoying our campsite. The people are very friendly and seem to be able to take just one look at our blank faces and know to switch to English. There's enough to do right here at the RV park that we're relaxing a bit and just doing a few things in the city. Frankly, a big city is a big city.

City of Montreal from Mount Royal Park. It was a bit of a foggy morning, so it's not a stunning picture, but it was a good day for bike riding. We drove up to the park with our bikes, then rode all over the mountain. There's lots of nice park area with one spot that has a man-made lake with walking paths around it. It is also an ice rink in the winter. We'd love to see it in the winter, but the road up must be nasty. The city has a real European flair to it. The streets are a maze of cul-de-sacs and off-angle streets. We managed to find our way through downtown for a driving pass in front of the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. We got a good feel for where everything is so we can park and just bike around downtown. The streets are very narrow with many one-ways, so it's a challenge for us out of towners. Next time, we may even take the transit train in, if I can decipher their french web-site.

The Rocket and the Currency Museum was the order of the day. This was our last day in Ottawa so we took our bikes and biked all over downtown Ottawa as well took the bridge over into Hull, Quebec.

As you can see we came across a statue of The Legend, Maurice ( The Rocket ) Richard. It was set up in Jacques Cartier Park in Hull. The Rocket was my first hockey hero and I met him at the Sudbury Arena when I was about six or seven and while a lot of memories have faded that is one memory that never will. Not only was he a great hockey player, but also a family man, a gentleman and a great ambassador for Canada as well the game of hockey.

The first part of the day though we went to the currency museum at the Bank of Canada, I promised the people out west I would check on what these Easterners are doing with our money. I also realized that that could be a long and tedious job. The Bank of Canada prints all the paper currency, the mint in Ottawa makes all the collector coins and the mint in Winnepeg makes all the circulated coins. It was interesting to see, as it is not a big museum but a good one. Everyone is intrested in money.

We have had a fantastic time in Ottawa. It is a great destination for all kinds of travellers and a good place to go on a holiday, for families as well as adults. Lots to do and all done well. Bring your bikes, it is very easy to get around. We are off to Montreal in the am and are looking forward to that as it is supposed to have great biking trails also.

Leslie's 40th Birthday was celebrated today. We got to have a small party with our cousins, Cliff, Michael and Kyle. We had a good sunny day that slowly turned cloudy, but we got lots of sun in and a bit of swimming before a wonderful dinner that Jim put together. Right after our ice cream cake, the big black clouds decided to dump on us. The boys ran into the house and us adults stayed out. It was a good rain and I (Leslie) decided to use the moment to scrub some bugs off the trailer and let the rain rinse 'em off.

BeaverTails are an Ottawa treat that is a must-do before leaving. We finally found them today on a bike ride in ByTown. Yvonne was pleased as you can see in the above picture. I just got to smell it. We have really enjoyed the miles of bike paths that Ottawa has. Today was our third time out on our bikes. We returned to the Parliament Hill area, starting at the market, then riding down Sussex Drive to see the Governor General's and the Prime Minister's residences. Yesterday, we had the magnificent sunset pictured above. Jim and I tried to sit out at a campfire for a while, but the mosquitoes got a bit too much for us and we ended up retreating to our screened in refuge. We have just two days left here and we head to Montreal on Tuesday.

Yvonne at the Van Der Graff Generator at the Science and Techology Museum. This is quite the hair-raising activity! We must start at the beginnng, though. This day started with a rather hair-raising event. Jim and I woke up just moments before midnight with the wind howling and our awning threatening to be ripped off. Jim jumped out of bed and into sandals to quickly get the awning stowed. Thank goodness he's always got tie-downs securing it to earth. We then got to watch a truly spectacular lightening show from our bedroom and the company of a glass of red wine. Our adrenalin slowly decreased and we returned to a peaceful slumber. In the morning we found out the park had lost 5 trees to the storm. Luckily, all had fallen away from RV's.
Our next discovery was that we had put a non-rechargeable battery in the battery recharger. If you've never done it, don't. What a &*^% mess! I noticed what looked like mud splatters on Yvonne's bedroom ceiling. I thought it was a muddy swimsuit event from the weekend, but on further exploration, found the exploded battery in the charger. We then spent a couple hours shaking, wiping, cleaning every item in her bedroom. There was a fine dust and chunks of a black, dusty/greasy substance everywhere. What fun.
So, we finally got on our way to the Science & Tech Museum at about 10:30. We found it with no detours or wrong turns. It was an interesting museum, but not as exciting as Science North in Sudbury. Yvonne and I had fun riding a snowmobile. Yvonne enjoyed making a rocket and talking on old-fashioned rotary-dial phones. We spent a few hours there and headed home for a bit of shopping and a swim.
Tomorrow we are planning a leisurely bike ride and a late, late night to see the Light and Sound Show at the Parliament Buildings. Yvonne is so excited to be able to stay up late. We told her the show starts at 9:30 and she said "That's past my bedtime" - you betcha, girl. Hopefully we'll get a nap in.

