The Canadian Comparison

The Canadian Comparison Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa, Canada

Transportation: 1 last Metro ride, 2 airplane flights, 2 charter buses
Weather: Rainy, misty and 12 degrees

We certainly had an early start to the day with a 4:40 departure time from the hotel. The Metro is supposed to open at 5 am, but we had a little bit of a panic when the Metro crew still hadn’t opened the gates until 5:15. We even contemplated walking to a different station, but the Metro guy finally came, and as it turns out, the first train to the airport wasn’t until 5:25 anyways so it all worked out. Check in and security went smoothly and most had time to grab some breakfast before we boarded the flight. The flight is only an hour, but there weren’t many EBHSers awake for much of it.
We were expecting to be able to check our bags through to Calgary but had an unexpected delay when we weren’t able to. Fortunately, we were able to take them to the bus and leave them on our bus for the day; something we certainly hadn’t expected to be able to do.

We arrived at Parliament a bit late for our tour, but everyone appreciated the beauty of our own Parliament as well, after having been through the American system. We were able to see the House of Commons, the Senate and the very beautiful Library of Parliament. A the end, individuals had to choose between the gift shop and going up to the top of the clock tower/peace tower as we didn’t have time to do both.

Next stop was the Royal Canadian Mint. We had about a 20 minute walk to get there past some of Ottawa’s striking architecture, including the very old Chateau Laurier Hotel, the very new and modern National Art Gallery of Canada, and Canada’s United Nations Memorial. The 45 minute tour was excellent as we learned how our collectible coins are made and had continual gallery views into all of the work rooms of the mint. It was pretty incredible to see stacks of silver bars, and flattened coils of gold worth millions of dollars. The gift shop was interesting too, as we were able to checkout the incredible diverse range of beautiful and detailed coins, ($5, $10, $20, $100, pure gold, etc). Click here to see some examples.

A two hour lunch/shopping time was spent between the historic Byward Market area and the large and modern Rideau Center Mall. We were soooooo lucky that our bus driver Darlene was available to pick us up and drive us to the Canadian War Museum, as that would have been a very long walk on this cool day. The Canadian War Museum easily rivals any museum type place that we were at in Washington DC, and is place that Canadians can certainly be proud of.

After a full but interesting day in Ottawa, no one was too sad to be boarding the plane for home. We’ve had a very full trip of many long days, but hopefully each trip participant will arrive home with a long list of favourite places and experiences and a life long ability to be able to say, “Been there, done that” as they continually see the places we’ve experienced on the news and in movies.  

Day 8 & 9 -Nation’s Capital

Day 8 & 9 -Nation’s Capital Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa, Canada

Day 8 & 9
Location: Parry Sound to Ottawa
Travel Time: 7 slow hours, including a 30 min construction delay
Distance travelled today: 452 km?
Total distance travelled: about over 3000 km
Wildlife sightings: 5 bunnies, 1 marmot, scores of black squirrels, chipmunks and the “stray cats” of Parliament hill
Roadkill: 5 raccoons, 1 fox

Gas prices: Huntsville, ON 99.1/L, Renfrew, ON 1.03/L
Weather report: 34 degrees and tres, tres, tres humide –Humidex of 43 degrees (but very cold in the Canadian War Museum)

Today July 7) was a slow-ish drive. We got away in good time at 8 am. Thanks for doing the breakfast dishes, Mrs. Blemings –you really are the best. We travelled across ‘Muskoka Country’ on our way to Ottawa…lots of beautiful but slow little towns; across the southern portion of Algonquin Park (where we still didn’t see any wildlife); and through the Ottawa valley-ish area with more little towns and lots of those big old barns. We were without air-conditioning for the morning, so we thought we might have a bit of a change of plans, but fortunately, it decided to work again so we weren’t stuck at a repair shop all day (yet). We were stuck in a half hour construction stop on the main highway 417, but we still managed to drop off our trailer at a very lovely Ottawa Municipal Campground and make it to the Canadian War Museum by 4 pm (closed at 6 pm). We spent most of our time in the WWI and WWII galleries and there was lots to interest everyone. This was the one place in Ottawa that the kids really wanted to visit.

We headed over to the Byward Market area, and found a parking spot fairly easily. Finding a place to eat was more difficult, as even though the area is crawling with tourists, most stores and quicker food places closed at 6pm. We ended up at a decent enough little Mediterranean place and found something for everyone to eat. Hot and tired, we strolled through Chateau Laurier, the Canadian War Memorial area, and down through the Rideau Canal National Historic Site before grabbing some cold treats and heading home (after navigating through 2 detours!)

Ke’s thoughts: Today we drove to Ottawa. There are lots of old buildings. Chateau Laurier was very fancy. But I did not know it was so big. We walked down under the bridge and a choir was practicing. The War Museum was neat too. We saw a teddy bear in the museum, which we read about in the Library at school. We read about all the different wars that Canada and Britain have fought in. There were lots of different displays of guns and hand grenades and a really big torpedo! Lots of gas masks. There was hand Guns, Gatling guns, and every other kind of gun. It was coo.l Mom was able to explain everything about every display so that we knew every detail. it was really neat.

Q’s thoughts: Today at the Canadian War Museum we had a great time. We saw all kinds of things from all the wars Canada was in. we saw the trenches and the Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air force. There where all sorts of old guns and artifacts. I really liked the Halifax Explosion and the trenches exhibit. They showed the gas masks and how the gas was used and had a little teddy bear that was found in the pocket of a medic.

It was really old. They also had Hitler’s car on display. That was our night at the Canadian War Museum.

