We Oughta Go to Ottawa

A distinct disappointment of being in your thirties is that most of your friends have scattered to the winds and settled elsewhere. The upside of this dispersion is that you can travel to more places and find close friends willing to put you up (and put up with you) for the weekend. So it was that last weekend Jeanette and I traveled to Ottawa to spend a weekend with our good friends, Allegra and Chris.

The wonderful house they rent in the city's west end came complete with a back deck, overhung by a vine-draped trellis, that overlooks an impressive little garden focused around a pond. We spent much of the weekend lazing on the deck and watching as Allegra cultivated her green thumb. In fact, both she and Chris boast many green body parts -- chlorophyll figures prominently in their passions at work and play (check out Chris's new blog on environmental issues here).

But when it came to colourful body parts, nobody could compete with their neighbour, an Elvis impersonator prone to hanging out on his balcony in his "tighty-whities". This is a family blog, so I must refrain from posting a picture, but given his resemblance to the King in his later years, you'll agree that this is for the best.

Indeed, their neighbourhood is full of not only colourful characters, but colourful locations. In the case of the nearby farmer's market, quite literally:


We stopped there one evening to stock up on some fresh goodies for dinner.


Other neighbourhood highlights include the great little bookstore Collected Works, which hosted author and funny man David Sedaris on Saturday night (we didn't find out until Sunday afternoon), the 3 Tarts bakery (written up in the Globe & Mail that weekend, but closed as the owner's were on holiday), and the West Park Bowling Centre which we were able to enjoy on Friday night. Lured in by the vintage sign that promised "Fully Automatic" pin-setting, the four of us went in and enjoyed two games of five-pin bowling. Clearly my time spent at the lanes with Alfredo has paid off, as I rode back-to-back strikes to victory in both games. Jeanette had no idea she'd married a jock.

On Saturday, we hopped in the car and drove through Gatineau Park to the village of Wakefield, Quebec. After a tasty patio lunch, we explored the shops, including this one where Jeanette scored a cute dress on sale and Chris and I found hats to our liking:

Keeping with the theme of things covered on top, we decided to head for Wakefield's popular covered bridge, seen here (barely) in the background crossing la rivière Gatineau:

The view from inside the bridge is also fun:

But the best spot to see it is from the river itself, especially on a hot and hazy day:

It was a great way to spend a summer day with good friends.

We were all the more spoiled on Sunday when we were joined for brunch by more good friends: Tara, Derek, and their daughter Vienne who drove up from their place near Perth. So great was it to see them all that we lingered late into the afternoon before gearing up for the four-hour drive back to T.O. A distinct advantage of being far away from your close friends, is that the distance makes you appreciate them all the more.