Today was the changing of the guard and the Parliment Hill tour. Yvonne really enjoyed the marching band and the work of the Guard. One of the soldiers passed out as the temperatures at 10am were already in the low 80's and very muggy. The order of the day was lots of fluids.

We walked around Parliament Hill until our inside tour time came at 1:20 pm. It was worth the wait. The commons chamber looks a lot bigger on television than it really is. The oldy but mouldy chamber is the same. Maybe I will live to see an elected Senate. The buildings, though, are impressive. There is so much history and the architecture is done very well. The new library is one to be proud of . We took the ride up to the top of the Peace Tower and got a great view of Ottawa.

We will all sleep well tonight as the heat really takes a toll on one's body. The pool was a welcome respite.

The Royal Canadian Mint was host to our visiting today. Unfortunately, the mint is closed for summer maintenance / vacation, but they are still doing tours. You get to see all the areas where the coins are minted, but you have to rely on video terminals to see how it all works. The Ottawa facility now only focuses on collector and investor coins, whereas, the mint in Winnipeg mints all the coins used in general circulation for Canada. Our mint also makes coins for many different countries around the world. Of course, we bought another couple silver coins to add to our collection. The Canadian art work on coins is absolutely beautiful. We bought another in the tall ship series that has a hollogram storm in the sky - quite cool. We walked around the Parliament area and found there was a peaceful protest going on with music, etc. It was pretty loud, so we headed away and onto Sparks St. to find some ice cream and cold drinks.

We took transit to get there, so we had quite a bit of walking today. It was much easier to take the train and bus than it is to try and find parking for a 1-ton truck in dowtown Ottawa. The people here are very helpful, so we got good advice every where we went as to the best ways to get where we were going.

Museum of Civilization, Hull Quebec. Another interesting day was had by all. We crossed into Hull, Que, to visit the Museum of Civilization. Another city and another amazing museum full with history.

They had a special exibit that we all took in. It was the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan. It is quite a story and too long to go into here. Ancient peoples were very ingenious as well as inventive. Yvonne's favorite part of the day was the Children's Museum as there were hours and hours of just kid things to do. Leslie and I took turns at Petra as well the rest of the museum, while she played her heart out. As you can see by the first picture Yvonne got spotted by a man in uniform, and gave her a card of an RCMP officer with his horse from the musical ride. They had quite a chat and he gave her a Canadian flag pin as well. A very interesting gentleman to be sure.

After my turn amongst the screaming kids, I had a quick walk through the rest of the museum. It is a 3 day walk, if you want to see it all. The second Pic is the roof on the top floor and only shows a small part of what is there. The top floor is a history of Canadians coast to coast during the early times in Canada. The bottom floor is also a history of our First Nations people, their history, lives and art. It was 92F today so after walking in the museum all day the pool sure felt good to cool down. Sleep will come erly tonight.

Rideau Canal biking paths were the focus of our day. Biking around the city is a great way to see a lot and keep cool with the breeze made by forward motion. We started out from Lansdowne Park, home of the Ottawa Renegades. Our tour took us down the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa Locks and we watched some boats going through. This route took us in behind the Parliament Buildings and several other historic sites. The building you see in the picture above with the pointed spire is the newly restored Library(160 million). It is the only building that is an original as the others were burned down in the great Ottawa fire.

We then kept going around to the NW end of the city in behind the Surpreme Court of Canada as well Gatineau, Quebec across the Ottawa River. We will be there tommorrow at the Museum of Civilization. We met Syvie and her daughter Madeline while we were behind the Court and may get together with them this weekend. We continued west around the War Museum and then at the suggestion from Sylvie went over to the market and got some fruit, drinks and chocolate croissants,for Jim and Yvonne only.

