This post is a part of my ongoing series about “Ottawa’s Hidden Treasures.” I love this one because you have no doubt walked or at least seen a part of this route dozens of times before – but have you ever taken the time to walk the entire loop from the Alexandra Bridge to the Portage Bridge and back? Because if you haven’t, I’m telling you — you must!

I’ve had this blog post half-written for a while now, and I just needed to add the pictures to finish it off. Okay, so I was not exactly lacking for pictures. It was kind of a time and organizational thing that got in the way. Because when I first started writing this post, it was looking kind of like this outside:

And now it looks a lot more like this:

Which tells us two things. First, I am WAY behind on my blog postings! But more importantly, it confirms that Ottawa is a spectacularly beautiful city no matter what the season. And whether you’re a resident or a tourist, this walk is too gorgeous to miss.

Our walk takes advantage of an easy 5K loop on paved paths – perfect for strolling, strollers, roller-blading or biking. I like to do it on my lunch hour and it takes almost exactly an hour – when you don’t stop every 15 meters to take a photo. I cannot believe that I’ve worked downtown for the better part of my career and never walked the full loop before this year.

I start at Majors Hill Park, beside the National Gallery, which is conveniently close to where I work. If you follow this route, you’ll walk across the Ottawa River on the 112 year old Alexandra Bridge, which is also known as the Interprovincial Bridge (no wonder we can never figure out which bridge is which!) Did you know it was originally built as a train bridge by CPR, and that it had a dedicated trolley lane for decades? It also has a gorgeous panoramic view of the Parliament Buildings if you stop and look back over your shoulder about 3/4 of the way across.

At the foot of the bridge, find the bicycle and walking path that leads in behind the Museum of Civilization, to the left off the bridge. You’re now on the Voyageurs Pathway, part of the Trans Canada Trail. Follow the path down in behind the curving walls of the Museum of Civilization, back to toward the river, and you’ll see the best views of the Parliament Buildings. I love this spot!

Keep following the path behind the museum and you’ll see the (sadly now no longer operational) outdoor section of the children’s museum, and the ruins of the old EB Eddy digestor tower – a nod to the industrial history of the area. Keep walking, but cast an occasional glance back toward the Parliament Buildings – they’re beautifully framed by trees at certain spots, like this!

Eventually, the pathway will bring you up to the foot of the Portage Bridge, where you can admire (ahem) the monument to bureaucracy that is the government’s Place du Portage complex on your right. Turn left and head onto the bridge and stare at the beauty that is the river to erase the Portage complex from your brain. To your right further upstream you’ll see the Chaudière Bridge and the Asticou Falls – a great way to extend your walk if you’re feeling adventurous. We’ll take the shorter route, though, and make our way across the Portage Bridge. The views of Parliament continue to be stunning from this perspective, and my camera(s) just love them no matter the season nor angle.

As you cross back into Ontario, you’ll see the new Mill Street Brewery in a 140 year old former grist mill on the right (what’s the rush, I’m sure we’ve got time to stop for a beer!) and the ruins of the old carbide mill on Victoria Island on the left. I love this spot. I’m fascinated by the ruins, and find this particular spot one of the most evocative of Ottawa’s history. You’ve got the old grist mill and the carbide mill in the foreground and Parliament Hill in the distance, the commercial heart of the city just over the rise, an homage to the First Nations people at your feet, the government complex behind you, and the mighty Ottawa River flowing through it all. How can you not feel the history of the place?

From here, you have a choice to make. You can walk up to Wellington Street and finish your walk in an urban way, wandering up the sidewalk past the Supreme Court building, Library and Archives, and eventually promenade past the front of the Parliament Buildings. It’s a gorgeous walk in any season, but it will bring you up hill – there’s a reason they call it Parliament HILL.

Or, you can opt for the nature route, and follow the pathway back down to the river. I’ve grown fond of this route, especially this time of year. You see a different sort of Ottawa tourist down here.

And let’s face it, while I do love the energy of downtown, there is something calming about walking along a river path on a sunny summer day – even if you do have to be mindful of the hundreds of other people who also had the same idea.

This may be an outlet for the city’s sewer system, but it’s still quite lovely! One of the many curiousities to see on this route.

As you hug the river, downtown rises up beside you. Soon, the Parliament Buildings seem like they’re towering above you. You can take one of a few sets of stairs embedded into the cliffs behind the Parliament Buildings (not for the faint of heart!) and visit the feral cat colony that lives near the West Block, or you can stick with the river path and catch glimpses of the Library of Parliament perched above you, which reminds me of a whimsical sort of treehouse.

And finally, you’ll end up at the first set of locks where the Rideau Canal meets the Ottawa River. Ahead of you is the Chateau Laurier, of course.

Have a couple of extra minutes? I’ve been meaning to check out the Bytown Museum for years. One of these days I’ll get around to stopping in! To finish our walk, we’ll hike up the steps to Wellington Street, circle in front of the Chateau and return to Majors Hill Park.

I think this may be the most beautiful walk in the whole national capital region. What do you think? Can you think of a better one?

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I have been blogging about raising a family in Ottawa for seven years and this? May be the best discovery of them all. I’ve recommended a tour of the RCMP Musical Ride Centre a couple of times as an excellent idea for free family fun in Ottawa, but I’ve never actually gotten around to doing it before now. This one has just shot to the top of my list of awesome (free!) things to do with kids in Ottawa!

Most people have heard of the RCMP’s Musical Ride, featured on the back of the Canadian $50 bill, but did you know the stables where they keep and train those magnificent horses is right here in Ottawa? I’d been meaning to take the boys down there for ages, but never got around to it. On Sunday morning, we were invited to join Simon’s Beaver scout colony for a private tour, and I have to tell you, I was amazed that I don’t hear more people raving about this.

There’s a bit of a museum, with a history of the Musical Ride, and a tack station and a farrier’s station. You can see the landau that Princess Kate and Prince William promenaded in when they visited – it was hand-crafted in 1890 in Austria and is still used for ceremonial transport of heads of state. But the real treat is the horses themselves. They’re beautiful, friendly, docile creatures (with a few exceptions!) and I was completely enamoured by Turbo in particular. He was so tall I had to stand on my tiptoes to pat his downy forehead, which he willingly crammed his face into the bars of his stall to allow me to do!

Our tour guide was Constable Ben Macconnell (how cool is THIS? they even have their own Musical Ride trading cards!), and I wish I could remember half of the interesting tidbits and lore he shared with us. For example, did you know the RCMP’s horses are at minimum 16 hands tall, which is a couple of hands taller than they were even 20 years ago, and they’re always black, and have been since, um, a former RCMP Commissioner at some point in the past (sorry, I forgot to take notes!) decreed they would all look the same. Each year, 16 new RCMP members train to join 16 existing members of the team, and they tour Canada and the world as the Musical Ride. Some members who join the team have never even been on a horse before, and they go through an intensive training program and during their 18-week lead up to touring season they spending hours each day putting the horses (and the riders!) through their paces. This year, they will be travelling to England to perform for the Queen for her diamond jubilee. (Can you imagine the logistics of getting 36 horses across the pond? Yikes!)

