July 25 – Wednesday
The morning brought another fine day and we jumped on our bikes and headed “down town” on the bicycle “super highway” and within half an hour we were at the end of the Rideau Canal and looking at the Ottawa River and Canada’s Parliament buildings. It was still early and the lock crew was just getting set to go to work at 08:30. We discovered our lock-hand friend (and former mortician) from Hartwells was assigned to the 8-lock flight for the day, so we got some details from him to help us plan our move through the flight on Saturday. We locked (with a cable) our bikes at the lock master’s office and walked about the area and eventually found the hotel where our family would be staying as well as a “Tim Horton’s” – Canada’s answer to Dunkin Donuts. After a mediocre cup of coffee and not-so-good Danish, we went back to the bikes to head to the marina. Polly noticed that policemen were showing up here and there on some street corners and some people were stopped along the streets – so we did too. Very soon we heard drums and bag pipes and then were treated to a parade of the red coated guards marching from the Drill House to the Parliament Building lawn where they would perform the daily (10:00 AM unless it rains) “Changing of the Guard” ceremony. This was something on our list to see, but we thought we would wait until K, M, & L were on the scene, also.
Back to the boat for some rest and refreshment and then some more biking since the kids’ arrival wouldn’t be until later that afternoon. We took a route that led through a nice park and along the natural bed of the Rideau River, which is east of the canal and locks. Back at the boat again, we showered and awaited the big arrival, Polly and I were so excited that we actually sat near the curb on the street that would bring them to the marina. They finally arrived and we visited and caught up on everyone and everything before heading to dinner. Libby’s 6th birthday is coming up in early August and since we will not be home in time to celebrate, we had a sparkler added to the dessert and sang to her. We made some loose plans for seeing the sites over the next few days and the Bahoric’s headed back to their hotel, leaving Libby aboard FLIGHT. Libby had previously worked out her schedule – one night on the boat and one night at the hotel and then another night on the boat. That is exactly what she did.