Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

We are here during the rainy season and it is true to it’s word – it’s raining almost all the time.  We are going into Ottawa and the weather is suppose to be descent – we will see about that.  Everything is green and lush.  We are about a half a mile from the Ottawa River and it is a really big river.

Currently there is a squadron of mosquitoes in the trailer – they have broken formation and are buzzing all over the place – at times we are reduced to hand-to-hand combat.  We have resorted to chemical warfare – with bug spray and Noxzema.  I wish I had a picture of it – the woman who manages this RV park was driving around on a small John Deere tractor holding a can of bug spray in one hand and the steering wheel in the other.  PRC

We are in Cumberland which appears to be a suburb of Ottawa. We are about 30 minutes from Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is also the city where Peter was born and raised until he was 12 years old.

The drive from our last RV Park in Flamboro Valley to Cumberland was longer than anticipated. We left at about 10 am to avoid the heavy traffic in Toronto.  Consequently we did not avoid rush hour in Ottawa. We came across construction, an accident and bumper to bumper traffic. What made it worse was the heavy rain.

I thought it would never stop raining. We unhooked our trailer in the rain and set it up in the rain. That wasn’t much fun.  Peter reminds me that it certainly won’t be the last time we’ll need to do this in the rain over the next four months.

I love the rain probably because it is such a novelty in Phoenix. I very reluctantly admit that yesterday I wished for about five minutes of Arizona weather. It finally stopped raining last night but started up again in the late morning. I understand this is rainy season in this part of Canada.  I love cold weather but maybe not constant rain. Certainly not driving in it and pulling a trailer.

Enough complaining. There is definitely a reward for all the rain as you can see from the panorama at the beginning of this post. This is the setting at our RV Park. It’s green, green, green. It’s beautiful but the gorgeous setting comes at a cost. The mosquitoes have arrived. A friend advised that using Noxzema makes a good mosquito repellent.  I’ll let you know how it works.

Tomorrow we are going on a city tour of Ottawa .  We’ll see the sights including  the Parliament buildings. Peter wants to see if he recognizes the house where he was raised and the school he attended. We will let you know how it goes.

We are on the 2nd leg of our journey.  There are 4 parts to this journey

1. Phoenix, Arizona to Toronto, Ontario
2. Toronto, Ontario to Sydney Nova Scotia
3. Newfoundland
4. Sydney, Nova Scotia to home

The following destinations will be included on this leg of our adventure: (We will be staying about a week at each spot.)

Quebec City, Quebec  –  St. Flavie, Quebec  –  Gaspe, Quebec  –  Dalhousie, New Brunswick  –  Hunter River, Prince Edward Island  –  St. Martin, New Brunswick  –  Glen Margaret, Nova Scotia  –  Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (3 days)  –  Little  Bras D’Or, Nova Scotia