Since we toured on a Sunday morning, we didn’t get to see the exercises, which is why we’ll be heading back during the March Break! What a great March Break activity, eh? Here’s a peek at our tour.

This is my new number-one favourite Ottawa family activity, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! I’m not entirely clear on whether you can see the horses and riders going through their paces all the time or just in the 18 weeks that lead up to the summer performance season, so you might want to check ahead of time. Here’s the information from the Musical Ride Centre website:

Musical Ride Visitors’ Centre information: tours@rcmp-f.ca

Tours are available:

May 1 – August 31: daily 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
September – April: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Don’t miss this one!

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It’s hard to believe a whole ten years (!) have passed since I showed up for my first Strollercize outing at Boomerang Kids on Bank Street. I can barely remember being that girl, shy and still overwhelmed by being a new mom, looking for any excuse to get out of the house and interacting with grown-ups for a change.

I remember showing up clutching my signed waiver, trying to stand near the back and getting pulled in with a warm welcome. I remember loving the circuitous loop we did along Queen Elizabeth Drive and the Canal, and the way the instructors made it possible for everyone to work at their own speed and their own level while still challenging us and keeping us energized. I remember sitting in the sun on the grassy bank near Lansdowne Park doing stretches, and doing pushups against benches and the rail along the Canal. I remember those outings becoming the highlight of my week. And I remember in October of that year I ran my first 5K, pushing Tristan’s stroller in the CIBC Run for the Cure, something I’d worked toward that whole summer at strollercize.

It’s a shame, really, that I haven’t blogged about how great that experience was before now. I’d more or less forgotten all of it, though, until I got an e-mail a few weeks ago from Jules Hilliker. She’s the coordinator for the (completely FREE!) strollercize program offered through Boomerang Kids stores in Ottawa, and the energy behind Fitness with Jules. You can’t read an e-mail from Jules without feeling energized and enthusiastic — she’s got that infectious kind of energy that radiates out of even her written words. And when she asked for my help to spread the word about the strollercize program, I couldn’t help but say yes. Jules’ e-mail said in part: ‘Over the years hundreds of new families have found Strollercize through word of mouth, the only thing that saddens me is when a Mom shows up with an 8 month old and says, “This is amazing, how come I did not know about this earlier?”‘ And I was smiling, both from Jules’ enthusiasm and from the warm memories from my own strollercize experience.

Strollercize runs all year long out of the Bank Street location, but the program will be returning to all stores in March. If you’re looking for a fantastic FREE way to get out of the house, meet other moms and get a little exercise, I can’t say enough great things about it. Interested? Here’s the details from the website:

WHAT you need…

The baby!
Comfortable walking shoes
Dress appropriately for the weather – we walk rain or shine
Water bottle (for you)
Small snack

HOW to join…

Just show up on the day of your choice, and bring the signed waiver (available at the stores, or download one from the site).

Call Boomerang Kids if the weather forecast is calling for +30C or -30C.

Thanks to Jules for reaching out and reminding me about this terrific program. Makes me want to have another baby — or maybe I can borrow one and join in?

If you’re looking for another great suggestion for free outdoor fitness, stay tuned! I have a great suggestion for you coming up. No babies required!!

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This week, CBC Ottawa has been doing a series on savvy spenders, featuring ways to save on your groceries and on your clothing budget. And today, they’ll be airing a segment on free activities for families in Ottawa — featuring me and the whole family! It’s been about three years since I wrote what was to become one of my most popular posts: 40 (mostly) free family fun ideas, the post that caught CBC’s eye. I’ve updated it a few times, but I thought it would suit the theme of the CBC segment to repackage it as the story was originally pitched: seven ideas for seven days of free family fun in Ottawa.

Day 1: Be a tourist in your own town

When’s the last time you went up the Peace Tower? Walked around the paths between the Ottawa river and Parliament Hill? Said hello to the feral cat colony near the West Block? Visited Maman the Spider? (And now there’s a brand new Haida totem pole right across the street from Maman.) Not too long now and you can bring your skates for a trip down our very own UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal.

Day 2: Visit the RCMP Stables

We still haven’t gotten around to this one, but it’s definitely on my list! At the RCMP Stables and Musical Ride Centre, you can meet the majestic horses and be charmed by their beauty and friendly temperaments, tour the stables where the training begins, stop by the Riding School, visit the farrier station and see the stately carriages used in royal escorts of Her Majesty the Queen.

Day 3: Enjoy free City of Ottawa programs

Did you know the city of Ottawa offers 247 (!) free outdoor skating rinks — or at least they will if this absurdly warm fall ever gives way to winter. And there are dozens of free splash pads and wading pools for free family fun in the summertime.

Day 4: Find freebies galore at the Ottawa Public Library

Everybody knows you can get books for free at the library, and most people know you can now borrow music on CD and movies on DVD. But did you know you can also borrow Wii, Playstation and Xbox games? After all those video games, you might also want to borrow a pedometer! Or how about museum passes for family admission to the National Gallery, Museum of Science and Technology or the Museum of Nature or even a three-in-one pass for the War Museum, the Museum of Civilization and the Canadian Children’s Museum? And that’s not even mentioning all the cool stuff you can download for your handheld devices! Phew!

Day 5: Go for a nature walk

Ottawa is criss-crossed and surrounded by gorgeous open spaces with easy walking paths perfect for families and even easily negotiated with strollers. Stop at the Bulk Barn and invest 35 cents for a big bag of bird seed, then head out to Mer Bleu Bog in the east, Hog’s Back trail in the middle of town, the Stony Swamp in the west and spend some time feeding the chickadees. Simply put a little seed in your hand and the chickadees will land on your fingers to feed — I’ve yet to meet a kid or adult who wasn’t charmed by this one!

Day 6: Take advantage of free museum days

Starting in December through the winter months, the animal barns at the Agriculture Museum (aka the Experimental Farm) are open on a pay-what-you-can basis. And the fabulous Children’s Museum at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the National Gallery are both free on Thursdays after 5 pm.

Day 7: Visit free local attractions

Did you know that Watson’s Mill in Manotick is haunted by the bride of the first owner, killed tragically just days after the Mill opened in 1851? Or that there is a free Currency Museum in the heart of downtown Ottawa? Other free local attractions include the Nepean Museum, Pinhey’s Point (admission by donation), the Goulbourn Museum, the Osgoode Township Historical Society and Museum, and Vanier’s Museopark.

