Contents
- - - Our Trip to Vancouver
- - Fall Colours In Gatineau Park
- - Hike to Carbide Wilson's Mill
- - - Camping at Bon Echo Provincial Park
- - Lunar Eclipse
- - Some Highlights From Our Garden in
- - - Our Trip to Vancouver
- - - Rachael's August Visit
- - Hiking to Pink Lake
- - - Camping at Lac Taylor
- - Rachael's Visit During Tulip Festival
- - The Ruth International Tulip Festival
Click to enlarge photos
Our Trip to Vancouver
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Adam's mother, Audrey, died on after 18 months with lung cancer.
Between - the family gathered in Vancouver to celebrate her life and mark her passing.
We went up to the lookout on the Cypress Bowl Road with Simon and took some pictures of some of her favourite scenes. We think she would have enjoyed these photos.
Fall Colours In Gatineau Park
The middle of October is the time of year when the trees in our area put onto their great colour show.
We went hiking in Gatineau Park and took some photos of the colours on the only sunny day this week.
Hike to Carbide Wilson's Mill
We started our fall hikes in Gatineau Park in early . The park is lovely this time of year - the fall colours are bright, the air clear and dry and the bugs mostly gone.
This hike was a relatively short one - some 5 km round trip to the ruins of "Carbide" Wilson's Mill, hidden at the end of a trail, on the Meech Creek. Thomas Wilson was a 19th century engineer and inventor. When he built this hidden-away facility he was already famous and wealthy enough to afford a secret lab in the hills of Quebec. He is most remembered for his invention of Acetylene and phosphate fertilizers, the latter actually invented on this site. The mill makes an interesting hiking destination for a short day trip from Ottawa.
Naturally it wouldn't be a trip to the east side of Gatineau Park without coffee in the garden at Les Saisons Cafe in Old Chelsea afterwards. Sitting in a comfortable chair next to the goldfish pond makes the whole trip seem civilized.
Camping at Bon Echo Provincial Park
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We finally got to go camping this summer at Bon Echo Provincial Park between - and here's proof!
We had planned this trip for July, but a truck breakdown moved the trip into September. That probably worked out better as the weather was still good, although cool, and the crowds were non-existent.
Lunar Eclipse
Very (very) early today was the much discussed lunar eclipse.
The weather was clear so we decided to get up a bit early at 0545 and see it. We weren't disappointed as it was very easy to see from our west-facing bedroom window. Even a couple of the photos turned out!
Some Highlights From Our Garden in
We don't have a very big garden but we do like to have a nice outdoor place to relax a bit. Some flowers and other plants help! This year Ruth planted a few interesting projects. You can see the results here for yourself.
Our Trip to Vancouver
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Between - we did a trip to Vancouver to see Adam's Mother. While we were there we got to walk Jack, Mom's dog every day and also see some other family members, as well.
Rachael's August Visit
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Rachael came up to visit between -. The beginning of the period was incredibly hot outside, so we started off by staying in and baking bread.
When the weather cooled off after a Friday cold front we decided to take advantage of the great weather and go canoeing on Saturday. We got lots of exercise, especially paddling back into the northwind and bobbing up and down in the powerboat wakes.
Sunday the weather was still great - low humidity and reasonable temperatures, so we headed to Gatineau Park for a hike to Meech Lake, a visit to Wakefield and Old Chelsea.
The rest of the week featured a trip to Parliament Hill to see the cats, Mooney's Bay for frisbee playing and a bunch of movie shooting (finished product to follow).
Ingot Bakes Bread
Saturday Morning Canoeing
Sunday Hiking in Gatineau Park to Meech Lake
Friday photos
Hiking to Pink Lake
We have been without our truck for two weeks now, ever since it broke down. It is still in the shop at this point and we don't know if it is coming out!
Undaunted, we decided to take a hike in Gatineau Park anyway, because the weather has been so great recently.
No vehicle? No problem! We just hopped on an OC Transpo bus and went downtown, walked two blocks and transferred to an STO bus that went to the park. We got off the bus near parking lot P2 at Relais Plein Air and hiked into the park from there. We went to Pink Lake and had a bit of lunch there before hiking back. All in all we covered about 11 km before getting on the bus for home. We felt pretty resourceful.
Camping at Lac Taylor
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We did our first camping trip of the season early this year between -. We thought it would be a good opportunity to avoid the large numbers of people in the months of June-August by camping in May. This turned out to be correct as the 34 spots at Gatineau Park's Lac Taylor campground had only four campers. However the insects were amazing! We have never seen such numbers of mosquitoes and black flies as on this trip. We had our bug shirts and so were prepared for the mornings and evenings! The weather was quite hot for the time of year and this probably contributed to the early onset of insect populations.
We did a few hikes while there for a total of 17 km and even visited the beach at Lac Phillipe, although it was marked "Closed for the Season". We did bring our new portable telescope and had some great views of Saturn and the Moon even though the skies weren't as clear as we had hoped.
This was our first time at Lac Taylor. As a location it isn't too bad, but for some reason campground designers seem to love piling lots of camping spots on top of each other. It was acceptable with so few other people around at this time of year, but when full it would be like apartment living! Perhaps one day designers will realize that people go camping to get away from the crowds and space the campsites out a bit more?
Rachael's Visit During Tulip Festival
Rachael came up to Ottawa for a visit over the Victoria Day weekend. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Commissioner's Park for the final weekend of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Some of the flower beds were all done and the flowers gone, but many of them were really spectacular still. It helped that the weather was perfect - just warm enough to enjoy the flowers and some popsicles, too.
The Ruth International Tulip Festival
In 2001 Ruth planted a dozen tulip bulbs and every year they bloom, or at least nine of them do. The timing is right on as they bloom just as the Canadian Tulip Festival is getting under way in Ottawa. Just our contribution to spring in the capital.