By this time we had spent over 3 hours on the bikes so we headed back and stopped at a playground along the way so Yvonne could run around there for a bit. We got back to our vehicle and headed for home and that nice cool pool as Ottawa is hot and muggy. What a great way to end the day.

We're in Ottawa now. We drove from Sudbury to Arnprior on Monday to visit Jim's cousin Leanne and her family. We had a couple hours and a great dinner before we headed on into Ottawa. Our first RV park we planned to stay at wasn't answering their phone, so we went to a different one. It ended up being way south of town, very expensive, and run-down all at once. We weren't impressed, so we took off in the morning for a new RV park just a bit further north (and within cell phone range). We are close to a road, but it quiets down at night. We have an outdoor pool and a nice grassy spot. We plan to hang out here for two weeks while Michelle is away in HAWAII - have fun you guys!!!!
So, today, we drove (the long way) up to the Aviation Museum. It was a well done museum with one of our favourite subjects. They did a good job of documenting the history of Canadian Aviation. The Beaver pictured above is one of Canada's biggest aviation success stories. These planes haven't been manufactured new since the '70's, but many are still in service. Yvonne got to build her own plane and "fly" it down a string and into a "lake" (really a kids inflatable pool). It was a fun project. We intended to stop at the RCMP stables where they train for the Musical Ride, but we couldn't find it.
We had a tough day navigating. We haven't quite got the hang of the city. We tried doing a quick on and off of the freeway and ended up doing a huge oval route, but managed to not quite go all the way "home" before we realized we were in the entirely wrong spot. There are so many things going on in Ottawa, it will keep us busy. We plan to try out the transit system, since parking the truck is no easy trick in the city. Similar to Vancouver, all the parkades of 6'6" clearance - 2 inches too low for us. Tomorrow, we may try to get into the Parliamentary area early enough to see the changing of the guard. It's at 10 AM each day.

Just for you - Christina and Eric. Here's a picture of Leslie. We had a nice visit with you and Jason this morning. Today was our last trip to Science North. We got to see Wings Over The North again, what a fab show. Yvonne held a millipede and petted a walking stick. We also got to see a flying squirrel in action. The picture above is just outside Science North on the boardwalk around Ramsay Lake.

"So Cutie's" camp was our destination today. Yvonne decided to change Mike's name from Cecutti to "So Cutie". Jamie brought his kids Alexis and Jared, so Yvonne was in her element. It was a nice relaxing day of boating, sauna, swimming and eating. How else should you spend a holiday Monday? Baby Sophia is growing and is a good and healthy 13 pounds now. Jim got her smiling with his singing. She was probably just wondering who the goofy guy was googling at her????? Mike took us out for a last minute boat ride as the lake had been choppy all day and it calmed down tonight. We happened on the perfect opportunity for some sunset pictures.
Well, we've had a great "Cottage Country" weekend and now I know what it's all about. Thanks everybody for showing us a great time. WE'LL BE BACK!!!!!

Uncle Butter's old camp was the camp dejour. Patricia and Robert hosted a huge dinner with BBQ roast and chicken with assorted salads and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Patricia picked fresh strawberries this week - can you believe they're already ripe???? Yvonne had a great day playing with her cousins Ellen, Evan, Christina and Lisa as well as Lisa's friend Ashley. By the end of the day, Ashley said Yvonne is so cute and so much fun, but I'm Sooooooo tired. Hee hee - now she nows what we've got 12 hours of every day. I don't think there's much more than 5 minutes in a day when she's not talking and asking questions.

Mary and Don's camp on Tyson Lake. This is "camp weekend" for us. We have been invited to three different camps this weekend and started out with a day with Mary and Don. It was just under an hour drive south and west of Sudbury on the road to Kilarney. We hitched a water taxi across the lake to their place and proceeded to have a fun day. Cousin Mark was there with his friend Jeff. We all took turns in the sauna and jumping into the lake. Even Yvonne jumped in and went for a swim. Dinner was a fabulous salmon / chicken combination on the BBQ, accompanied by enough beverages to keep us overnight. We were up early this morning, thanks to our travelling alarm clock (Yvonne), so we were back in Sudbury before noon and in time to take off to the next camp.