Isn’t that amazing? So entertaining the family doesn’t have to break the bank! If you’re looking for more ideas for free or inexpensive family fun in Ottawa, try these posts for some ideas. And please do feel free to share your ideas for frugal family fun in Ottawa in the comment box!

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Apple-picking is one of my favourite summer-into-fall family traditions. On a crisp autumn day, there is nothing better than blue skies, green grass and fresh red apples. And there is no better snack than a tartly sweet juicy apple – I’m drooling just thinking about it!

The apple-picking season is just getting underway here in Ottawa, and there is no shortage of great places to go — so no excuse not to get out and enjoy the fresh air before another endless winter is upon us.

I found this great list of apple orchards in and around Ottawa - there are more than a dozen of them! Here’s a few of our favourites.

1. Kilmarnock Orchard

This is my hands-down favourite place for apple-picking. Kilmarnock is about an hour south of town, along the Rideau River just around the corner from Merrickville. It’s picture-postcard lovely, and after you’ve picked your bushels full, you can poke on over to Merrickville, the “jewel of the Rideau” for lunch and boutique shopping. I wrote this post after our first visit in 2005, and here’s another one from 2009. (Stay tuned for the 2011 version soon!)

2. Cannamore Orchard

While Cannamore Orchards, also a little less than an hour south of town, may not be *quite* as picturesque as Kilmarnock, it has a lot of other fun stuff to engage and entertain kids of all ages. There are wagon rides, mazes, play structures, and even a few animals to pet. I blogged our Cannamore adventure from 2007 here.

3. Apple Hill Fruit Farm

If you’d like something a little closer to home, how about the Apple Hill Fruit Farm on Jockvale, just off Prince of Wales beside Stonebridge/Barrhaven? The Welch family has been operating this small pick-your-own and pre-picked apple orchard for more than half a century!

What say ye, bloggy peeps? Any other hidden apple orchard treasures in the national capital region worth checking out?

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Hooray, it’s summer vacation, and according to the forecast, the first week of summer vacation is going to be hot and steamy — just the way I like it! All summer long, I’m going to be posting suggestions for activities to keep families busy and happy. This week, I’ve got five suggestions for ways to beat the heat around Ottawa — and four of them are FREE!!

1. Andrew Haydon Park’s water park

This is one of my favourite places to visit with kids in Ottawa. Andrew Haydon park sprawls down the edge of the Ottawa river with beautiful walking trails, duck (well, mostly geese) ponds, a waterfall, a bandshell, and several play structures. It’s anchored on one end by the Nepean Sailing Club and one of our favourite splash parks on the other end.

Bring a blanket (but there are benches and picnic tables on site), a snack, a handful of buckets and a change of clothes (there are also washrooms on site) and expect your kids to get wet. And sandy. Very, very sandy!

If you go: Andrew Haydon Park is located off Carling Avenue at Holly Acres Road. The splash park is near the eastern-most parking lot (and a long walk from the western-most one — be warned!) Parking and admission are free!

2. The city’s wading pools are not just for wading!

When I think of wading pools, I think of those very shallow pools from my childhood parks, often circular and graded down to a central drain, and all of about 10 inches deep. Some of the city’s (free!) wading pools are a heck of a lot deeper and more fun than that! In particular, we like the one at the corner of Greenbank and Lisa Ave, just around the corner from Ikea. It’s got a deeper area for big kids, a shallow area perfect for toddlers, and the lifeguards are always terrific, actually engaging the kids while watching over them.

You can find a list of the city’s 56 (!) wading pools, as well as a great mapping system, on the city’s website.

3. Ottawa beaches

I may yet write a separate post about beaches in and around the Ottawa area. For now, I couldn’t write a post about ways to keep cool on a hot summer day without at least a passing mention of the terrific beach at Brittania, just up the road from Andrew Haydon park, in fact. We visit Britannia beach at least a couple of times each year. There’s a huge stretch of sand, the water is clean, shallow and kid-friendly (it’s the least-often closed-due-to-pollution beach in the city), it’s supervised with lifeguards during certain hours, and there are also play structures, a snack bar, and a huge, grass and tree park nearby.

There’s also a great breakwater for exploring, which happens to be one of the best places in Ottawa to watch the sun set!

4. Splash pads

We were lucky that the water ban in Manotick, Barrhaven and Riverside South didn’t affect us too much, but I was relieved to hear when it was lifted so that we could continue to visit our favourite splash pad in Barrhaven. Did you know there are more than 50 splash pads in parks throughout Ottawa? Some are bigger than others, but how fun would it be to visit one each day for a week?

5. Waterslide parks

Summer just wouldn’t be complete without at least one day at one of the two awesome waterslide parks near Ottawa. Mont Cascades is on the Quebec side, and Calypso is about 40 minutes east of downtown Ottawa in Limoges. We could spend a whole day in Calaypso’s Pirate Splash Pad and the wave pool alone — and in fact, if the stars align correctly, that’s exactly where we’ll be today!!

I blogged our first visit to Calypso last year, if you’d like more details.

So there’s my best suggestions for beating the heat of an Ottawa summer — and I didn’t even get around to mentioning the city’s outdoor swimming pools, indoor wave pools, or that old standby, the backyard sprinkler!

Got any suggestions to share? What are your favourite places to get soaked in Ottawa?

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Photo credit!, a photo by Dani_Girl on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
My first print photo credit appeared this week in our community newspaper, the Manotick Messenger! I was expecting a quarter-page ad, and was delighted to see the ad was a half-page, so my collage took up a whole quarter of the page.

(I’m particularly tickled that the story that runs above my photograph is that of poor Ann Currie, the ghost of Watson’s Mill — I told that story in a blog post just a few months ago!)

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend and live in the Ottawa area, Manotick’s Dickinson Days promises to be some great family fun with a parade, midway rides, tours of the Mill, a pancake breakfast, a crafter’s market, kids’ fishing derby and more. See you there!

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Here’s three great links for people who love Ottawa as much as I love Ottawa. (And for the record? I love Ottawa A LOT!)

First, mad props to the Ottawa Public Library. I love the library and I really love their website and new interactive features. I love the ease of popping over whenever the mood strikes me or a bit of information catches my attention and requesting a book online. If there’s no other requests, the book gets shipped to my local branch in Manotick within a couple of days, and I get an e-mail notification when it’s ready for pick-up. Even better, I get another e-mail two days before it’s due. This is a smashing good system.

You know what just made it even better? I can now do all this on my iPhone, thanks to a new Ottawa Public Library iPhone App. How awesome is that? And best of all? Totally free. I love this!!

Second, mad props to Ottawa Start and two excellent new resources they’ve published in the last couple of weeks. First, check out their wicked-cool Ultimate Guide to Tobogganing in Ottawa and Gatineau. Not only is it a map of all the best sledding hills in the city, but if you click on one it gives you information about the kind of hill, special features and any potential perils. Really, this is outstanding.

