IMG_0029, originally uploaded by palm0014.
On Saturday morning I woke up and made myself some bacon and eggs while waiting for Mom and Dad to return from Lynn and Sue’s place. I checked the conditions of the Rideau Canal and we had the green light! As of 1PM, the Canal would be open.
We headed downtown and Mom and Vero strapped on their skates. Mom had not skated in thirty years so I was quite interested in seeing if she still had the chops. I walked up the Canal a bit to find Rick and Troy and I could see Connie was having a bit of trouble getting used to her skates. We went back towards my parents but there were some horrible patches of the ice where it was literally chopped up and people had to walk over it. I had to pick up Tracey’s niece and navigate her over it at one point.
By the time we made it to my parents (about 100 meters away), Connie had to bail out and shortly after that Troy had to as well. I can sympathize with them…I really can’t skate and I remember when I attempted to skate a few years ago how my feet were sore within five minutes.
The rest of the afternoon was splendid…the weather was great and the wind didn’t pick up too much until we were in line for a Beavertail at the 1.4km mark. Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard met up with us and mentioned that the ice was quite bumpy past that point so we decided to stick it out around the area we were in.
After what may have been an hourlong wait in line for a Beavertail, we walked back towards downtown and Vero and I headed up to Troy and Connie’s room in the Chateau Laurier for some scotch. We then headed down to Darcy McGee’s for a quick drink which turned into another evening out there. Vero and I ordered some bruschetta bread which was decent but by the time everyone ordered some supper, we weren’t hungry at all. However by the time we left the restaurant we figured we would try and find a quick bite to eat and ended up stopping into McDonald’s on the way to pick up my parents.
We had a good laugh at my parents that night. We had their car and they ended up getting a ride back to Lynn and Sue’s. Mom called and asked if we could pick them up at some point. I looked at my watch and said “How about 10PM?” and she said “Oh! I didn’t realize you would pick us up that early. How about 11PM?” Clearly they were having a great time and Vero and I felt like parents picking up our kids!
The next morning we went shopping for a pair of skates for Mom which proved unfortunate but then we headed out to the new Princess Auto store off of Hawthorne. I never knew this place had expanded! It was huge and Dad, Lynn and I spent a good two hours there perusing their wares. I really enjoy a visit there as they have great deals.
Afterwards we went to Lynn and Sue’s place for a quick drink and later in the evening Mom, Dad and I headed down to the Canal to see a light show which showed a history of the Rideau Canal and a bit of Canada’s history. It was quite interesting as they projected it on the Government of Canada Conference Center (the old train station) and they incorporated elements of the building into the show. For example, there are four pedestals and at one point in the show they had silhouettes of people dancing on top of the pedestals! After the fifteen minute show, we walked up to Parliament and then down to the Chateau Laurier to look at the historical photos and then Mom and Dad dropped me off at my second home which is Vero’s place.
It was great to have a bunch of people up for Winterlude this year and I’m sure they all left impressed!