04.24.2010 Ottawa to Kingston and everything inbetween

After traveling between Ottawa and Toronto so many times I eventually wanted to see all the small townships in between. I thought it would be interesting and super exciting so I brought a friend, and a bag of props to take pictures all over town.

On our way leaving Ottawa, we came across a giant strawberry. We pulled a right and took a few pictures to kick-start our adventure. The place was empty, but that's probably because it's not berry picking season yet.

2.nomnomnom

1. strawberry balancing. 2.nomnomnom






orange!

This caught my eye first. We pulled over, and discovered an animal farm museum of sorts. Not exactly interesting or exciting, we left. But I wonder what is being made in those giant cylinders.

We headed out to Manotick, a small town? along the Rideau River. The town is best known for a grist and flour mill called Watson's Mill that is hidden inside a building we could not enter. The surrounding buildings were cute and picturesque and it is here where we found our new home. (see above).

1. Watson's Mill, 2. Watson's neighbour

After Manotick, was Grenville. This is a really cute town, and I think one of my favourite stops for the day. The place is tiny and has only one street they call downtown consisting of 20-30 antique shops and boutiques. Most of the antique shops were not selling real antiques except for one, and everything in it was ridiculously expensive (but nice!).

The lady who sold us chips gave us a nice introduction to the town and told us to come back next week because... the ENTIRE town was having a garage sale. Imagine that!

1. Chips! 2. "What's with my fries?" 3. "Zaaap"

1. Back then, you couldn't buy things that cost over a hundred dollars

We passed through Merrickville along the way to Smiths Falls and stopped when we saw these ruins. I'm not really sure what it was about, but there was a sign, and we didn't read it.

1. Hadou-kick! 2. The Incredible Hulk! 3. "Oh no! My neighbour!"

We also went to check out the downtown area of Merrickville and found a shop that sold ONLY Christmas items. Obviously he was 'swatting flies', but I guess business picks up in December.
1. nutcracker collection 2. believe!

1. boohoo 2. Look what I found, Carleton has been here too.

In between all the small towns and villages are vast expanses of farms and homes with long windy driveways. And sometimes we spot horses and chickens and other normal farm animals. But at one point, we found an Alpaca! (or a lama, think Emperor's New Groove).

1. Heeere Alpaca-paca-paca-paca. me vs them

My friend was thoroughly thrilled about seeing Alpacas so we stopped at the side of the road and asked the family if we could take some pictures. According to the family, they are afraid of hands and arms so if you want them to approach you, you have to keep your arms behind you. I did, but they never came closer me.

1. alpaca 2. donkey 3. alpaca

We finally reached Smiths Falls and there was nothing there except old people. We asked about the waterfall and apparently there ISN'T one. A little disappointing, but we moved on. Later on I asked a friend about it and he said that the falls had turned into a dam. Damn.

funny homes

After Smiths Falls we detoured back towards the 401 and headed for Sparkle City. The aim was to get a picture of their town billboard, but we never found it. : ( Sparkle City is located in the town of Prescott and all the buildings would refer to themselves as Prescott so and so, instead of Sparkle City so and so. Probably for good reason, but what an awesome name for a city! Plus there was nothing there, just more homes and acres of farmland. I was disappointed.

By evening, we were in Brockville. It's a small quaint town that looks nice during the day and scary at night. We also realized that we were probably the only Asians in the area. At this point, Brockville was looking like Merrickville, which could also pass for Grenville. So I didn't take any decent photos. But, we stayed for dinner by the water and took a walk through the town at night, which spooked us out, and so we left.

"I have an irrational fear of casinos," he said. "So do I," she replied.

We were getting close to Kingston and it was getting dark, so we decided to stay there for the night. Luckily, I have a good friend in Kingston, and she let us stay in her living room for the night. On the way we passed by the Casino I always see when heading up to Ottawa. For some reason, it always reminds me of Cars, the Pixar film. Anyway We parked, locked the doors twice and headed in. It's the first time I've ever been in a casino, so this was interesting. I didn't bring a camera in with me because I wasn't sure if it was permitted or not. Inside was clean, and there were a lot of obese people sitting at slot machines. My friend played (and lost) $10 on the roulette table, and with nothing to do afterwards, we watched the hockey game on TV until the end of the third period. In hindsight, we probably should have drank ten dollars worth of free coffee and softdrinks before leaving instead.

And to end the night, we stayed at my friend's wonderful home.