Last but not least, also from Ottawa Start, here’s an update to their 2009 list of essential blogs in Ottawa. This year, they’ve listed 26 essential Ottawa blogs, and I’m very proud to see I’ve been included. (Thanks Glen!) Some of my favourite blogs are here, and a few I must now check out, but I really like this list because of its diversity — it has a little bit of blog for everyone who lives in or loves Ottawa.

Ottawa rocks!

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I may have mentioned that I am newly infatuated with Watson’s Mill, the historical centerpiece of Manotick and barely a few steps’ walk from the new house.

Since we moved in, I’ve been itching to get out there with my camera and simply wander around for a bit. It was Christmas morning, in fact, after everyone had settled in after breakfast to play with their toys and I needed some fresh air, that I finally managed to creep out with my Nikon.

I wandered over the dam and around the grounds, and these frost-patterned windows with their Christmas wreaths caught my eye.

It was only later in the weekend that the hair on the back of my neck stood on end when I thought about taking these pictures. I was reading up on the history of Manotick (a post for another day) when I came across references to the haunting of Watson’s Mill. I’d heard about the Mill’s ghost before, and in fact there was even a Haunted Ottawa presentation at the Mill just a couple of days after we moved in, but somehow I’d completely forgotten about it when I was creeping around with my camera in the gloaming.

The more I read, the more fascinated — and unnerved — I became. Do you know the story of Ottawa’s most haunted place?

The Mill was built in 1860 by partners Moss Dickenson and Joseph Currier. It’s one of the few remaining operational grist mills (it uses the current of the Rideau River to grind wheat into flour) in North America. Shortly after it was built, Joseph Currier met his second bride-to-be, Anne Crosby, in Lake George, New York. She had never been to Manotick, and after their January 1861 wedding and month-long honeymoon, he brought her home to celebrate the Mill’s first year of operation. It was March 11, 1861 — almost 150 years to this very day.

By all accounts, Anne was delighted with her new husband and new home. On her first day in Manotick, Currier brought his new bride to show off the Mill. As she was ascending the stairs to the second floor, her long, hooped crinoline got caught in a piece of machinery, and she was flung against a support post and killed instantly.

Currier never set foot in the Mill nor Manotick again. He went on to become a Member of Parliament, and eight years later married his third wife, the granddaughter of Philemon Wright. He commissioned a house be built for her as a wedding gift, and called it Gorffwysfa, Welsh for “place of rest.” The address? 24 Sussex Drive.

As for poor Anne, she never left the Mill. Visitors to the Mill report chills and goosebumps when they mount the stairs to the second floor on even the hottest summer days.

When I read this account, from an undated Ottawa Citizen story, the hair stood up not just on my neck but all the way down my arms, too.

But in 1980, two boys were walking across the dam beside the mill, the old lamps along the pathway giving off a pale, yellow glow in the deepening twilight. As they approached the mill, they heard a noise from above, like someone falling. They looked up to see a woman in a long skirt, standing at the window watching them. They froze. The ghostly figure tilted her head, and the boys grabbed each other and ran. Keeping their eyes on the window, they saw Ann slip away, and then reappear in the next window, following them.

Over the years, Ann has been seen more often. She’s become possessive of her mill, and doesn’t like things changed. If tour guides move anything, they’ll come in the next day to find it moved back to where Ann wants it.

Her footsteps, pacing along the second floor, are getting louder. Some people say it’s because she knows her secret is out, so she doesn’t have to hide in the darkness anymore.

But in the cold winter months, when the mill is closed to visitors, Ann gets lonely. She comes out, sometimes walking along the front of the mill, but mainly watching people from her favorite window by the pathway.

If you walk by, late on a winter night, you can sometimes hear her low, mournful voice, calling to the people below.

Since I read this account, I’ve been back to the Mill a couple of times. I won’t stop wandering around, and I won’t stop pointing my lens at it. In fact, it’s on the route of my favourite Manotick walk.

But I find myself cringing, trying very hard not to hear anything out of the ordinary as I cross the dam and mount the steps beside the Mill, willfully concentrating on the snow-covered steps and not the old Mill with its second-floor windows looming over me.

And when I do take my pictures, I won’t look too carefully through the viewfinder, either, lest I catch a glimpse of poor Anne Crosby Currier, lost 150 years ago.

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On Sunday morning, I wanted to give the boys a bit of a break from the chaos of half-empty boxes and moving mania so we decided to set off in search of pumpkins. Sure, we could have picked some up at the grocery store, and Farm Boy has some really unusual white pumpkins this year.

But, ever since Tristan was wee and dressed for his first Halloween in an adorable baby pumpkin costume, we’ve been making an event of pumpkin acquisition. There was a farm out at Cedarview and Strandherd for a few years, and we’ve been to the Abbeyhill Farms stand on old highway 16 for the last few years. This year, we discovered the wonderful pick-yer-own pumpkin patch at Miller’s Farm and Market – another one of Ottawa’s Hidden Treasures!

Conveniently, Miller’s is just up the road from us, on Rideau Valley Drive just south of Manotick. It’s a great little place! You can choose a pre-picked pumpkin from the selection near the parking lot, or pony up $1 per person and hop on a tractor-pulled hay wagon for a ride back to the pumpkin patch where you can pick your own.

The kids loved the ride out to the pumpkin patch, and I loved the idea of actually wandering through the patch, stepping over vines and inspecting fat orange beauties for just the perfect pumpkin. Speaking of beauties, here’s mine on the hay wagon.

I’d promised that we’d get three pumpkins, one for each boy. But, Beloved had to work on Sunday, and I simply couldn’t figure out how we’d keep three boys (at least one of whom posed a flight risk) AND three heavy pumpkins from rolling off the edge of the open-sided wagon. Not to mention getting three boys and three heavy pumpkins OFF the wagon and into the car! So, despite finding three perfect pumpkins in the field, we “picked” only one and chose two more suitable candidates from the pre-picked selection adjacent to the parking lot.

The staff at Miller’s were amazing. When I staggered to the “checkout” to pay for my pumpkins with one arm holding a fat, ripe beauty and another holding Lucas by the collar of his jacket, the pleasant cashier was happy to let me pay for three pumpkins sight unseen and trust me to choose the appropriate size when loading them into my car. And the prices are very reasonable — the pumpkins in the picture above would have been in the $4 to $5 range.

In addition to pumpkins, Miller’s offers a selection of fresh produce and products including mums, apples, cider, pears, squash, gourds, ornamental corn, straw bales, corn stalks, turnips, onions, potatoes, fresh garlic, sweet corn and even cut sunflowers, and there’s a little gift shop on site, too. There’s also a corn maze and hay bales for jumping — fun stuff!

