Greetings,

Woke up deciding it was time for breakfast with an old friend so I called her. The long and short of it was that the day turned into an old senior Sunday drive around the city stopping at view points, national parks, mountain bike races and a dinner that was less than desirable at some new joint in the Ottawa’s south end. Also like to add that it felt like fall and was a cold, grey and windy day…

Despite having to go to a bank, decided punctuality was still paramount. While driving to an undisclosed location, some idiot crossed 3 lanes of traffic and came barreling into me, with Spiderman like reflexes not yet dulled by the duties of the day, swerved out of the way while braking and scraping my rims on the curb, ideal way to start the day…

I digress.

After the heart attacker of a morning drive, run into a friend at this shady breakfast joint. He informs me of a down hill mountain race going on at Camp Fortune which is the local ski resort closest to Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills. The Gatineau hills are on the Quebec side, they are beautiful and the lady I as with if my memory served correctly was all about super long drives for no reason, perfect combo.

I eat an insanely greasy breakfast and couldn’t help but grumble to myself while eating my beans that I’d paid less for guest houses in Asia than the price of breakfast. It was this long string of couples coming in, really overweight dudes with monster guts and women who looked less than thrilled to be there. I used to be one of those guys, nothing had changed two years later and I was busy loading sausages and bacon into my growing gut.

We left and drove to the Gatineau Hills, wow what a scene. What a place, just beautiful and so close to Ottawa. We made our way to Camp Fortune and climbed up part of the hill. The lady I was with had some designer sandals or something, we didn’t get far but who cares as the day was cold and grey. Afterwards we made our way to the Mackenzie King Estates but since I never hit the bank and for the first time in 3 years had no cash on me, couldn’t get in. They don’t take interact, the humanity!

Drove to Champlain Lookout and stopped at Huron and one other one along the way. Champlain is definitely the most beautiful and worth a visit. Perhaps will return on a nice day, who knows. Afterwards made our way to Chelsea, Cantley, Gatineau and more. Somehow found myself in a trailer park in Gatineau, not sure how that happened, didn’t even know we had trailer parks!?

Afterwards drove through the downtown core to the Ontario side. We headed near Andrew Haydon Park not because it was a destination but because we were just driving aimlessly. It’s a nice park with a yacht harbor? That doesn’t sound right but it could be, who cares. From there went to a place called “Bambu” on Hunt Club for dinner.

Bambu sucked. The lady who served us made a mistake and tried to call my friend out on it like “no, you ordered strawberry, not mango”. She quipped no I ordered mango and pointed it out… Then I order this overpriced sushi and after waiting 20 minutes she says they are behind in sushi and it will be 30 minutes. Felt like screaming what!? You are only making a dynamite roll and 3 types of sashimi, want me to help!? She also said “I can suggest you order an appetizer while you wait” I had to hold in “I can suggest you give me an appetizer as I wait” but decided against it. Suffice to say didn’t get the sushi but eat half my lady friends dinner, naturally.

This region is beautiful, weather probably was horrible due to the storms hitting the East Coast, now it’s beautiful outside, go figure!? Despite the weather and the dinner that was lackluster, great day as the company you keep is always paramount to the activities one seeks…

Tips hat,