It was a night to remember.

We spent all day of July 8th on “the Hill”. Watched changing of the guard, did a tour of Parliament, including going up in the Peace Tower, walked across the Ottawa River to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. Nice and cool and super interesting–we all enjoyed it. Walked back to Ontario, ate supper and rested on the lawn of Parliament Hill until the 10 pm night “light and sound” show, backdropped on the buildings of Parliament. Awesome day. Late day.

Q’s Thoughts: The Museum of Civilization: they had many cool exhibits there. First Nations, NW Company, a postal museum and a really big wild and wacky kid’s museum. It was very realistic and was very interactive. The top floor was full of famous Canadians and there was so many even Mom didn’t know them! (That’s amazing!!) I guess Canada is full of famous people. We also saw parliament this morning and went on a tour after seeing the changing of the guards. I enjoyed the Library of Parliament and the list of past Prime Ministers.

Onward to Thunder Bay

Onward to Thunder Bay Thunder Bay (Kakabeka Falls), Canada

Thunder Bay (Kakabeka Falls), Canada

Day 3 –To Thunder Bay
Winnipeg to Thunder Bay

Travel Time: approx just over 9 hours, with two ½ hour stops
Distance travelled today: 700 km

Total distance travelled: 1800 km
Wildlife sightings: one rabbit (and chipmunks at the campground) –that’s it!
Roadkill (identifiable corpses only!): 700 km of Trans Canada highway and only two dead crows; definitely not even any gopher splotches
Gas prices: Kenora 108.9/L and Ignace, ON 1.169/L;
Weather report:: sunny, not too hot, nice breeze in some places, only a little bit humid
Today’s UNO game champ: Q

We started our day with a 9 am tour of the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. It was very awesome, even though only some of the machine were in operation. They make an average of 20 million coins a day at the Winnipeg Mint, including coins for many other countries. Even though it made for a long day, it was well worth it. We even got to swap for some the new 2010 loonies commemorating 100 years of the Canadian navy.

Just outside of Winnipeg we passed the “longitudinal center of Canada” sign (and are very glad that we did not start in Vancouver!) We knew this would be along day of driving but the traffic was very light and the drive enjoyable. We tried to picnic outside at the Ontario border for lunch, but the flies were already attacking like crazy. Welcome to Ontario! Gas prices in Ontario increased by 8 cents/L as of July 1 due to a combined new “harmonized sales tax”–HST.
Just before the Ontario border, you very definitely enter the Canadian shield — trees, lakes and big rocks. We’ve had fun spotting islands, and inukshuks (1-2 feet high) that people have built on top of rock outcroppings along the highway. The area around Dryden, Ontario was especially lovely –kind of a highland meadowy area, still with lots of trees.
We pulled in just after 8 pm into our Happyland RV Park with full-hookups and wifi tonight. Set up was quick since we ate supper at a little ‘hole in the wall’ in Upsula, Ontario a ways back. (With time change again it was another hour later, and we also crossed the Atlantic watershed line. All water from this point on flows to the Atlantic.) Nice park with lots of trees, well-kept buildings and a very nice pool and playground.

We drove about 3 minutes back up the highway to see the Kakabeka Falls — a nice little hike after a long day in the vehicle. When we returned to the campsite, the kids were thrilled that the pool would stay open extra late until 10pm tonight; so the kids are swimming, Dad is hot-tubing and Mom is sitting in the great outdoors enjoying a nice breeze and a sunset while blogging. (Tomorrow is lots of “see”, not much “drive”!)

Happy Canada Day from the Center of Canada

Happy Canada Day from the Center of Canada Winnipeg, Canada

Winnipeg, Canada

Location: Moose Jaw to Winnipeg
Travel Time: approx 7 hours, with a ½ hour lunch stop
Distance travelled today: 671 km Total distance travelled: 1070 km
Wildlife sightings: bunnies, squirrels and a beaver swimming in the Red River
Roadkill (identifiable corpses only!): 2 deer, 1 porcupine, 4 skunks, 1 rabbit, 1 fox, 1 raccoon
Gas prices: Moose Jaw and Whiterock, SK $1.019/L; Brandon – 91.9L, Winnipeg 93.9/L
Weather report:: 38 degrees with the humidity; sunny and very, very, very, very humid
Today’s Memory game champ: Ki

Probably the most memorable thing about today was the hot, humid, humid weather. We were gassed up and on the road by 8 am….. looking like we would be getting to Winnipeg in time to go to the Royal Canadian Mint today. But, alas, we over-looked the time change factor, so we didn’t get there in time. Instead, we had time to go to our first National Historic Site: Louis Riel House. This is the place, the home of his brother Joseph Riel, where Louis Riel was laid in state before his funeral. We had a nice little tour of the house and garden, which was recreated to the year of 1886 when Louis was hanged for treason.

Our campground is a large RV quick-stop just off of the #1 Highway –it will be only a 5 minute trip back for our 9:30 tour of the Royal Canadian Mint tomorrow morning. Convenient but otherwise stuck in the ’70s in all regards. John F…. this wouldn’t be your kind of place!

After supper tonight, we drove into downtown Winnipeg which was thronging with people amassing for Canada Day Festivities and fireworks. We saw such historic places as the North West Trading Company, the Manitoba Legislature, and drove through the intersection of Portage and Main. Driving through Winnipeg, we crossed the Assiniboine River in 5 different places and over the Red River in 2 places.

The kids enjoyed some cement-style mini golf and while we heard the fireworks, we weren’t able to see any. (And we have never been so glad for air-conditioning!)