If you’re looking for a lovely expedition into the country and a great way to support local farmers while entertaining the family, I can’t say enough nice things about Miller’s Farm and Market. They’re worth the drive to Manotick!

If you go:
Miller’s Farm and Market is at 6158 Rideau Valley Drive, less than 3 km south of the village of Manotick. Hayrides are on weekends only, but the Farm is open every day.

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I‘ve spent so much time this summer blogging about other places that I’ve completely forgotten one of my favourite bloggy activities: telling you about the fantastic family hangouts we’ve discovered here in Ottawa for summertime fun.

If you are looking for a fabulous free activity on a hot summer day in Ottawa, you should definitely check out Andrew Haydon Park off Carling Avenue just west of Pinecrest (about a kilometer west and on the other side of the street from the Colosseum Theatre.)

Andrew Haydon park sprawls down the edge of the Ottawa river with beautiful walking trails, duck (well, mostly geese) ponds, a waterfall, a bandshell, and several play structures. It’s anchored on one end by the Nepean Sailing Club and one of our favourite splash parks on the other end.

Bring a blanket (but there are benches and picnic tables on site), a snack, a handful of buckets and a change of clothes (there are also washrooms on site) and expect your kids to get wet. And sandy. Very, very sandy!

This isn’t the typical suburban splash pad with shooting fountains and dumping buckets; instead, the kids have to pump the water up (or at least throw a switch to get a burst of water) and it trails down through a series of canals and water wheels.

There’s a mechano-lego-builder inspired vibe to the play structures and getting the water flowing that appeals to all three of the boys, and I’m always grateful to find an activity that engages all three of them equally. (It’s not always easy to bridge the gap between two-and-a-half and eight years old!)

And best of all, it’s completely free. Bring a snack or a lunch and enjoy a wander through the rest of this gorgeous but often overlooked park and it’s marshy waddle into the Ottawa river.

If you go: Andrew Haydon Park is located off Carling Avenue at Holly Acres Road. The splash park is near the eastern-most parking lot (and a long walk from the western-most one — be warned!) Parking and admission are free!

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Wow, it looks like a lot of people are as excited about the new Ottawa water park as I am! Thanks to all of you who entered, and for your comments on the sneak peek pictures. It looks like so much fun, doesn’t it?

Congratulations to day pass winners Holly Stardom and Kathleen Priestman. Yay! I’ll send you an e-mail for your addresses, and the passes will be in the mail this week.

Thanks to Calypso Water Park for the sneak peek and the free passes. You’ll be seeing a lot of us this summer!

(Hey y’all, how about a bloggy picnic at the water park some time this summer? Wouldn’t that be fun??)

There is still one giveaway for TOON books going on, and tune in next week for yet another awesome giveaway — you’ll love this one!

Edited to add: looking for more information about Calypso? You can read about our visit to Calypso park the first week it opened. Fun! And check my “Ottawa Family Fun” archives for more suggestions on great things to see and do in Ottawa!

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When I was a kid, my cousin Mike always had one of those magic trick kits, and we used to put on magic and music shows for my Granny and Granda. We’d stand on a “stage” by the fireplace mantle, I’d sing and Michael would do a trick or two. I loved those performances, and the enthusiastic response of my clapping grandparents.

I thought of those days a few times at last night’s Mysterioso show at the National Arts Centre. These old-style posters hanging over the stage set the perfect mood for the night — old school magic, excellent music and a few fun twists.

As I mentioned, we were lucky to receive a complimentary pair of tickets for the show, which conveniently happened to fall on the 15th anniversary of the night Beloved and I met. It was a great way to celebrate, and for a few hours it was nice to get out and be the ‘us’ that used to go to wonderful places like the NAC regularly, before the kids kept us home!

There were different types of illusionists featured through the evening. Illusionist Joseph Gabriel worked old-skool magic with a dozen doves, a series of illusions made even more impressive when we found out later that Gabriel’s own doves weren’t allowed to cross the border, so he had to work with borrowed local birds! “Les” and his daughter “Dazzle” put a funny spin (you’d recognize the pun if you’d seen the show!) on the lady-in-the-box disappearing act with their comedic magic act. But the act that dropped jaws throughout the theatre was the quick-change duo of David and Dania. You might have seen them on America’s Got Talent a couple of years ago.

Beloved couldn’t stop talking about the incredible singing voice of Christina Bianco and her charming musical impressions. He said the real magic was how such a tiny little toy piano of a girl had pipes like a church organ! The core of the night’s entertainment, though, was this: Maestro Jack Everly and the NAC Orchestra.

As if that weren’t enough of a treat, the small group of bloggers that had been invited to the show were then treated to a special after-show audience with magician Joseph Gabriel and Maestro Everly. They chatted easily with us, and provided a little inside information on what it’s like to mount a production like Mysterioso. For example, it took nearly five months to do a reverse transcription of the music for the show: the magicians usually work from carefully timed and coordinated prerecorded tapes, and it took months to recreate those into an orchestral score. And even though there were two full rehearsals for the orchestra yesterday, the musicians only saw the actual magic acts as they were unfolding live on the stage. How cool is that? Mr Everly said it’s a testament to the orchestra’s professionalism that they could continue to play with the magic show unfolding for the first time in front of them!

Someone asked Joseph Gabriel what launched him down a career path as an illusionist, and he said it was a book he read in the library when he was nine years old. As mom to a curious-minded 8 year old, this made me smile. As a matter of fact, magic kits have always been a favourite gift of mine to give to boys of that age, largely inspired by those long-ago magic shows Mike and I used to perform.

And I haven’t even told you about all the fun bloggy peeps who were there: Suze and Katharine and Andrea and Lana and Julie… and apparently Anna and Shannon were there, too!

It was a terrific night in a thousand fun little ways. Special thanks to the NAC for putting on a great show, and for making a special night out for local bloggers. When I asked Jack Everly if he liked playing on the stage at the NAC, he enthused about the wonderful acoustics, and we agreed how lucky we are to have this treasure in Ottawa. The NAC truly is a local treasure — have you been lately?

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Looking for an inexpensive March Break adventure? I’ve got a great suggestion for you! There’s a delicious breakfast, an historic farm with friendly barnyard animals, mud, maple, sap, mud, hiking, mud, maple taffy, marshmallows, lunch — and did I mention the mud?

We headed out with another family and a half and spent a spectacular Monday morning at the Log Farm sugar bush. It’s a true hidden treasure, hiding in plain sight just off Cedarview Rd (runs parallel to hwy 416 from Hunt Club to Fallowfield) in the Greenbelt just north of Barrhaven. We’ve been to a couple of sugar bushes over the years, and I have to say, this one was our favourite by far — and not just because it was an easy five minute drive from our house!

We started the day with this:

You know how sometimes the breakfasts in a sugar bush can be a little, um, meh? Not this one! Yummy pancakes, sausages, home fries and scrambled eggs, with plenty of hot sauce and of course, fresh maple syrup. Delish!!

