Ottawa - Part II

We survived and no one was actually voted out.  It was close though.   The children's unlikely alliance proved strong and I was very nearly voted out, largely because of my refusal to support the purchase of toys in every single town we pass through, but in the end I convinced one of them (my favorite) to change their vote and so we're still a family of 5.   
ed out of the family.

Today, fresh off our pirate adventure, we heeded the kids' threats of mutiny and ubered it down to Wellington Street instead of repeating yesterday's epic six hour bicycle excursion.    We first took in the historic Ottawa lock system on the Rideau Canal adjacent to the East Block of Parliament.  It was fascinating to see Parks Canada staff operating all 8 locks by hand, turning huge cranks to open and close the lock doors and the valves controlling the water.  We were also fascinated that there are no railings anywhere near the locks despite hundreds of people milling around an incredibly turbulent and dangerous set of historic hazards!

We took a water taxi across the Ottawa River to the Canadian Museum of History in Hull.  We only had time to take in the Children's Museum but the kids enjoyed it and it bought us some good will for our tours of the Parliament building and the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Our new ride...

Lori and Parker prefer this one, you can tell by her face...

The Parliament tour was pretty good.  I had never been in there before so I geeked out a little.  I have never before considered politics but being there made me just a little intrigued by the whole thing.   The guide talked a lot about how we would recognize things from watching media scrums on tv.   I couldn't stop thinking oh, there's the rotunda where the footage of them shooting at that guy was taken.    

It looks like one of the Famous Five is squishing Gracie

We got to the Supreme Court of Canada at the very end of they day.  I totally geeked out there.   It was inspiring.  The SCC courtroom seems so much bigger than it really is when you watch it on CPAC.   The Court is surprisingly well equipped to entertain young visitors so the kids got an activity book and they got to search for artifacts displayed in the lobby to win a prize.

By the end of the day it was hot, we were hungry and everything was closing but Ottawa has this incredible street called Sparks Street just a block south of Wellington.  On Sparks Street we found not one, not two but three giant gooseneck trailer food carts selling Southern Barbeque.  One of them was advertising that everything was gluten free so...we ate southern style barbeque on a park bench on a sweltering Ottawa evening.  It was amazing and it raised everyone's spirits.  Parker went from a hot mess to super happy and all it took was some authentic corn bread and a slurpee.   When he was done he started doing the hustle.  I swear to god. 

I can also report that I have learned of a secret salute between motorhome drivers when they pass on the highway.  I learned about it by waving at other motorhome drivers as they went past and watching for anyone to wave back.  Some of them actually do wave back.  Unfortunately this does not work with big rig truck drivers.