Road Trip to Ottawa

At the end of August we went to we spent five days in Canada's capital city: Ottawa. The drive from Mississauga, where we live, to Ottawa, takes about five hours. With two young kids, we decided to make the drive a part of our trip, stopping as much as we needed to. There is a direct route along the notoriously fast and busy 401, but we opted to take a slightly longer route, choosing instead picturesque back roads (the blue highlighted route in the picture below).

After two hours of blissful driving while Ollie napped, we stopped in the city of Peterborough for lunch. We ate at the Silver Bean Cafe, which was a cozy restaurant overlooking the Ontonobee River. We sat on the porch which had a little play area for the kids, which is my idea of a perfect cafe!

After lunch we had a short walk along the river and then a play in the gardens before getting back in the car.

We had another three hours to get to Ottawa, so ended up stopping once more about an hour from the city. I had found a “train playground” on google maps so we headed there for a play and a snack. By that time it was pretty hot and there was no shade at the park, so after a short break we all headed back to the air conditioned car.

Our first night we visited my friend Sharon, who lives with her wife Anna and their son William in a very trendy part of Ottawa. Sharon and I first met way back in 1998, when we were both exchange students in France, and we’ve been good friends ever since. I hadn’t seen her in about 3.5 years so it was wonderful to catch up and meet her son for the first time, who is a year and a half old.

We had an amazing dinner (complete with lots of produce from their backyard garden) and caught up over red wine once the kids went to bed. The next day we went to a nice cafe for coffee and breakfast and then took Ella and William to a nearby park and splash pad for a play. We spent the afternoon playing in the back garden at Sharon’s and took Ella to a cute ice cream shop down the road.

We left in the early evening and headed to my friend Julie’s house, where we stayed for the next four days. Julie and I lived together for our first three years of university, and she also met her husband at uni, so I also knew him quite well. However, I hadn’t seen them for years! the last time was a quick brunch when Andy and I were in Ottawa just before we moved to Melbourne, in 2012. Julie and Colin have three kids, who are 7, 9 and 11 years old. They were awesome kids, and were so good at playing with our kids. Ella loooooved playing with them, although I think she tired them out at times. Luckily there were three of them, so they were able to take turns amusing Ella when they got sick of her!

We stayed pretty low key, going to the nearby park, eating family dinners together, and going to a local fair. Ella got to watch the girls play a game of ringette, so watching a live sports game on ice was a new thing for her! We had one rainy day so we took everyone to this huge indoor play centre which amused the kids (even Ollie!) for hours. Julie and I managed to sneak off to a nearby Starbucks for a coffee and a chat, which was so nice. For a busy mum, having an hour off to catch up with your girlfriend is a major treat!

On our last afternoon we went to Julie’s parent’s house, which is only a 10 minute drive away, but felt like it was in cottage country. They had a lovely pool, so we thought Ella would be in heaven, but she was having a very off day so Andy and I ended up leaving early so we could put Ollie down for a nap and Ella could have some downtime. Neither child slept very well while we were away, so we figured Ella was probably very tired and was probably overstimulated from the constant playing and attention all week. We were supposed to stay one more night and leave early the next morning, but we decided to leave in the evening and take the quick route back home, hoping the kids would sleep most way. That worked out alright, Ollie didn’t fall asleep for nearly two hours after we left, but once he did we had a quiet, uneventful drive back home.

Although we didn't do any major sightseeing in Ottawa, we had a lovely trip catching up with old friends. When the kids are a bit older I'd love to take them back to visit some of the major sites in Ottawa, such as the parliament building and the Museum of Civilization. Next time!