When we were full, we wandered through the woods and across a great big open field to the farm buildings. (Little did we know, we’d only begun our hiking for the day!)

(Yes, one is wearing ski pants and a toque and one is wearing shorts. That is one of many differences between two and nearly a teenager! He was super-patient with Lucas, though, and since Beloved was at work I didn’t mind the extra help at all!)

The farm itself is a treasure. Build in the 1850s, you can wander through and imagine what life must have been like living with two parents and NINE children in a tiny two-story log cabin outfitted with a lot of period items. It’s really quite lovely!

Across the barnyard, you can play with Pearl and Wilbur the potbellied pigs or watch in amusement as the unfriendly goat tries to headbut them. (Whoops, forgot to upload the picture of the pigs and the goat. Oh well.) I missed the cows and the sheep, too, but here’s a shot of Simon and Lucas trying to feed the not-hungry sheep.

The pony was a little friendlier but beware — he nips!

After breakfast and the farm and the animals, our adventure had only barely begun. We set off on what would seem like a seven mile hike back into the woods in search of the sugar maples.

I also missed taking pictures of the squelching mud path and the pond-sized puddles we had to traverse on the way. Sorry, I was too busy keeping the clumsy toddler from soaking himself. Thank goodness we had the foresight to wear boots despite the gorgeous spring day!

I did, however, get lots of pictures like these! Have you ever seen how maple trees are tapped? These are the sap buckets.

The tap doesn’t hurt the tree, and the sap drips out steadily throughout the day. Sap needs warm days and cold nights to run well.

Much to our delight, we were invited to collect some sap in these aluminum buckets.

Each kid got his or her own bucket and headed out into the woods to retrieve the sap from the collector buckets.

This is what a bucket of tree sap looks like!

The sap goes into a giant tub called the evaporator and boils down until it becomes maple syrup. You boil it down even more and it looks like this:

Then you pour it out on snow it becomes maple taffy. Yum!

After another long, squelchy hike back out, we took a marshmallow-roasting break back at the farm on the way out. (I know, I know — maple syrup followed by maple taffy followed by marshmallows! Good thing we had to expend all that energy on the hike to the sugar shack and back!)

Finally, we wandered back to where we started.

By the time we got back to the pancake house, it was close enough to lunch time that we had a few more pancakes and sausages to fortify us for the drive home. Breakfast, adventure, lunch — talk about a complete morning of entertainment!

If you’re looking for an amazing sugar-bush adventure close to home, I highly recommend the Log Farm. You know what I liked best about it? I didn’t feel like one of 600 people they were planning to shuffle through today. The friendly staff make the long, muddy walk to the sugar shack worth the adventure. And the three-hour afternoon nap for the toddler was a nice bonus, too!

If you go:

The Log Farm
670 Cedarview Rd, Nepean
(613) 843-8090
Open weekends through March and daily for March Break, 9:00 am to 2:00
$9.50 for adults, $7.50 for kids over age 3

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I think I’ve discovered the most beautiful place in the entire city of Ottawa to have as a setting for a family portrait! On the weekend, the big boys and I, together with my cousin and his son, took a hike that I’ve been meaning to check out for years, the Lime Kiln Trail off Moodie Drive.

May I please take a moment to say how grateful I am to live in a city that offers such an extensive and impressive and — best of all, FREE! — well-tended hiking trails? I love Ottawa, and what the hell, I love the National Capital Commission, too!

The Lime Kiln Trail is part of the Stony Swamp conservation area in the west end of the Greenbelt. We’ve hiked the Jack Pine Trail with Simon’s preschool (another lovely walk that I’ve been meaning to revisit) and I’ve always wanted to check out the ruins of the old Lime Kiln on the other side of Moodie Drive.

It’s a super-easy hike. In fact, we kept walking right past the ruins, wondering if the trail would loop back, and only turned back after another half hour when the trail got too swampy. It’s so unbelievably gorgeous right now, but I imagine it’s a great hike in just about any season.

The ruins themselves are quite cool. According to the interpretation panels, the Lime Kiln was built in the 1880s but was abandoned and only rediscovered in the 1970s. In 1999, it was somewhat restored. Now, it comprises mostly the stone foundation walls, making for a very exciting discovery for young explorers, tucked deep into the forest and far from the road. (Well, not too far. I think the ruins themselves, comprising a couple of separate buildings, are about a kilometre from the P10 parking lot off Moodie Drive.)

See?

We completely forgot to bring birdseed for the chickadees, but that didn’t deter them. I swear, these are by far the friendliest, bravest wild birds we’ve ever encountered. We’ve stood for ages on Hogsback with hands outstretched and palms filled with birdseed, and still had no chickadees brave enough to land. Maybe they’re stocking up in anticipation of a long winter, or maybe they’re just more used to being hand fed along the Lime Kiln Trail, but we only had to hold up a hand and be still for a moment and we had birds practically pushing each other out of the way to land on our — and on the kids’ — fingertips.

If you go: the P10 parking lot closest to the Lime Kiln Trail is on the west side of Moodie Drive, in between Fallowfield and Hunt Club. It’s about a 20 minute walk to the ruins along a very well marked trail. Follow the blue triangles!

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I‘m on a “Ottawa’s Hidden Treasures” tear these days! The photos from this post were actually taken a couple of weeks ago, but I’m just getting around to posting them now. No wonder we’re not getting any housework done — every time the sun shines, I feel the need to pack the boys up and celebrate with an excursion of some sort. Lucky for us, Ottawa never lets us down — there’s always something fun for a family to do.

We’ve been visiting Valley View Little Animal Farm since we moved to Barrhaven six years ago, but I suspect that a lot of people have overlooked this little gem. It’s right on the outskirts of Barrhaven, off Fallowfield Rd between Moodie and Eagleson. Admission is $6.50 per person, and kiddies two and under are free.

Valley View is the perfect place for the toddler to early school age set. There’s fun stuff to climb on at the front of the park, and a small barn with goats, chickens, rabbits and the usual petting zoo type creatures that you can feed by hand. My boys have always been fans of the dozens of metal yellow Tonka trucks strewn around near the entrance… when they were toddlers, I think we could’ve just paid our $6 to get in, play with the trucks for three hours and then leave again without actually looking at the rest of the farm!

Behind the small animals barn, there’s a path that meanders beside a duck pond on one side and some bigger animals in pens on the other side. This blue-eyed meanie scared the heck out of me when I got a bit too close — even though there was a fence in between us, I still jumped back hard enough to fall on my arse when he hissed angrily at my obnoxious camera in his face.

This donkey was a lot more placid. Beloved and I agreed, there is something in his soulful eyes and “pet me, please!” demeanor that highly resembles our Golden-Shepherd mix, Katie.

