Oh Canada!! ...'s capital city: Ottawa!

(*note this is a catch-up posting. We're in Calgary right now. We passed through Ottawa from July 7-9)

After finishing our longest riding day on July 6th, we were relieved to arrive at my mom's house in Ottawa the next day to give our motorcycle muscles a break. Our first day was mostly a rest & recovery day, but the the second day we ventured out into the nations capital to see the sights by way of a river cruise boat tour along the Ottawa River. It was a perfect afternoon for a river cruise - sunny and warm and full of Canadian sights,including the Parliament Building - note only the fancy round bit (with the black roof) in the center of the building is original. The rest of the building burnt down and had to be rebuilt in the 1920's with the iconic building (with the green roof & bell tower) that we're all familiar with today. The original bit is the library/archives and a library attendant just happened to be nearby when the fire broke out and pulled the doors closed saving that part of the building and the historic documents within it.

We also stopped for photo ops at the Rideau Falls - named as such because Rideau is french for "curtain" and was thought to be an accurate description of the waterfall given the flat rectangular rock formation where the Rideau Canal empties into the Ottawa River.

After the cruise, we walked around the Parliament buildings and a riverwalk path. It was right at sunset so lots of good photo opportunities of official looking government buildings and the river.

The day after our cruise we were back on the road again. We stopped for a night in Toronto and then wrapped up the first Canadian loop of the trip as we headed to the border at Sarnia/Port Huron and got ready to make our way across the midwest.