Wednesday morning saw us piling back into the car and saying 'au revoir' to Montreal. We were heading for Ottawa, where we thought we'd just have lunch and then keep on driving. I was totally surprised at how beautiful of a capital Ottawa is - and how pretty it's government center is, all of the embassies were completely amazing! some modern, old and everything in between - all of this located mostly overlooking the Ottawa River where it is joined by two other rivers.
We ended up looking around more than we planned, taking in the Parliament building and the canal nearby. But, by far, the most exciting discovery for the kids was Rideau Hall nearby - the official residence of the Governor General - with its two ceremonial guards standing sternly at the front gates with their bear skin hats! Sander was excited to have his picture taken with the guard, as you can see.
But, Franny wasn't so sure. She said she was waiting to have her picture taken with the 'Princess' inside instead... Soon enough we were back on the highway as it went from 3 lanes down to 2 lanes and finally gave us a very long stretch along the Ottawa River of only one lane.
The scenery is mostly farm land and thick stretches of trees. But, occasionally, the landscape opens up to a river view that is beautiful. We did a large stretch of land today. And, I'm surprised the kids are still without tantrums or complete meltdowns.
We've just about gone through every car game you can think of though, and we make more than a few pit stops to keep things fresh - even if it only means getting the kids to squeegee the car windows for 5 minutes while we fill up on the gas. And, never underestimate the calming power of chewing gum.... trust me! You can easily buy yourself an hour of quiet with that simple gesture. Tomorrow we make for the border town Sault Ste Marie and then start our drive up and around the northern edge of Lake Superior, which is supposed to be one of the best drives. We'll let you know how it goes. If you've been this way before on a road trip, please let me know of any sites to stop at along the way - we're just kind of making it up as we go along at this point! This has been a really lovely drive, we have been lucky with the weather and I can't think of a better vacation so far!!
