In March of '09 our gang of merry travelers headed south to the US for exploration of Washington, DC and dig into some Americana. While there, I quickly realized that it would mean that we'd need to take a look at our own capital, Ottawa. We'd seen the White House but not 24 Sussex... we'd visited Capitol Hill but not Parliament Hill... explored America's best museums and galleries but not have experienced our own treasures in the nation's capital. A trip to Ottawa would provide opportunity to draw timely comparisons and perhaps shed light on our similarities and uniqueness.

In planning for this excursion I did not take my usual "several months" of research in regards to attractions, transportation and accommodations. Being a more spontaneous endeavour, I used the limited lead time available to identify possible attractions as well as a rough driving route. The resultant itinerary reflects a real mixture of items that we thought would entertain both the "bigs and littles" while providing some excellent learning opportunities for all. Along the way we snuck in a few visits with friends and family as well as an overnight stay and visit to Montreal.

We hadn't really mentioned the idea to the kids prior to the day before but were readily preparing snacks, video games, DVD player, pillows and bags for the trip. We've gotten quite good at making these sort of drives as painless as possible. Departing at three in the morning, everyone finished their sleep in the car and we were in Ottawa, despite some very heavy rain, by late afternoon checking in. Getting that first "hunk" of travel over with quickly is a great head-start.

Thus, with the capital and wealth of museums as our priority we set about to enjoy the city and its people, history, events, food and culture. With excellent weather and our trusty GPS, we managed our way about the Ottawa area quite capably and were able to visit a wide variety of attractions at our own "family" pace. If you're interested in the places we visited and what we saw just follow the daily itinerary and take a peek at our photos in the gallery.