Other animals include peacocks and llamas, deer and ponies, pigs and some very unfriendly emus. They also have some gorgeous horses.

The animals are my favourite part, and the boys like them well enough, but what they really want to do is run wild over the half-acre or so of play structures strewn around the end of the park. They’ve added quite a few since the last time we visited. There’s a few of the traditional climber-and-slide combinations, but they have a whole bunch of custom structures in adventure-inspiring shapes like pirate ships, trucks and airplanes. There must be a dozen or more in various shapes and sizes and styles.

I really didn’t think we were going to be able to get Lucas out of this tractor-train combination. He would stand aside to let other kids have a turn at the wheel, but would not, under any circumstance, consider actually leaving the vehicle for the best part of 20 minutes. (Is it me or do the terrible twos start earlier with each kid?)

You know how just about every city playground has the same basic look and feel, with largely the same sorts of stuff? The thing I like best about Valley View, in addition to the animals and the small, friendly feel to the place, is the fact that they have such unique things for the kids to explore, from the hand-built play structures and the sea of Tonka trucks to this really neat see-saw built from old wagon wheels.

New this year, they’ve also opened up a whole new section with a farm machinery museum. It’s 365 heaven back there! I can’t remember what this does, but I love looking at it!

And what is it about milk jugs that make them so interesting? Or is that just me?

Something about this row of tobacco tins gave the farm museum barns a feel of authenticity. This is one of my favourite shots of the day, for some reason I don’t quite understand.

Of course, no trip to the farm is complete without inspecting the old tractor beside the equally weathered barn!

Oh wait, you mean we’re not here to indulge in my endless quest for photo opportunties? This is about the kids, you say? Well then, no trip to Valley View is complete without a ride on the tractor train around the corn fields, sunflower valley and the pumpkin patch!

I’d forgotten how much I love Valley View in the year or two since we’ve been, and it’s practially around the corner from us. We tend to go to the Experimental Farm when we need our farm fix, simply because we have the annual membership, but there’s a sweet quaintness to Valley View that makes it unique and worth the trip to the far southwest corner of town. This is a great place for a sunny autumn day family adventure – definitely one of Ottawa’s best kept secrets!

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For more than 15 years, I lived in Ottawa completely oblivious to Britannia Beach. I’d visited Mooney’s Bay, Lac Phillip, Meech Lake and scores of others, but none came close to the Lake Huron beaches of my childhood growing up in London. Then one happy summer, we discovered Britannia Beach, and it’s just not summer without at least a few easy trips out to enjoy its wide sandy beach and surprisingly clean water.

For all the times we’d visited Britannia Beach during the day, though, it never occured to me until this summer that it would make a spectacular spot to watch the sun set. It’s free, it’s close, and it’s a perfect end to a pretty summer day.

Saturday night we checked it out ourselves. The evening was so perfectly clear, there was nothing to inhibit our view as the sun slowly dipped toward the horizon directly across the river from us.

Boys being boys, they didn’t have quite the attention span for the setting sun that I did. Lucas led the chase after some feathered friends.

The big boys were more interested in climbing the boulders on the breakwater.

There were huge boulders and gravel, but not a lot of skipping-sized stones. That didn’t stop the boys from enjoying the timeless pastime of throwing rocks into the water, though.

(I love how his feet are clear off the ground!)

I don’t think we could have chosen a more perfect night to watch the sun set. There were a few other families out there, but not nearly so many as you might expect, had you known that you’d get to watch this.

It didn’t take long for the sun to disappear almost entirely, leaving one last kiss of sunshine on the horizon.

(Tip: to make sure your camera registers the tones and saturated colours of a gorgeous sunset or sunrise, meter for the sky just to the right or left of the sun.)

After considerable debate, I chose this one as the picture of the day.

This is one little adventure we’ll be adding to our regular repetoire of local favourites. Matter of fact, I can see making a full-day adventure out of a hike around Mud Lake, a picnic dinner, and then sunset on the beach. Who needs a cottage or camping, anyway, when you can have all this and still sleep in your own comfy bed?

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I don’t know how the weather was in your neck of the woods this Labour Day weekend, but here in Ottawa we got the sun and mild temperatures that July forgot. This means that the mile-long to-do list was promptly abandoned in favour of some end-of-summer outdoor family fun. So much fun, in fact, that I’ll need two posts to cram in all the photos!

First, let me tell you about one of Ottawa’s true hidden treasures: Mud Lake. Never heard of it, right? Me neither! I came across it in looking at someone’s list of great locations for photography in Ottawa, and had wanted to check it out all summer. Yesterday morning was clear and the weather was perfect, so we recruited UberGeek and a few of his boys to join us as we went off in search of nature and a bit of exercise.

Mud Lake is here, just a smidge to the east of the Britannia Yacht Club. According to the NCC:

A patch of wilderness in the middle of an urban setting, Mud Lake is an amazing area of forest and wetlands. Located in Ottawa’s west end, Mud Lake is home to hundreds of species of wildlife, with raccoons, frogs, turtles and foxes, to name but a few. This ecologically significant urban natural landscape is also prime birding territory, with thousands of birdwatchers coming each year to observe hundreds of different species. A walk through this easy-to-access urban jungle provides an exciting escape from city life.

We parked on Cassels Street, just down from the Britannia Filtration Plant, and we could see the entrance to the trail from the street. We briefly debated bringing the stroller, knowing neither the quality of the trail nor the length of the hike, but decided against it in the end. If you’ve got a durable stroller with big wheels, you could easily bring it through — or you could, as we did, spend the entire hike caught between the leaping, running, adventuresome five-to-eight year old boys and the toddling, curious, must-stop-to-inspect-this-dirt-even-though-I-just-inspected-that-dirt-two-steps-back-and-oh-look-here’s-a-rock-and-I-must-inspect-this-pinecone-too-and-hey-did-you-see-there’s-some-more-dirt-over-here-and-oh-a-stick-and-no-I-will-NOT-hurry-up-and-you-may-absolutely-NOT-carry-me-thank-you-very-much-oh-look-here’s-some-very-interesting-dirt-I-wonder-what-it-tastes-like 19-month old.

The very first thing we saw as we set out was a turtle sunning himself on a log in the middle of the lake. It was also the first instance of boy getting too close to the water and getting a soaker. Not too far down the trail, we came across this little dock, perfect for inspecting the frogs and fishes below, not to mention giving mothers great photo opportunities.

This is what they were looking at:

It was just about a perfect morning for a hike. It was clear and mild, the day just starting to warm up. For the most part, the trail is clear and obvious, although there are lots of little sub-trails here and there. There were very few mosquitos out, for which I was extremely grateful. I think this guy (girl?) might have been helping out on that front.

