May 8 / 9: McGowan Lake to Ottawa, ON the nation’s capital

Posted byweegtravelPosted in2023, Canada 2023, OntarioTags:, ,

Woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine. Our destination for today is Ottawa, ON, Canada’s capital city. It’s only a 90 minute drive today so we made a slow start, enjoying a leisurely breakfast and a long walk around the campground.

Trillium in the campground.
Loons on the lake. We didn’t hear them. Too bad.

We stopped along the way to do some personal shopping.

Ottawa, ON

Ottawa is a beautiful city befitting a nation’s capital. It is situated on the Ottawa River at the confluence of the Rideau River about 2 hours west of Montreal. The 202 Km. Rideau Canal System joins the Ottawa River at Ottawa to Lake Ontario at Kingston. Ottawa is Canada’s second capital. The first was Kingston, ON situated at the far eastern end of Lake Ontario where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River. The capital was moved to what was then known as Bytown (now Ottawa) for military defense reasons during the war of 1812. It wasn’t easy to get to then, and it’s not much easier to get to now.

The Rideau River at Hogs Back

The Rideau River coming out of the dam at Hogs Back park. A lot of snow and rain this year making for a heavy flow.

Tomorrow we will get into downtown Ottawa/Gatineau (across the Ottawa River in Quebec) but today we explored the parks along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa because…. it’s TULIP time!!!

We couldn’t have timed our visit any better had we tried! We have been to Ottawa many, many times over the years as we lived in Montreal for 25+ years but only twice have we been here for tulips. We are visiting now because our grandson is attending the University of Ottawa and we have friends here. Also our middle daughter lives in eastern Quebec about 90 minutes from Ottawa. In fact, our direct route from home to visit her and her family takes us through Ottawa and quite often, depending on traffic, time of day and the whims of Google, right past Parliament Hill. Tomorrow we will play tourist.

But now, let’s enjoy the tulips because they are spectacular!!! Ottawa has the largest tulip festival in the world with 1 000 000 tulip bulbs planted each year. The Festival itself starts on Mother’s day but this year, due to some early warm weather in April, the tulips are at their peak now.

Gratitude from the Netherlands due to help from Canadians during WW II started it all.

Carpets of tulips. Dows lake.

This is a tulip, not a rose!
Ottawa’s Dutch princess born in Ottawa during WW II

Lunch – popcorn and a bottle of water.

More about Ottawa tomorrow. Tonight we are taking one of our grandsons out to dinner. He is attending the University of Ottawa just finishing his second year and working for the Canadian government for the summer.

Ottawa, with a population of just over 1 million, has the most educated population among Canadian cities and is home to a number of colleges and universities, research and cultural institutions, including the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College, the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Canada; and numerous national museums, monuments, and historic sites. It is one of the most visited cities in Canada, with over 11 million visitors in 2018.

Our oldest daughter did her undergraduate studies at Carlton. Another reason we’ve been here so often.