Ottawa

It was a brutal day departing Montreal on Friday morning. We arrived at the lock at 8:30a and bought our pass. The lockmaster said to come back at 10:30a! That started the downward spiraling mood for the day. At 11:00a they said maybe later we could go. A total of three boats had passed in 2.5 hours! At 1:00p we finally got the green light but once inside the lock we were trapped. Now the bridge ahead was broken and they would not let us through. The clearance was at least 30 feet and we need 9.5. I asked why I could not go under and they explained it was the law. Finally at 3:00p the bridge mysteriously opened and we were on our way......6.5 hours late! We had another commercial lock ahead and that was only a 15 minute delay. By the time we got to St. Anne de Bellevue it was 4:30p and the wall was packed with boats so we continued on to the huge Carillon lock on the Ottawa River. When we got there it was closed so we tied up to a little wall and attempted to communicate with some French speaking locals. Saturday we made it through the lock rising 62 feet in one lift and then kicked it into high gear for  Ottawa which was 70 miles away. The Ottawa River is beautiful and there were so many beautiful waterfront homes I lost track. Finally some good fortune for us, we made it through all 8 locks and found the last place on the wall to tie up in Ottawa. The city is celebrating the 150 year anniversary of Canada and doing it in style! There is a two week long jazz festival right next to the canal where we are docked.
Kenny Rogers is on his final tour and was singing until dark about 100 yards from the boat! Music, art, museums, parliament, and 1000 other things to see and do here. It is my favorite city so far on the trip. Today we went to the local Baptist church and enjoyed the service, including the huge pipe organ! After that,  our friends Chuck and Cindy invited us to the dragon boat race finals about 5 miles away by bike. The sky was turning dark and the marine radio broadcast was for severe thunderstorms. So.....like the dummies we are,



















we unloaded the bikes and rode down a magnificent bike trail to the races....in the pouring rain! On the way back we stopped at an aboriginal dance festival to watch the action. Then..... The real thunderstorm hit as we attempted to race it back to the boat. There were about 35-40 lightning strikes close by. The storm won, we lost!


Three drowned rats and two drowned dogs when we got back. Awesome day! Oh....I almost forgot, we sniffed out the ice cream/gellato store last night.... yum yum. And....I made stove cooked popcorn...successfully....to Carrie's surprise! Many more adventures ahead here.

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