My summer, part 3

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I went on holidays! An actual 5 day no-work-involved holiday to Ottawa. It started off fairly unsteadily, to be honest. I’d decided on taking the red eye, because it was a direct flight and I figured there was a chance it wouldn’t be full and I’d be able to sleep for a bit. And I did. It was quite wonderful.

Then, when we were over Ottawa, the plane turned. The sunrise was quite lovely, and I took a picture of it.

We turned again, and I took another picture of the same sunrise. (I won’t bore you with it. Just look at the first one…) Then, we turned again. And I finally started to wonder what the heck was going on.

That’s when we all found out about the fog that had blanketed Ottawa and it looked like we weren’t going to be able to land there. Hey, the pilot did his best. Even got us down to 500 feet before he gave it up and headed to Montreal.

Montreal.

We were told that we’d be let out there, and that we should talk to the people inside to find out what would happen to us next. This was a bit disconcerting, because I only had five days in Ottawa, and it now looked like I’d be spending most of the first day trying to get there.

But then, a minor miracle. They didn’t let us out of the plane. (We sat for a while, and the crew peeked out at us like they were afraid we were all going to revolt, but we were good. We just waited to find out what was going on.) Then the pilot came on the loudspeaker and announced that the fog had lifted and we were going back. So, we did.

Finally, I made it. My daughter made me coffee and then we hustled off for the first event of my holiday. A cheese festival in St. Albert. I mean, who doesn’t love a good cheese festival, am I right?

Then we headed back into Ottawa proper, to catch a laser light show that was being shown on the Parliament buildings that night. I have to admit, I wasn’t really that keen, but when we got there, I was overwhelmed.

The photos I took definitely did not do the presentation justice. If you get the chance, go. It was wonderful!

Then, we wandered around downtown Ottawa.

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After, we went back to my daughter’s place and baked her a birthday cake. Because her birthday was getting close (like in a couple of hours), and everybody needs at least one cake.

At midnight, I sang “Happy Birthday,” to her and then we watched a couple of episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” because, well, why not? Then, finally, I got to get a little shut eye. (That was a pretty long day, I must admit.)

The next day, we went to the Da Vinci Exhibit at the Science and Innovation Museum.

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All right, so it wasn’t just war machines, but they were darned interesting. I’m going to research more about him, his life, and the time when he lived. Just so I understand what I saw.

Then, we went shopping. EVERYWHERE.

After we finally finished with the shopping spree, we made pizza, and ate more cake. We opened all her new stuff. (None of it came from that Zellers, because blech.) Then we watched more “Handmaid’s Tale,” (because, why not?) and before we knew it, it was two in the morning and we had to go to bed because we had a big day planned. Another one.

The next day, we went to The Canadian History Museum in Gatineau to see the Neanderthal exhibit.

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To be honest, I didn’t take many (crappy) pictures of the exhibit. It was interesting, though. (The funny thing was, I knew most of what was shown. Guess I don’t have to research that!)

Then, we walked. A ton. Across the bridge that connects Gatineau to Ottawa, and then all over the place, taking bad pictures and enjoying ourselves entirely. That evening, we went to Pub Italia for really good beer and food, and I got to meet a relative-in-law who my daughter had befriended when she first moved here. (Small world and all that.)

After, we headed back to my daughter’s place and watched more of The Handmaid’s Tale. Until way too early in the morning.

The next day, we went to the Diefenbunker Museum. Want to know about it and all things Cold War Canada? Go here… but remember to come back!

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I do not ordinarily get claustrophobic, but this place got to me. Four stories, all underground. Shudder. We had a fantastic tour guide, though. He really knew everything about the place, and gave us as much time as we needed to check everything out.

After that, we went for lunch. To Alice’s, just down the road from the Bunker, at the suggestion of the tour guide. Hey, he hadn’t led us astray to that point… And it was delightful.

We dropped by the SPCA (because my daughter is looking for a dog) and met a couple of the saddest dogs I think I’ve ever seen in my life. She couldn’t even consider either of them, because they needed way more time and training than she was able to give (full time job and all that) but man. I wish people would think before they get a dog. (And then get rid of a dog, because it doesn’t work out.)

That night, we ate breakfast for supper, watched a fireworks display from her balcony, and watched more “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

And then, suddenly, it was the last day of my holiday.

We ate the last of the cake, watched the last episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, and went shoe shopping. (It was the last bit of shopping on our list.) Too soon though, we were at the airport, and it was time for me to leave.

I promised to come back in October (for Can Con!) and then Ottawa was behind me. Luckily, when I got home, somebody was happy to see me!

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Life kicked right back to high gear. After all, I have a launch to plan (October) and I was lucky enough to finally see the cover of Haunting the Haunted. (Yes, that’s it!)

So, i’ll be back, very soon, to tell you all about the launch, and the book, and all that other good stuff. But today was all about my holiday!

I can hardly wait to go back.