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Published: July 22nd 2010
THE BASICS
We succeeded in pulling out of Durham on Thursday, July 15, as scheduled. We missed the 8:00 target by 15 minutes, but we don't think that will jinx the whole trip. We arrived in Burlington VT in our usual RV fashion, taking 1 1/2 times as long as we had planned. Our four days and nights at the familiar campground were very pleasant, socializing with acquaintances, relaxing from the stresses of preparing for this trip. It was a nice transition.
On Monday, we headed to Ottawa. We arrived in time to drive into the city after supper, and it is a lovely place. For the last two days, we have spent many hours in the city, walking and walking and seeing the sights.
Tomorrow, we will head west. We know we will go on Route 17, but how far we will go - North Bay? Sudbury? - is up to our whims.
THE FLUFF
- Vermont is a magic place to Linda. Her alma mater is there, but it sometimes feels as if the whole state is her soul mother. As we drive up route 89, which is along a ridge with the Green Mountains to the west, we see small villages tucked into the valleys below, always with the tall white church spire, and looking very cozy. Getting to the suburban cookie-cutter developments clustered around Burlington is a downer.
- We saw signs saying "Moose Crossing, Next 3 miles" and "Bear Crossing, Next 2 miles", and wondered what kinds of problems there would be if a moose crossed in a bear crossing area, or vice versa.
- We had last been to that VT campground with our beloved tent and screen tent, and the energetic thunderstorms coming in over the Adirondacks were prime reasons for deciding to move up to an RV. Linda made the mistake of saying she hoped they would hear rain on the RV roof, so they could appreciate their good fortune in being safe and dry - it rained from early morning to after noon the next day...
- It is sad to see how shabby and faded many of the dairy barns are in VT. It's a whole way of life on the wane.
- We drove up to Canada through a very small border crossing station. Our RV was very thoroughly inspected by a young man who pulled out all the drawers and opened all the cabinets before he was satisfied. The choice seems to be whether to go through a major station, waiting in line for however long, or going through a small one and providing boredom-relief for the officers.
- One of the pullouts was not firmly latched after the inspection, and when we next stopped, we discovered that an opened box of angel hair had tipped and spilled its contents all over the floor, other shelves, etc. John suggested that since the floor was clean, we could still use it. He was ignored.
- We saw lots of corn and soybeans and apples growing in Quebec, as well as some cows, sheep, and a llama suddenly in the midst of a herd of sheep. We drove through the villages, though, rather than "above" them, and they weren't as quaint as the ones in VT had been.
- The roads in Quebec were quite bumpy, even the major highway, but changed abruptly to reasonable when we entered Ontario. We met a guy at our campground who had driven his RV over hundreds of miles of dirt road from his home in Labrador City, so we really should not complain.
- We attended the Changing of the Guard at 10 on Tuesday morning on the massive lawn in front of the Parliament buildings. The soldiers in their bright red jackets and tall black fur hats look like wooden soldiers with their stiff, precise movements. But they are wonderful. We saw them again on Wednesday morning, this time from the rear, as we got stuck behind them when we drove into town and they were marching from their headquarters to the parade grounds.
- We had warm, actually hot, days for our Ottawa sightseeing. We walked along the Ottawa River and then crossed a bridge to Gatineau, Quebec (formerly Hull) and back again to Ottawa. This area is so full of walking/biking/jogging trails!
- From 1826 to 1832, a man named John By supervised the building of a canal through Ottawa to the Rideau River - all part of defending the area against the Americans.... The canal has several locks to compensate for the level change between the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. The Canal is an amazing engineering feat, and central to the charm of this city, which itself developed from the canal-builders' housing.
- The Parliament buildings look very old, though they were actually built after their predecessors burned down in 1916. The style is Victorian Gothic, very ornate.
- Our tour guide through the central Parliament building was charming. She had good stories:
1. There is a large throne-like chair in the House of Commons for the prime minister. Well, a few years back, when a petite lady became prime minister, her legs did not reach the floor. So, what did they do? They installed a hydraulic lift in the chair so the seat could be raised or lowered as necessary. (John asked if the chair also reclined; he is too silly.)
2. In the foyer outside the Senate, the ceiling has many, many panels, many with flowers and a few with names of former speakers of the Senate. Well, when they realized they couldn't keep painting those high panels with speakers' names, they installed one that says "Quelqu'un" (someone) to honor all the rest.
3. There is a small room decorated with a French flavor, to honor the French heritage in Canada. It contains a "bust" of Samuel de Champlain, who discovered Quebec. There were no records anywhere of Samuel's appearance, so a monk posed for his likeness and all representations of Champlain are based on that monk.
- Ottawa is the fourth coldest capital in the world, and has the second coldest January, second to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. No wonder the place crawls with folk on hot days such as we encountered!
- In Canada, senators are appointed by the Governor General (the Queen's representative here), and they are in office until mandatory retirement at age 75. I wonder how that might work in the U.S....
- We toured a small part of the Governor General's official residence. She is a beautiful woman originally from Haiti. One room is done up like a huge circus tent! It had been an indoor tennis court, with some aerialist performances, and the walls and ceiling are now covered with handsome striped fabric, in red, white and blue.
- We went all through the National Gallery of Art. It's a stunning modern building, and John insisted in walking through every room, although some of the modern art was pretty "far out." My favorite is the bright "chunky" art of the indigenous Canadians.
- We spent quite a bit of time deciding where to have dinner. Partly because our 15th anniversary is on Thursday. Partly because one guide book said, "Eat well in Ottawa, since there won't be good food again until Seattle." (And we are not even planning to go to Seattle.)
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Thora
non-member comment
trip progress
Sounds like you had a much less eventful start than you did on the Florida trip. Would love to explore Canada. Banff was a favorite trip for us but we haven't seen much else. Check it all out for us. You always come back with good travel reviews. Love, Thora