Canada's Rideau Canal

Back in the early 1800's, Canada was fighting with those terrible southerners, AKA Americans. They were concerned that, in a later fight, that enemy would cut off their supply route.  So they decided to connect several lakes into a navigable passage way,  from Kingston, on the St. Lawrence River, up to the Ottawa River at Ottawa, some 125 miles north. This required 45 locks. 

Oh, the places I could go in my kayak!

Now the canal is a National Historic Site of Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been in operation since 1832, making it the longest continuously operated canal in North America. Today, it is mostly used by pleasure boats, canoes and kayaks in summer, and it is the world's longest skating rink in the winter, weather permitting. You can take a tour boat on part of it.  Always it has beautiful bike/hike baths along it so it can be enjoyed in many ways.  I would love to paddle it in its entirety. Here is information  on paddling it, if you would also like to dream about a trip on it. 

First view of the Rideau from a bridge over the Ottawa River

I fell in love with the Rideau Canal the first time I saw it in the beautiful evening light.  I took lots of pictures of it on different days and at different locations. I toyed with the idea of a day paddle on it, but decided not to antagonize my slowly healing ribs.  But I did enjoy walking along several parts of it. 

I also toured the museum of the Rideau Canal.   The canal was  designed and the building of it supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By and is a wonder of engineering.  The saddest part was that By was recalled in disgrace because of big overruns, even though he said it would cost much more than first predicted. While he was exonerated, he never received the credit he deserved in his lifetime.  Today his statue stands across from the Rideau Canal Museum where he can look down on his work.

Lieutenant-Colonel John By

Lieutenant-Colonel John By's view of the Rideau Museum, an 18th century mill

Tools used to build the canal

I was so excited to come out of the museum and see two boats coming up the locks from the Ottawa River to the Rideau Canal. The next pictures show that process. 

The water level  in two locks has to equalize before the gate opens

The gates are opened my hand cranking.

Coming up. 

This boat has been floated up until it is at the level of the next lock.

Ready to move

View of the Rideau on one of my walks

Same view in winter - from Ottawa Tourist Bureau

Rideau Locks at night

Wordless Wednesday: MosAika- A History of Canada Shown on the Parliament Building by Way of Music, Dialog, and Lights

From Bagpipes to Bioluminence

My Walk from Rideau Hall to Rideau Center was partly along this route 

I had a long and very varied day here in Ottawa, Canada, last Tuesday.  My daughter lives very close to Rideau Hall,  the official residence and work place of the Governor General. This is also one of the National Historic Sites.

I started walking to Rideau Hall early in the morning, in hopes of enjoying the park-like area. Not long after I arrived, I heard the sound of bagpipes. I love them and started walking towards their sound to discover the reason for them and to get to enjoy them close up. Then, through the trees, I saw a group of redcoats.


 I found they were the changing of the guard. There is a guard post at the
 entrance to the property and also in front of the actual building.

The military group delivered two guards to the front gate and then walked back to the front of the hall to deliver two more there. The guard change happens every hour between 9:00 A. M. and closing. But only during the summer. The very next time I passed by here, on a tour bus, I found the sentry stations empty.  The guardsmen live in a college barracks and have to move out the third week of August.


I wandered the grounds and found that many of the trees had been ceremonially planted by heads of state. I also enjoyed the rose garden and pool, although most of the roses weren't blooming.
















I passed on taking the tour of the residence and started walking towards the center of Ottawa, along the Ottawa River, the first leg of my trip to my next destination, the Museum of Nature. One of the most interesting things I found was two sets of falls, separated by an island, where the Rideau River meets the Ottawa River.

The larger of two falls separating the Rideau River from the Ottawa River - the 2nd is in the smooth place behind the green, an island in the middle of the falls. 

The second set of Rideau falls - the island divides them 

War Memorial between the two falls

Giant rose hips and spiders, Virginia creeper, and other familiar flowers - who knew?

I walked down to the Rideau Center, where I caught a bus that would take me to the museum.  When I got there, I found two very interesting exhibits.  One was a look back at the passenger pigeon, which went extinct 100 years ago.  Scientists think they can resurrect the species.  However the pigeons have to live in large flocks to breed will eat everything at a site, before moving on.  And they were birds of mature forests. So we probably can't get enough individuals to get them to breed, and there is probably not enough habitat left in the world to support them.

Then I went into the enchanting bioluminescence exhibition. Different exhibits showed land and water organisms that have bioluminescence. I even found out all about glowworms.  The ways organisms use bioluminescence was also demonstrated.  They use it to communicate, to attract mates, to attract prey, to advertise they are toxic, and to hide against the sky from predators swimming underneath them. Some animals get their light from bacteria - one was called the flashlight fish.  Bacteria live in pockets near their eyes and provide light.  They can "blink" the light on an off, an hide it completely, which helps them escape from predators.

