Onward through Ontario

We left Quebec province and rolled west down the banks of the Ottawa River into Canada’s capital city for our first stop in Ontario.

One Night in Ottawa. As we pulled into town from the northeast, we were questioning our decision to stop here. It was a little rough and tumble. We even considered canceling our hotel, but it was past the hour where we could do that without penalty. We checked in and got suggestions for things to do, which included the Byward Market. This area, and the downtown area overall, was teeming with strung out and drunk people, sleeping on the sidewalks and in front of closed store fronts which must be common as the locals barely seemed to notice. This was juxtaposed against the thriving mall and many outdoor restaurants, which seemed an odd combination. We almost canceled our dinner reservation to opt for dinner inside our hotel. It was that bad. Fortunately, we did not bail out on our plans.

Byward Market

Ottawa seems a tale of two cities. As we crossed the Rideau Canal to Parliament Hill and wandered around the park at Parliament, Major Hill’s Park and the pedestrian path along the canal, which they turn into the world’s longest skating rink in winter, it was night and day.

Canada’s longest serving PM and Parliament

The name of Canada’s capital is derived from the Algonquin word “adawe” which means “to trade”. The indigenous people used to hunt, trade, fish, harvest and hold ceremonies here and along the banks of the river. As Europeans settled here, the city became a trade center for lumber. Queen Victoria named Ottawa Canada’s capital in 1854. Ottawa is the 7th coldest capital city behind those of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Finland, Iceland and Estonia. Ottawa is home to seven national museums, including the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian History Museum. In addition to these nine, there are eleven more local museums which add up to plenty to do if you happen to visit when you’re experiencing the winter weather of the seventh coldest world capital (this site is a good one to explore the national museums).

Canada War Memorial and along Rideau Canal

We stayed at Le Germain Hotel. We don’t often post about hotels, but this one was a gem, with incredibly friendly staff (but what Canadian isn’t friendly, eh?), excellent customer service, comfy and chic rooms, a great restaurant with a cool bar and steps away from the action, it was a great place to lay our heads for a night.

Thank goodness for not impulsively reacting to first impressions.

Le Germain Hotel

Back to the St. Lawrence. We returned to the banks of the St. Lawrence River and pulled off the highway to stretch our legs, and kill some time, as we would arrive at our destination before we could check in, at Prescott. It’s a cute little river town across from Ogdensburg, New York. We walked along their River Walk for the better part of an hour before resuming our drive west. Prescott also offers a summertime Shakespeare Festival, if thou doth like such things.

Prescott’s River Walk and outdoor Shakespeare theater

Along the way west, we saw lots of signage for the Thousand Islands. We’d never heard of this island chain until we were told of it in a hotel bar in Montreal. Without enough time to explore it properly, we added it to our things to-do-next-time list.

We rolled into our destination for the night, Kingston, at just about the time to check in to our hotel. After settling, we wandered Kingston’s many restaurant-lined streets and down to the waterfront. Kingston was, kind of, Canada’s first capital. “Kind-of” because between 1841 and 1843 it was the capital of the “United Province of Canada”, which was the predecessor of Canada’s confederation as an independent country. Kingston’s current city hall was built to house the government when it was the capital city, but by the time it was completed the country’s capital had been moved to Montreal (until that capital building was burnt down in 1849 by rioters and the capital city bounced around between Toronto and Quebec City until Queen Victoria made Ottawa the capital). Kingston’s public market is Ontario’s oldest, and Kingston is also home to the band The Tragically Hip.

Kingston is a good home base if you want to explore some of the Thousand Islands and is among the towns here which offer Thousand Islands cruises from its marina. You can also visit Queen’s University, Fort Henry and the old penitentiary. With a long drive ahead the day we checked out, we just settled for a walk along the river.

Our highlight, however, was meeting with the friends who had suggested the stop here for dinner. It worked out that they were on their way east from a cross-Canada trek (and back) on their last night on the road before returning home. Luckily, we both altered our plans so we could meet up when we realized how close we were, geographically.

Return to Niagara. Having been seeing a lot of cities, we bypassed staying in Toronto for a return to the same Airbnb we stayed in just over a year ago on our trip east in charming Niagara on the Lake, in the heart of Ontario’s wine country (yes, Canada has a wine country). We did spend hours in Toronto’s soul-crushing traffic through the city and around the western end of Lake Ontario. So, we didn’t see much that day unless brake lights and a deep red line on your navigation system is your jam. We didn’t realize every driving human in Canada would be passing through Toronto. Note to self (and others): avoid driving through Toronto at all costs.

If you’ve never visited Niagara on the Lake before, add it to your list if you’re traveling through Ontario or near Niagara Falls. Our Airbnb was splendid, but alas is coming off the Airbnb market soon as it is for sale. Fear not, there are many charming British Loyalist era hotels in and around its downtown. When we were here a year ago April, it was sleepy-ish. Not so in July. The shops, bars and restaurants were bustling with tourists, but you can find some great off-strip courtyards to grab a drink or a snack. We were turned on to the courtyard of the Olde Angel Inn by a local and visited the garden bar at the Pillar and Post Hotel. Both strong showings.

We could have, happily, spent a week.

The Road Northwest. We concluded our tour of Ontario on a northwest route, up and around Lake Huron and its Georgian Bay. After skimming around Toronto’s fringes to avoid another beating from its traffic we headed north and then west to cruise along Lake Huron’s eastern edge. Not far after pulling out of Barrie we entered God’s country. Stunningly vast skies dotted with flat-bottomed puffy-topped white clouds against a baby blue backdrop above us, thick forests intermixed with lily pad-covered ponds to our right and small boating-focused villages on the banks of the Georgian Bay to our left, it was just us, a few other drivers, loads of beaver lodges, a few soaring eagles and hawks and, undoubtedly, a bounty of unseen deer, moose and bear.

We stopped off in Severn to have lunch at The Trading Post Cabin next to the General Store. Melissa had seen it highlighted in an Ontario magazine in our Niagara Airbnb and after one bite of our turkey sandwich and falafel ball bowl we understood why.

The Last Day. We’d stopped off in Sudbury at the top of Lake Huron for the night and had an early wheels-up time to make it to our final Canadian town, for this time anyway, the Canadian side of Sault Ste Marie in order to be in range of a good cell phone signal for some mid-day conference calls and then passed across into the USA at Michigan’s northern border.

Our trip across Canada has been a better-than-expected delight. From the shores of the Atlantic Provinces to the cities of the province of Quebec, to the capital of Ottawa and the small towns along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario in Ontario, the people, scenery, laid back attitudes (except for the minority, but significant portion, of horrible drivers on Ontario and Quebec’s highways about which I am still shocked we saw no accidents) made for many wonderful and memorable days in the arms of the Great White North. The home of the Maple Leaf flag, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, Rush and Celine Dion, Bob and Doug MacKenzie, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Meyers, Eugene Levy and John Candy, Labatt and Molson beer, back bacon, poutine and pickle chips (which are delicious, skeptics) and thousands of Canada’s “Dunkin” (Tim Horton’s) did not disappoint. We capped off our final day with a few bites of our first Tim Horton’s donut.

Good day eh Canada.