(While we were stopped to admire this giant web — easily three or four feet across! — the chickadees started circling. Note to self, bring seed to feed the chickadees next time! I’m not much of a birder, but we came across quite a few people with binoculars, whom I’m sure were delighted with our whooping, crashing, running lot of boys!)

The trail wanders around the edges of Mud Lake, sometimes through the canopy and sometimes right up to the edge of the lake, with lots of opportunities for pretty vistas.

Hard to believe this is smack dab in the middle of the city, isn’t it? Can you spot the goose in the riot of colours and reflections here?

This is my favourite spot on the hike, an old wooden bridge across a tributary of the lake. You can see the hint of fall colours, and there were ducks swimming under the bridge. I stopped so long here to take pictures that the others wandered off without me!

There was only one point where it wasn’t completely obvious which trail to follow, and we ended up having to double back a little bit. The lake is shaped like an inverted V and I think we followed a trail that petered out right in the lee of the V, so to speak. We found our way back to the main trail, though, and finished the hike about 90 minutes after we started out, after circling the entire lake. For our crew, that might have been about 30 minutes longer than ideal, but it was still a wonderful morning out and a great way to celebrate the end of summer.

Stay tuned, and later this week I’ll show you another of Ottawa’s Hidden Treasures, almost right next door to Mud Lake!

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Beloved wanted to do one thing on our summer vacation this year, and no, it wasn’t painting the bedroom an extraordinary shade of yellow. He wanted to visit the Antrim Flea Market, the country cousin of our dearly missed Stittsville Flea Market, gone now for many a years. Unfortunately, in this summer of never-ending rain, it seemed to rain hardest on Sunday mornings, the only time the flea market is running. For four Sundays in a row, he was thwarted in his flea market pinings.

And then, this Sunday, the sun shone down with a vengeance! It was hot, bright, and sunny — a perfect day for a flea market road trip. I’m not a huge flea market consumer, but I do love to browse. And take photographs! This one is my favourite – look closely, it’s dozens of shiny, sparkly self-portraits!

It’s rare that I actually buy stuff at a flea market. The boys love to search the boxes for toys, and we usually let them choose a small trinket or two. Last year, it was all about the Star Wars toys. This year, it’s all Pokemon all the time. Me, I just like to browse. And touch. I loved this collection of keys, although if I bought them they’d only sit in a box somewhere.

I wonder if any of the keys would work with any of these locks?

I came very close to buying this violin. I don’t play, and I’m not sure a flea market instrument is the way to start, but I’ve always loved the colours and curves in stringed instruments.

(I liked this picture so much that I thought a B&W version would be nice to showcase the shadows and contrasts. What do you think?)

This 1956 VW Beetle was in near-mint condition. It wasn’t for sale, but it was up for raffle. Beloved bought a $5 ticket and promised that if he wins, he will give the car to his Dad, who has apparently loved a few VW bugs in his time. (Oh look, there I am again! Who, me, narcissistic? No, just in love with shiny things!)

The thing I like about flea markets is the nostalgia. I showed the boys a couple of those old black rotary-dial telephones and told them about the days when phones said “rrrrrrrring” instead of “oolooloolooloo”. We found a Mrs Beasly doll just like the one I had when I was seven (rats, forgot to upload that one to Flickr!) and a neat vintage tin lunchbox that I *almost* bought (circa 1975) and a carton of 8-track cassettes that would have worked in the station wagon I learned to drive on when I was 16.

I almost picked up some pyrex dishes, too… pretty AND functional. But I didn’t. The fun is in the looking, and not in the having. And, of course, in the photographing. I knew Beloved had completely capitulated to the idea of my 365 project when he started pointing out props I could buy to make interesting shots, or finding interesting objects I could photograph.

I don’t know whether it was the light, or the warm summer day, or kismet, but everywhere I looked there was interesting photographs and most of them turned out better than I’d hoped. I kind of wish I could save some of these pictures and use them as the picture of the day over a week or two!

(There are yet more flea market pictures in a set on Flickr, if you like!)

What about you? Are you a flea market fan? Or do you find other people’s cast-offs more trash than treasure? Got a favourite flea market find or, even better, another flea market to add to the list of Ottawa’s Hidden Treasures?

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Looking for a perfect “stay-cation” adventure near Ottawa? How about a miniature train ride and a day on the water at Crysler Beach? It’s a lovely hour’s drive through the charming small towns along highway 31 to the St Lawrence Seaway — totally worth the drive on a sunny summer day that also happens to be your birthday, especially if your in-town beach plans were marred by a colossal sewage dump a couple of miles downstream from your favourite (Britannia) beach.

We visit Upper Canada Village almost every year, and we’ve taken a spin on the miniature train almost every time… but we’ve never gotten off the train at the far terminus of Crysler Beach before. After hearing it recommended a couple of times, we decided to try it out with my brother’s visiting family and my mom last Saturday.

We got a slow start to the day, so it was nearly lunch time when we arrived at Upper Canada Village. We stopped for our favourite lunch of Village-made fresh bread and cheese, and a few other goodies from the snack bar, and enjoyed them on the patio.

You don’t have to pay the admission to Upper Canada Village to enjoy the snack bar and gift shop, nor to ride the train. There is a small fee for the train ride, though — I think it’s $5 for adults and $3 for kids over four or something to that effect. The train runs every half hour, and you can get off at the Crysler Beach station or stay on for the full loop.

The train ride to Crysler Beach is a lovely little 15 minute jaunt, complete with a ride under a covered bridge and a run alongside the St Lawrence River. The point you can see is the breakwater just on the edge of the beach.

The beach itself is quite a bit larger than I was expecting. It has covered changerooms and washrooms on site, and apparently there’s a play structure, too, but we didn’t make it that far. I’d've liked it a lot better if there were a lot less goose poop and a few less rocks — there’s about two feet at the very edge of the surf that are painful to walk on, and then the bottom gets sandy again.

Of course, sometimes rocks are not a bad thing. Lucas’s new word for the day, in fact, was an enthusiastic “RRRROX!”

It’s a good beach for little kids, because while the slope is a little steeper than the gentle grade at Britannia, it’s still fine for kids who are steady on their feet. My not-quite-three year old niece had a blast! And even on a calm day, there’s just enough surf to be fun to play in.

Of course, you don’t need to get wet to enjoy the beach…

Once you’ve had your fill of sun and surf (and stones), just wander back to the train station and catch the next loop back to Upper Canada Village.

A game of tag with Granny helps to pass the time while you wait for the train…

And if you happen to have a few extra minutes before you hop in the car for the hour-long drive back to Ottawa, Lucas has an excellent suggestion for the perfect end to your adventure, at the Upper Canada Village store:

Next time we go, I’d love to do an overnight camping trip at the St Lawrence Park (they have sites with both pre-pitched tents and little cabins, from what I understand) and make our way over to see the dinosaurs at Prehistoric World!

(As always, there are even more pictures on Flickr…)

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