This past weekend, I went to the Silver Bay YMCA for a retreat for individuals with leadership positions in my sorority, a small academic and philanthropic based social Greek organization with 13 active chapters along the east coast.
I drove down with two of my fellow sisters, and we chose to take a scenic route rather than a majority of highway driving. We went through New Hampshire and spent a lot of time in the Green Mountains and Adirondack Mountains. It definitely helped pass the time during our 5.5 hour drive with 250+ miles to cover!
alum and active sisters of my sorority’s chapter who attended the retreatgroup photo of active sisters and national board members
After a 3-day retreat, it was time to make the trek back to Maine and enjoy some scenic views again!
Arrive in Ottawa, settle in, get rested from your travels. Explore the area around wherever you are staying. Find a nice restaurant or park. Take it easy.
Day 2
Take a bus tour around the city of Ottawa to get a lay of the city and learn some interesting facts (and also have transportation through the hop-on, hop-off option).
Spend the afternoon at Dow’s Lake and take a kayak downtown.
Explore Canadian nightlife in the evening at ByWard Market. Have a few drinks and dinner and reflect on the trip. There’s nice low-key restaurants and also bars and clubs if you’re into that scene.
Day 7
End your trip with a relaxing day at Le Nordik Spa about 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa over the provincial border.
Day 8
Sleep in. Pack. Travel home. Rest from your trip.
Note: This is based off of my itinerary and is very similar to what I did, but I made some slight changes.
Sunday morning I was up around 8:00 AM and off to packing for the trip home. Then, it was goodbye to my Air BNB hosts, into a Lyft, and off to one of Ottawa’s airports.
After the fiasco of getting to Ottawa (shoutout to Porter Airlines, American Airlines, and Vayama for taking my sanity, a day of my trip, $100 extra, and 12 hours on the phone), I was super nervous about getting back to Boston! Thankfully, the first one was only a few minutes behind, but my second one from Toronto got delayed by about a half hour, thankfully that was all! After my trip there, I think I was deserving of a smooth trip home.
I arrived in Portland a little later than expected because the plane was just late enough for me to barely miss the 6:35 bus, but I was on the 7:35 one and back to Portland around 9:00 PM! Then back home to spend time with my family and my doodle.
After the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, I got lunch and then went to get my nails done! Walking to the nail salon, I walked through The Glebe, a historic neighborhood that is now buzzing with street life, stores, pop-up shops, and more.
After, I went back to my Air BNB to rest before going out. I woke up at 8:00 PM and thought it was 8:00 AM, and then realized it was still evening. I wanted to go out Saturday night as my last night in Ottawa, so I headed downtown to the ByWard Market area, which is the nightlife hub (and tourist hub) of Ottawa, busy day and night. No club or bar would take my credit card, so that’s how that went! I decided the universe was trying to spare my stomach yet again. So, after feeling pretty bummed for coming all the way out, I decided to try a restaurant, Atari..
I enjoyed a drink and a small meal and had time to spend with myself and reflect on the week. It wasn’t exactly what I was picturing for a night out, but it turned out to be a really mindful experience. From there, I went back to my Air BNB for one last night’s sleep in Ottawa!
On my last full day in Ottawa (Saturday, May 26), I decided to go to start the day with the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. This is another highlight of Ottawa, but one that I only had a passive interest in and wasn’t sure I was going to go. But, when Saturday hit, I wanted to fill the day with more adventures, so I decided to go for it! And I’m glad I did. It was super interesting!
This was another affordable museum. I paid about $10 USD for a college student ticket. One thing I really like about Canada is that I find a lot more college discounts than back home.
I started off with a 45-minute guided tour through some of the highlights. It was really interesting learning about aviation history through a Canadian lens. We saw the first airplane developed in Canada (around the time of the Wright brothers) as well as original fighter and training jets from WWII. Here’s a floor plan and a detailed directory of the aircraft currently on display:
Courtesy of https://ingeniumcanada.org/casm/visit
A lot of this was over my head, and I’m sure people who are more of a history buff or interested in aviation would have learned a lot more and engaged more. But, I definitely still enjoyed it, and I’m glad added it to my list!
The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada’s national natural history and natural sciences museum located in Ottawa, Ontario. This is another top site in Ottawa and one that I had passive interest in. I was looking for something fun to do on a Friday night, and I decided I didn’t want to go clubbing and spend my last full day in Ottawa hungover, so I decided for something a little more low-key. Upon doing some Internet searching of top nightlife activities and destinations in Ottawa, I found something called the Nature Nocturne. Here’s the description from the website:
When darkness falls, the Museum comes alive in the most exciting Nature Nocturne season yet. Explore galleries after hours, engage your curiosity with amazing activities and enjoy some great music and mingling. It’s Ottawa’s coolest night out—an unforgettable experience that moves the body and stimulates the mind.
This event is held once a month at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and I was surprised that the monthly event for May happened to be on the Friday that I was there! If you’re in Ottawa on June 29 or August 24, 2018, you’ll also have the opportunity to check this out (click links to buy tickets)!
I bought the ticket the day of, and it was emailed to me within 20 minutes (unlike American Airlines who still hadn’t emailed me my ticket within three hours and wouldn’t let me on the flight — #notbitter). I paid $25 CAD ($22 USD) for the night. On a normal visit, tickets are around $11 USD, so another affordable museum!
After I finished at Le Nordik Spa-Nature (see blog post here), I headed downtown to the Parliament Hill area for dinner, and then headed over to the CMN around 9:00 PM.
So I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to drink, and I finally decided to go for it, but then my credit card wouldn’t work in the ATM because I don’t have the PIN I need, so I guess the universe told me to save the wellbeing of my stomach and just chill out for the night!
I took time to look around some of the exhibits, which was nice. Some people were there in “going-out” attire and very interested in the drinking and dancing, but quite a few people were engaged in the four or five floors of exhibits! The museum has five floors with very in-depth exhibits! I paid special attention to the special brain exhibit and the solar system. I liked the option to switch between (mostly) quiet exhibits and an educational experience and then the nightlife feel of it and the dancing and music.
Courtesy of https://nature.ca/en/plan-your-visit/floor-plans
Photos from various exhibits:
They had two special areas set-up, one with couches and a bar and music for general socialization, and then a big dance floor with a DJ and another two bars right downstairs.
