ONTARIO

Ottawa, The DiefenBunker, Niagara Falls, a cool Fort, a huge Floral Clock, and Point Pelee – Canada’s most southerly point

OTTAWA – A little disappointed with our nations capital. Maybe it was just that Saturday wasn’t the best day to visit Ottawa? Glad we took the opportunity to visit, but probably a one and done situation. For the most part the protesters were calm, but the severe, unpredictable behaviour of the crazies and the homeless, yelling and screaming obscenities, seemingly at the sky was a little scary and unsettling. Anyways we did our best to steer clear of all that and just enjoy a few hours there … 3 to be exact … then we called it day and went home to the safety of the Joey ☺️

A lot of renovations going on here … which according to a middle-aged police officer we spoke to, have been ongoing for the past 3yrs so far and he expects they’ll still not be compete before he retires 🙃

We didn’t book tours into any of the Parliament buildings since that would have required us to return the next day

Zoom in and read the interesting story about this bell recovered from

the ruins of the Clock Tower in the old Parliament Buildings that was destroyed by fire in 1916

DIEFENBUNKER – site of the secret underground command center in Carp, Ontario which today is a fascinating museum! We actually had much more fun here than in downtown Ottawa.

The DiefenBunker is a massive four-storey underground bunker, built between 1959 and 1961. It was commissioned by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1959, as part of his government’s reaction to escalating tensions in the Cold War. The purpose of the bunker was to house key members of the government and military in the event of a nuclear attack on Canada. The DiefenBunker was an active Canadian Forces Station until 1994. For more information: https://diefenbunker.ca/about-the-diefenbunker/

This room looked very familiar to me … the rolodex, the ashtray, the phones, the computers … actually my typewriter at Kelowna Toyota was older than the one in this room! Haha 😆 We’ve come a long way!

The TV’s hung from the ceiling, the projector, and the ever-present ashtrays 🙃 It was such a different world

I’ve given up trying to keep him under control 🙄 He probably should have tried his hand at acting at some point in his career life … maybe it’s not too late! 😂

The 60’s were so cool … wait I’m a 1960 model myself 🤓

Lynn has this exact stove and it’s his favorite … It’s a conversation starter with old guys at campsites and I almost wasn’t able talk him out of bringing it on this trip! 🙄

NIAGARA FALLS

I was so excited to finally be there and see it in person!

Good thing we got this picture taken BEFORE we got up close to the falls

because once we got here, it was like we were standing in the shower! 😂

Behind the Falls Tour

This is pretty much all you could see from behind the falls – Very loud!

Went back at night to watch the lights come on 🤗 So pretty!

Went up to the Skylon Tower Observation Deck

Us doing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off … “Anything is beautiful from 775 ft”

Visited the Wax Museum just for fun!

Then we needed to get away from the craziness, so we drove to Niagara on the Lake … peaceful, quiet, and quaint … Just what we were ready for!

Main Street was full of gift shops, fudge, gelato … Totally enjoyed our afternoon here

This is U.S. Fort Niagara you can see just across the Niagara River

One afternoon wasn’t enough so we loaded up our bikes and came back for one more full day

We were riding along enjoying this beautiful Bike Path which

unexpectedly went right past this Fort that we didn’t even realize was there

bikes, and went in. Arrived 3 days before it closed for the season 😊 I can’t even count how many times God has blessed us in this way!

We’ve got our roles down 😄 I’m the photographer, while Lynn asks the questions and gets the info

then shares what he thinks I might be interested in while we walk to the next thing 🤓 It’s all working out very well! 😎

Only remaining original Fort George Building

that survived after the War of 1812. It was built in 1797. **Then we noticed that tunnel on the right there 😳** ...

The storage and handling of explosives was a scary and delicate operation!

It was so great walking around exploring this Fort because I guess since it was so close to closing for the season there was only about 10 of us in the whole place! And we thought our day was just going to consist of a lovely fall bike ride on the miles of paved paths!

We got to be the only ones, all by ourselves exploring

and at the end of the Tunnel, these stairs led

up to a lookout Tower with these gun slits

to perfectly aim at the enemy across the river! Genius!

As we were driving back home we saw a huge monument up on a hill and decided to go see what it was – Monument to the Battle of Queenston Heights

So much to see over here! One last stop at Niagara Parks famous Floral Clock. It measures 40′ in diameter! The face of the Floral Clock is created using 16,000 bedding plants that are changed twice each year! That’s a lot of work and a LOT of flowers! 🌸 🌼

Point Pelee National Park – Now to the southernmost point of mainland Canada!

Stopped to explore this Marsh Boardwalk on route to the Point

Then carried on to the Visitor Center, which is as far as you can drive in your vehicle, then you need to take a shuttle the last 2km to the end of the paved road … then a short walk on the sand right out to the most southern point!

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