Bioluminescent Corrals

There were models of glowworms, lightening bugs, and movies, one showing a  swimming dolphin,  lit by diatoms, and another that told ways marine animals use bioluminescence, as well as lots of other exhibits, some of which were interactive. 

Bioluminescent Jellyfish

I enjoyed seeing the finalists and winners of the Canadian Wildlife of the year. The  visit to the bird exhibition was amazing and could have kept me entertained for several hours. It filled the whole wing of one floor.  The dioramas in the mammal wing were magnificent.

The view of the neighborhood from the 4th floor of the glassed-in stairwell was also awesome

Moose Diorama in the Mammal Wing

Caribou Diorama 

By late in the afternoon, my feet were giving out, so I started back to find the bus stop.  A shop selling gelato, sucked me into it and made me buy a scoop of hazelnut chocolate flavor, then allowed me the chance to sit and enjoy it.

This time, I caught the bus to the Rideau Center and then changed buses  for the leg back to Karen's neighborhood, and only walked the last three blocks to the house. It was a good day.

All the pictures I took in Ottawa that are worth printing are in Flicker with titles and captions. I'll add more at I get them. 

First Impressions of Ottawa, Canada

Last year, my best Christmas present was a plane ticket to Ottawa, Canada from my oldest daughter.  She and my son-in -law moved to Canada a few years ago and are now permanent residents.  I hadn't seen them since the move.  Then my youngest daughter gave me my passport for my birthday.

When I negotiated my summer work, I got permission to move my stuff to National Bison Range before flying from Missoula to Ottawa for a two-week visit.  Jason, a wonderful intern, offered to shuttle me to and from Missoula so I didn't even have to pay for parking.

I had the best time in the airport and on the flight that I've ever had.  Justin, the intern, and I ate breakfast together at the airport before he left.  Then I asked a guy using his computer if he would mind letting me plug into the socket by him. We started up a conversation and found we were both from Houston. He is a chiropractor there.

Both seats were empty when I reached my seat. But just before the plane left, a young man, dressed in the same kind of pants I had on, and carrying hiking boots took the other seat.  We both worked to get his stuff stowed and then I asked him if he had been hiking.  He replied that he had been on a college credit course that involved hiking, learning about conservation and doing environmental activities while in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Yellowstone and other nearby areas. I replied that I had just completed a volunteer stint at Red Rock Lakes and remembered seeing his group.

After that, we were best buds and talked animatedly and incessantly the entire trip, so much so, that the hostess came back to find out how such strangers were having so much fun together.   He  recommended some books and movies that were relevant to conservation in that area.

I can definitely recommend one of those books, The Big Wild . I am almost through reading it on my Kindle Fire. It is about the idea of hooking up all the public lands, from the Yellowstone to the Yukon, with corridors so animals can move freely among them, and thus maintain places for them to go when disaster strikes on one area, and to keep biological diversity high.  This is one antidote to extinction, which has already happened in some of the smaller, isolated national lands.  This idea was the start of Y2Y by the author and other like-minded visionary people.

My first impression of Ottawa was of extreme cleanliness.  The airport was pristine everywhere I looked. And so far, the city is also very clean. Then there is their respect of history with lots of old buildings among the still dynamic building of new ones. And the population is diverse and seems to have lots of people involved in walking, water sports, and biking.

Karen gave me a bus pass and a map and I'm starting to explore.  She took me on a long walk - even all the way over to Quebec, across the Ottawa River, the second evening I was here. Now I'm figuring out other places to visit each day.

Here are a few pictures from our first walk.  We took the bus downtown, but I've since walked there.  It is so lovely to get to use our feet or public transportation.

Parliament 

This  "face" on the Parliament building cracked me up

Ottawa View

Ottawa River where Rideau Canal Comes Out

Looking back at locks on the Rideau  Canal from bridge over Ottawa River

Maman (sculpture), giant spider by Louise Bourgeois

The pedestrian/bike boardwalk on bridge across Ottawa River

View  of parliament hill from bridge over Ottawa River

Recreation on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River

Downtown View-The glass top is in the shape of tulips 

Statue of  Samuel de Champlain - This was past the museum with all the
glass in previous picture - seen from bridge

View looking east on Rideau Canal

Murel on stairs

Looking across Ottawa River to Quebec side

My ribs are finally showing signs of recovery. I've had two more disasters while here: my computer broke down and one of my readers froze. But I'm now the proud owner of and Apple - and am struggling to learn its filing system and how to use a new picture editing program.  But it is so blazingly fast, I'll have plenty of extra time to learn the applications. Amazon has sent me a new reader.  And of course, I'm having a great time with my kids.