Day 16 - Toronto ON to Ottawa ON

After a couple of nights in Toronto it's back on the road as we head east to Ottawa.
We skirt Lake Ontario our 3rd and final of the Great Lakes (Michigan and Erie will have to wait for another trip).

Most of the drive is along the 401 but thankfully it gets a little better once we get out of Hogtown.
In the north east corner of Lake Ontario is the start of the St Lawrence river that ultimately leads to the open ocean.
Where the river joins the lake is called Thousand islands. In actual fact there are 1800 little islands.
This region also gave us the Thousand island dressing that was first created by a local wife for her fisherman husband which then spread to other wives and then a restaurant menu and, well I think you know the rest.

We stopped off at the Thousand island national park but the weather was wet and cloudy so I will include some photos but it wasn't the best time for taking pictures. We also spotted a birds nest in the eaves of a small shelter which contained a bunch of baby Barn Swallows.

We then headed north and then entered Ottawa. We stopped by the Rideau river where (if we had the time) we could of rented some kayaks.

We finally got to the hotel and after a short break went to investigate. Thankfully the weather started improving so after walking along the locks at the start of the Rideau canal we went to a pub in Byward market where we dined alfresco.
By the way (pun intended), Ottawa was originally called Bytown after lieutenant colonel John By, an English army officer back in 1826.

I got a little snap happy as we walked around Ottawa en-route to parliament hill so have included a number of photos below. The final picture is tip of the hat to our old neighbours when we lived on Mill Street, it looks like they missed a golden opportunity 😄