ottawa

here in our nation's capital, the very seat of power from which all things good flow across the canadian shield, over the plains to the grateful west, is where my sister carlynne and her husband dan have decided to make their home. a wonderful place to visit.

first things first. kylie and carlynne and i poked around the parliamentary grounds.
at the front door to the halls of power, a unicorn sticks his tongue out at you, the citizen of canada.
from the top of the peace tower (the big pointy one).


the locks behind parliament. an important shipping lane for all the $$ arriving from out west and all the redundant paperwork exiting parliament hill destined for the rest of the country. note the ship stranded on the right.

dan, chris and i took dan's hunting rifle and bow out to the shooting range for a little target practice. dan had his bow set to full hunting strength and i was only able to draw it once.
the gun was much easier to load, but being a winchester .300 it had a pretty fair kick.

whilst the men where hunting styrofoam turkeys and deer, carlynne and kylie were luring unsuspecting geese with bread and then snapping their necks to cook them up for dinner. sooo much better than the styrofoam ones.

that night, after all our redneck activities, we attended the ottawa symphony, which was enjoyable, but the NAC does not allow cameras. after the symphony we walked down elgin street to observe the drunk children and eat poutine.

the next day we went for a wander in the gatineau region of quebec, once again in the company of the intrepid chris and katherine.
the leaves were lovely, although in the gatineau there were more on the ground than on the trees.
out in the forest we met 2 angels, who pointed the proper path to the persevering pilgrims.
as well as the benefits of newfoundland made mittens.



chris collapsed at the top due to extreme exhaustion and dehydration, but he got better.

while at the lookout we formed a rock band and took the opportunity for a band shot. EP pending.

good bye gatineau.
meech lake, of accord fame.

after our taxing journey, we stopped in lovely chelsea for an amazing fish and chips and chamblis noir, finishing with the french grandmother special - tart sucre.

the final day in our long weekend was spent touring a different part of ottawa, looking at the art museum, the market and the royal canadian mint.
in the mint proper, we were not allowed to take pictures, but we WERE allowed to pick up a real gold brick, weighing in at ~$450,000. i accidentally nicked it with my thumbnail, but they wouldnt sell it to me for a discount.

after an extremely healthy dinner we spent our evening obtaining the newly available H1N1 vaccination for kylie, carlynne and dan. i had to apply a bit of pressure to get kylie vaccinated despite being out of province, but she got it in the end. somehow we accidentally skipped the line as well. not sure how that happened, but we didnt feel too bad.
yes, i do think you should all go and get vaccinated as soon as it is available. your personal risk from H1N1 is very low, but as a population it is a problem and i hope you do your part to help out your country and its overburdened health care system. the vaccine itself has been demonized on facebook and in inane discussion forums, but i believe it is safer than unimmunized exposure to H1N1.

after our personal successful vaccination campaign we opted to celebrate with poutine, milkshakes and ice cream sundays, thus negating our extremely healthy dinner.

after that it was goodbye carlynne and dan, hello montreal!