Montebello, Canada

Today dawned with a blue sky, puffy clouds, low humidity, and the temperature a comfy 75 or so. First order of the day was to get through the famous Ottawa flight locks – 8 step locks that drop the boat close to 80 feet.  The locks here are still hand operated, which meant that the crew had to help secure your boat, crank a set of doors shut, crank another set of doors open, help you secure your boat in the next lock, repeat again and again.  The whole thing is just a marvel of engineering.

While waiting, we were treated to the changing of the guard at Parliament, which is right above the locks…complete with bagpipers.

Once through the locks and into the Ottawa River, there is no place to stop until you get to Montebello. The Chateau Montebello, a five star hotel, is billed as the world’s largest log structure. 

We decided to skip the expensive dinner with free docking there and go on to the municipal marina.

In the small town we found a fantastic little French cheese shop, with artisanal cheeses and fresh baguettes made on site. We bought some of each, some truffle pate, some wine and enjoyed cocktail hour.

The marina slowly filled up entirely with French speakers in all manner of small cruisers and pontoon boats.  They were quite nice, and it was fun trying to communicate with them.  Surrounded by sounds of happy conversation, the evening ended with a beautiful sunset.

Ottawa, Canada

Dow's Lake Pavilion marina is a delightful place, with a busy canoe/kayak/paddle boat rental kiosk, three restaurants, and a park with walking paths and well used bike trails that take maximum advantage of the Rideau Canal.

The weather has really changed for the better.  Much cooler and breezier, making it a perfect day for exploring Ottawa.  Because the canal walls with power in downtown were full yesterday, we decided to stay here in Dow's Lake Pavilion. 

On Wednesday in Ottawa, seniors ride the buses free so we were off for the 10 minute ride down to the center of the city to take in the sights.

Here we are in front of the Supreme Court of Canada. Next to it is the Parliament Hill.

We went to the Byward farmer's market, found a wonderful Patisserie where we had our coffee and tartlets.  For our dinner we bought some cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, and some delicious thin green beans from a French woman's stall.  

To get to the park to walk the dogs, we must pass through the boat rental area.  It is usually packed with people and we try to maneuver the dogs carefully through the crowd.  River started a mini-riot when passing a group of Jamaican tourists, indelicately brushing a woman with his tail, who was checking out her life jacket.  She let out a scream, which brought everybody running.  Luckily, as we were apologizing, the rest of the group began laughing and teasing her.  They thought it hilarious. 

Last night as I took the dogs for their final potty break, I saw something that looked like a squirrel scurrying along a building.  River saw it, ripped the leash out of my hand, and disappeared around a corner.  I heard two squeaks, and he reappeared with a large rat in his mouth. He gave it an extra chomp and shake for good measure, and promptly lost interest in it.  He dropped it and returned to continue the walk.  Have I mentioned that this is the last large, strong dog I will ever own?

Ottawa, Canada

Yesterday and today were cloudy days with no rain and then turning hot, sunny and humid by afternoon. The last significant rainfall here was on June 3.  I spent the travel time armed with a fly swatter smacking one deerfly after another. 

Much of the scenery along this part or the Rideau River is going through farmland.

 With no rain the water levels are dropping at about 1 centimeter per day and we are a little worried about getting home through the Richelieu. If the water levels drop too far, they close off the canals.  

We came across this interesting looking grass harvesting machine used to keep the channels clear.

Monday we stayed at Burritts Rapids.

Following a winding channel through marshes, ditches, and locks, we came to a swing bridge which the operator opened by pushing a turnstile around and around. It looked like something out of a history text of Europe in the Middle Ages.  There were still quite a few one lane, wood, hand operated swing bridges in use.  You can barely see it in the background.

We caught up with Clark and Evelyn on Sea Moss in Merrickville; and then joined Chris and Marianne with their golden retriever Brody on their Oceania 35 "Options" for an evening glass of wine. Options is out of Toronto and has been with us on and off since Kingston. 

We traveled with them to Burritts Rapids and are docked next to them in Ottawa.  The original plan was to stop at Black Rapids, but it was full, and the next two locks had no power.  We decided to push on, and ended up here at Dow's Lake Pavilion.

We are both being eaten alive by bugs.  No seeums, mosquitoes and deerflies. 

Smith's Falls, Canada

A cloudy, muggy day and the threat of thunderstorms kept today's travel short.  We are again going down the locks, always the preferred direction.  We entered the narrow Poonamalie Cut, passed through Poonamalie Lock,  and were again struck by the pride the Park Service and Lockmasters take in their little pieces of the world.  Clean, painted, and landscaped, with friendly, helpful staff.

We tied up in Victoria Park in Smith's Falls and toured the Rideau Museum this afternoon. 

The canal has been designed a UNESCO world heritage site, much to the pride of the Canadians.  This is truly a special place, worth the effort to get here.  There is live rhythm and blues music in the park across the way and a festive feeling.

The original three locks here have been replaced with a single combined lock but they smartly preserved the originals and incorporated them into Victoria Park.

Among my roles on the boat are Admiral, chief cook & bottle washer, and Insect Control Officer.  During the day, it's the deerflies, both in and out of the boat.  Come dusk, which is around 9:30 or so, the mosquitoes wake up.  The first night we left the doors open, and must have killed 20 of them in the berth area.  Most had already dined somewhere else, so swatting them left bloody spots on the walls, which then had to be cleaned.  We now put up the screens at 9:00 or so, but still get a few mosquitos when we open the door to take the dogs out for their final potty break of the day.

And these dogs attract children!  Everywhere we go, there are toddlers pointing "doggy, doggy".  There are lots of others dogs around, smaller nervous ones mostly.  Ours just stare lovingly out at the kids, who ask "can we pet the dog?"  And, of course we can't say no. Besides, it sure tires out the pups.

What the locals call the Quebec Rush is on.  This is the time when businesses in Quebec close down, and the French speakers come down to the canal in their cruisers.  Canada is a bilingual country, and the relationship between the two cultures is obviously uneasy.  On Saturday, the fellow travelers were English speakers, today they are all French.

Portland Canada

Today was more winding our way through the canals and lakes.  This part of Canada is suffering through a drought, and the water levels are low.  In one narrow channel, our depth indicator showed 0.0 feet clearance.  We held our breath as the boat kept going, and we soon had a bit more water. The twists and turns were reminiscent of the jungle ride at Disney World, only without the track guiding the boat.

Up until this point, we have been traveling away from the ocean.  At Newboro Lock, the highest point on the Rideau at 407 feet above sea level, we began traveling towards the ocean.  The positions of the buoys reverse, with red on the left and green on the right. 

This part of the Rideau is called cottage country, and is the most popular recreational area. 

Today is Saturday and the boaters in Canada leave their marinas and head for the locks and anchorages, which fill up quickly.  We met several local boaters who told us their home marina locations and decided there would be space to overnight since they were away.  We chose Len’s Cove Marina in Portland, which had plenty of open space for transients.  We ended the day in a nice, salt water pool.