Follow Tom Thomson’s last spring, on Twitter https://t.co/Zwvf91H2ik
— Kitchissippi Times (@Kitchissippi) July 6, 2017
When I first heard that the plan for Alexandra Bridge for Ottawa 2017 celebrations, I was pretty excited. On July 2, officials were going to close the bridge to vehicular traffic and open it up to picnic enthusiasts. How cool! Unfortunately, I was asleep at the wheel when the tickets went on sale and they sold out quickly. I promptly forgot about the whole thing until a friend of mine was selling his tickets at the very last minute. I wasn’t about to let this once-in-a-lifetime about to pass me by, even though I had no idea if (a) there was enough food in the fridge suitable for picnicking or (b) how we were going to get to Gatineau (bike? bus? drive?) and (c) if there was parking to be found anywhere within a couple of kilometres. I threw caution to the wind and said YES.
Mark was booked to golf, so it was just the three of us girls. After a harried start (basically, me, packing everything I could think of in a huge cooler bag) we made our way.
We didn’t bother trying to park close to the core, but nabbed the first spot we saw along a residential side street. Thankfully, with the parking worked out, a big burden was lifted from my shoulders and we proceeded with a spring in our step toward the bridge.
I should, perhaps, explain about how this all worked. Participants had to check their tickets beforehand to see if they were to access their spot from the Ottawa or the Gatineau side. We were GAT. There were various seatings throughout the day and ours was at 4 p.m. The FAQ instructed us to be at the gate at 3 p.m., one full hour before our appointed time, which we were. This is almost preceisely when it started to rain.
For Ottawa folks, this is now a common refrain. The weather has been so variable these past couple of months that we’ve trained ourselves to go out and enjoy ourselves between waves of rain and appreciate every bit of sun that we can get, like the solar paupers we are, even if it’s a glimmer between cloud bursts. I wasn’t about to let it rain on our parade this time. We were going to persevere!
Sidebar: in all of my rushing to pack our things I neglected to pack a poncho or umbrella. Happily, my youngest brought a small collapsible umbrella, so the three of us huddled underneath it with the odd drip of cold rain running down the back of our collars.
Upon entry, security went through all of our bags quite thoroughly but thankfully they did not confiscate my cheese knife.
Ace Bakery was handing out baguettes at the get go and CIBC-branded picnic blankets were also on offer. So we grabbed our things and went to find our spot. The baguette was damp the second it was handed to us. The action reminded me of some kind of Olympic event; the baguette relay, which I hoped would be followed by cronut tossing.
By this point, I had abandoned all pretense of keeping dry.
Our assigned quadrant of sod was not far, and I was pleased that we had a good view, albeit a foggy one.
There weren’t many people around at that moment. It was all looking a bit sad until I realized that the SMART folks were probably staying dry somewhere until the rain passed. Sigh. Oh well.
The sod was soaked and muddy in spots. The water started to pool on our picnic blanket so two of us decided to pick it up and stand underneath it. It made poor shelter, but at least it was keeping the worst of the rain off our heads. We were starving so we ripped open a bag of chips and took turns taking hilariously savage bites out of the baguette, like some kind of wild animals. It was all quite comical, really.
And then, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, the rest of the picnickers arrived, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be fine.
We dug in to the rest of our picnic – cheese, fruit, vegetables – and took the time to enjoy the scenery around us. We were close to stairs which lead to a bit of a catwalk for security purposes. I climbed up so I could get a better view. I fully expected to get scolded for my actions, it is, after all, for security, but the guard just smiled at me. Thus, I obtained a bird’s eye view of the revelry. Kids played, people snapped photos, ate, drank, and stretched out on their blankets. The girls went for a walkabout to check out the scene while I stared across the water and watched the water taxi cross and recross the river.
It was quite a lovely thing to behold, all of us there, still wet from the rain but somehow finding a way to make the best of it. It would have been much easier to stay at home and shrug it off, but we found a way and I’m glad we did. We even met someone new:
After awhile we packed up, brushed the mud and bits of grass off our feet to the best of our abilities, and went back home. It started to rain again, just as we were leaving.
Canada Day didn’t exactly have an auspicious beginning here at Casa Fishbowl. Racoons ransacked our green bin for mussel shells – the detritus of dinner the night before – and left them strewn all over the driveway. Mark cleaned up the mess.
I was feeling a little sad that we didn’t plan to take full advantage of everything that Ottawa had to offer on this very special Canada Day. Shouldn’t a proper Ottawan be downtown, hooting it up, rain or shine? And then I saw the weather reports, and then I saw the photos of the security line ups, and then I shrugged my shoulders and thought, why would I do that to myself?
We took a different approach. The youngest ventured downtown in the afternoon and managed to avoid most of the stormy weather, but rest of us were happy enough just to chill at home. (For the record, last year we checked out Pinhey’s Point Historic Site, which turned out to be a fun way to spend Canada Day.)
We watched the CBC broadcast from Parliament Hill, did a few things around the house, ate cheese, had a nap, and later, prepped the coals for a little BBQ in between the waves of rain. Sidebar: I’ve been keen for the coals since our picnic at Andrew Hayden Park and have learned that it’s a good idea to let the coals burn and settle before putting anything on the grill, otherwise they cook a little too quickly. And start to burn.
We aren’t huge hotdog eaters around here, but that’s what we ended up with, along with ketchup chips, and maple-flavoured marshmallows for dessert.
I picked up the marshmallows at Loblaws, mostly for the novelty factor, because I knew they’d be part of our Canada Day menu. The maple flavour is fairly subtle, and let’s not kid ourselves, they are artificially flavoured. What I liked most about them is the shape. They’re a little flatter on the one side, like a tire, so I think they’d be well suited for s’mores. I will say this, toasting marshmallows over charcoal prevents them from setting on fire, which is a bonus (at least for me)!
In the evening we went downtown. Our usual plan involves driving part way, parking, and walking the other part. This strategy has worked many years for us and I’m happy enough to hoof it for a reasonable distance. Our usual viewing spot behind the Supreme Court building has been closed for a couple years, so we found a spot overlooking the water a bit off to the side of the building. As a bonus, there were no security checkpoints to wait through on this side of the Hill. After they were over, we walked back to our car and set off for home in the cool summer night.
July 2 was a tad more exciting. Mark went golfing (that’s not the exciting part) and the three of us had a picnic on the bridge. (YES. THE. BRIDGE.) More about that, later. I hope you all had a great long weekend!
My name is Andrea and I live in Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Sunny who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. During the day I work as a freelance writer. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.
If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here.
I've deactivated the commenting function as well as my contact form so if you want to get in touch, please drop me a line at quietfish@gmail.com. Thank you!
