18 July 2013 – Thursday.  Ottawa -> Kemptville, ON

Just as we were leaving the Wall in Ottawa, the Queen's Guard passed by on their way to the changing of the Guard at Parliament.

We went through 7 Locks today: First came Locks 9 & 10, the Hartwells which had a neat Lockmaster, Ross; Lock 11 – HogsBack then HogsBack swingbridge;  Lock 13 (there is no Lock 12 it was planned but never built since it was not needed) ,Black Rapids;  Locks 14-15-16, Long Island Locks ( Locks that are  completed in succession are called a “Flight” – if you begin the flight, you must complete all of them without stopping) Liam was our Lockmaster, he and his crew were great.. 

17 July 2013 – Wednesday

I lucked out today – found a Laundry that would do mine for 99 cents a pound.  It was worth every penny.  After dropping off the laundry, we met “Element” at the Parliament Building for a tour.  It was quite interesting – and it is a beautiful Building with a lot of symbolism. After the tour, we had a late lunch at an Irish Pub (of course).

We ended the day with a planning session aboard Element. The steamed clams that Debbie cooked were marvelous – they helped the planning process immensely.  We are having a ball!

16 July 2013  - Tuesday.     Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Our first adventure in Ottawa was locking through 8 consecutive locks to get from the Ottawa River up to the Rideau Canal.  Quite an experience with an audience too!  The Locks are next to Parliament so there where quite a few tourists..

Lock 1 of 8

The City wall was full but 2 smaller boats backed up to make room for us on the end – the very last spot!  We tied, up took the Girls for a walk and then went exploring with our friends on “In My Element” , Bob and Debbie Smith (Element).We found the outdoor “Market” and more importantly a Pub, The Brig.  It was hotter here than in Houston today.  

Tied up on the Wall

“Element “ joined us for dinner at a Thai Restaurant.  We had Shrimp Curry with Pineapple which is our favorite and it was terrific.  After dinner, the 4 of us went to the Light Show at the Parliament Building.