a peek inside the fishbowl

Mark and I ran into Ottawa Citizen photographer Bruce Deachman at the Pinecrest Chapters a few weeks ago. He described a recent shoot he did at the Port Elmsley Drive In. He told us about the amazing access he had to the whole place, including a steep climb to the top of the screen. (!)

His photos (and his accompanying article) were published in the Citizen within a couple days of our conversation and they totally reminded me of how much I love (and miss!) the drive-in. It’s sad there aren’t any in the city of Ottawa. It is such a unique experience. I figured Port Elmsley, which is located between Perth and Smiths Falls, could make a sweet little family road trip. So we decided to combine a drive-in movie with an afternoon in Perth.

As we filled our water bottles and strapped on our walking shoes we didn’t realize that this was going to the kind of day that doesn’t go as well as we would have liked …

So learn from our mistakes and TAKE HEED YE FELLOW TRAVELLERS.

Bad: We chose to go to Perth on the hottest day of the whole entire summer. Poor Sarah suffered the worst and swooned with the heat.
Good: We had some great ice cream at White Mountain on Gore Street.
Excellent: We discovered Stewart Park, a gorgeous winding greenspace (largely behind the Perth town hall) which did wonders for our hot and sticky feet and helped restore our spirits.

The Tay River runs right through Stewart Park, which just adds to its cool beauty.

Emma walked around in a daze. She said (and this is a direct quote): “I cannot express in words how pretty this park is.”

I think Emma was right.

Added good stuff: we found some welcome shade in this far corner of the park

Good: there are some really cute little shops in Perth which would be worth exploring
Bad: they all seemed to close really early so all we did was window-shop (maybe that’s not so bad after all?)

Good: there is free parking in Perth
Good: they even seem to care about pedestrians (why can’t the City of Ottawa have these kinds of crossings?)!

Bad: our failed attempt at geocaching – which involved a lot of walking in the heat of the day – was going to end in a spot right near a bunch of beer-drinking tough guys. Instead of persevering and trying to find the cache we turned around and went back the way we came. How to explain geocaching to a muggle biker gang?

Bad: we were very hungry by dinnertime and didn’t know where we should go.
Bad: we ended up at Mexicali Rosa’s, which I KNEW FROM PAST EXPERIENCE WOULD NOT BE GOOD
Bad: the food was mediocre at best. I hate paying for food (in this case fajitas) I can make better at home
Bad: the girls received a lunch-sized Jello Pudding cup – in the actual cup – as their dessert. I don’t expect Mexi’s to slave over homemade chocolate pudding but couldn’t they at least scoop it into a dish? How cheap.
Good/interesting: we sat on a non-smoking terrace overlooking water populated by carp the length and width of a man’s thigh. Fellow diners donated their chips for the girls to feed to these crazily obese carp.

After our good/bad afternoon we drove to the drive-in.

Oh, you won’t believe how much we suffered there. Continue reading right here.

It was Mark’s idea not to tell the girls we had free tickets to see Walking with the Dinosaurs.

After dinner we changed our clothes and packed the girls up in the car, all the while sporting glum faces and mumbling things about “something we have to do for work.”

The girls asked a lot of questions, but we gave them the same answer every time: we’ll explain when we get there. I think they eventually ran out of questions because they soon got pretty quiet.

We drove down the Queensway towards the Scotiabank Place and turned into the road and then into parking lot #1 (which was also free – yay for free parking!) and scooted across the road. There were no signs, nothing, indicating where we are.

“ARE WE GOING TO SEE A MOVIE?”
“No, they don’t show movies here, sorry.”

Emma and Sarah’s eyes were as wide as saucers as they looked around for clues. We made our way though the line to show our tickets.  The lady who showed up in instructed us to “enjoy the show.” We told the girls there was NOTHING enjoyable about this show. So don’t get too excited.

“NEVERMIND ALL THESE CHILDREN,” said Mark “JUST BECAUSE THERE’S A LOT OF KIDS HERE DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING.”

They were puzzled.

We quickly found our seats after having made a quick beeline past a table which sold dino-related toys. I’m not sure if they saw those. 

They scrutinized the arena in front of us. 

“Those are big teeth,” said Emma, pointing to some giant pointy dental work surrounding a projection screen which took up one side of the staging area.

Mark tried to persuade her that they were stalactites, which would fit a geologically-themed show. I’m not sure if they bought that, but they sat quietly, occasionally whispering to themselves as they looked around.

The people near us were mightily amused when we told them the girls had no clue what was about to unfold. A nearby mom told her seven year old son, I could see the amazement written on his face. HOW COULD THEY NOT KNOW???

He came over as if to gloat a bit, but then thought better of it and went back to his seat.

I think the prehistoric-birdlike thing peeking out of the rafters finally gave it away.

And then the show began.

“WELCOME TO WALKING WITH THE DINOSAURS!” said a big voice over the loudspeaker. (The girls looked back at us and smirked.)

And then it began.

If you haven’t heard of the show I can summarize it in this way: A real-life host (acting as a paleontologist) takes the audience through the different ages and introduces 15 life-size dinosaurs along the way.

It was a hoot, a truly an awe-inspiring production. It was actually fun AND educational. (Edutainment! A lecture, but with puppets! Why couldn’t my university lectures be this fun?)

I was amazed at what they could convey with light, sound, and a fog machine: water, fire, jungle, comets crashing. Wow.

This is some very sophisticated puppetry. In a day and age where computer graphics prevail, it’s clear that someone had to spend the cash and rev it up a notch to make it attractive to the X-Box generation.

“IT LOOKS SOOOO REAL,” whispered Emma, and Sarah, and then Sarah and then Emma. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Or their ears (which they sometimes covered when the dinos got a bit too vocal.)

The dinosaurs are big. How big is hard to fathom (I read the tallest is 72 ft from tip to tail) and from where we were sitting, one guy’s head was at the same level as ours or maybe even higher. The eyes, the skin, and the movement all look creepily realistic. Walking, roaring, hiding, fighting – the dinosaurs all have personalities and are able to convey emotion.

I would have loved to see them up close and get the scoop on how they work. (Apparently there are three people working the each of the larger dinos.)

I know a lot of you are probably wondering whether this show is too scary to bring little children. It’s hard to answer this question because kids are all different. Our girls are a bit more shall we say sensitive, especially Sarah, who is sometimes affected by dramatic music. But they were fine. And the 7 and 3.5-year old boys near us did okay too. 

There is a funny ending (that is, after most of life on earth gets wiped out by a comet) so don’t rush off.

If you’re looking for some family entertainment that is a little bit different, this might be it. It might be a nice way for your family to celebrate the end of summer.

(By the way Emma just declared it was the best show she’s ever seen. She’s 10. Take her word for it.)

Here’s the official website if you’d like to learn more (and check out some videos too).

This MoB is pretty close to MoB #004 but with some small differences.

The setting: An isolated canoe-in campsite overlooking a tranquil lake. I’m sitting on a large sloping rock and reading a newspaper while the sun gets lower and lower in the sky.

My immediate surroundings are evergreen and still. There is a loon on the lake and we’ve been watching it make its rounds.  Everything is illuminated with a warm light that only comes before the sun dips below the horizon. Everything is glowing. The sunset will be magnificent. The sky will be lit up as if there was something worth celebrating. Here’s the thing… there is something worth celebrating. 

Why is that so easy to forget?