Dragons and Groundhogs and Bears, Oh My!

I have gone for a couple of walks over the past few days. Sadly, we haven’t seen Geon lately. Dragon and I walked to the Byward Market all by ourselves (thank you very much) and back to the Rideau Centre on a Tuesday morning which was comparably more bearable than our first time. I was able to stroll around and enjoy myself for the most part as Little Dragon fell asleep for the first ½ of our trip. The above picture is that of the Alexandra Bridge (the walking bridge that connects Ottawa to Gatineau).

I love the architecture here. Everything is so old and impressive. The majority of the buildings have so much character and are over 100 years old. I was telling Dave that most of the character homes in Edmonton (ones that are more than a century old) have been moved to Fort Edmonton Park for safe keeping, but here they are everywhere.

The Parliament buildings are like castles! David says that the Parliament library has flying buttresses. I asked Dave what a flying buttress was. He didn't know, he just heard that it had them. I think he pulled that out of his flying buttress. But no, he was right.

Don't say that my blog isn't educational. Ta dah! Flying Buttresses. Think Harry Potter. I dare you to try to use the words "flying buttress" in a sentence sometime today. Report back to me.

I want to buy this house. It's for sale!

Little Dragon and I found where they sell Beaver Tails, a deep fried treat that is shaped like the country’s beloved mascot, well... the tail part. The lady at the McCafe said we HAVE to get one because it is truly an Ottawa specialty. I held back this time and want to save it for a date night with Dave. Plus, then I can share it with Dave and won’t feel like such a piggy. I’m thinking all that goodness, sugar and lard will go straight to my butt so better to divide it amongst two butts.

On our Wednesday afternoon walk to the Jacques Cartier Park, close to our house, Little Dragon and I saw many interesting things. We saw a groundhog which I will write about in an upcoming post. We were going to go further on our walk as he was being such a good dragon and hardly making a peep, to Leamy Lake. I was so happy walking through the gorgeous fall colours and taking pictures like a nut of the signs which talked about the different types of trees. 

For instance:

I found one that was still intact!

The only Birch's I know back home are white beauties

. 

Then I came across this sign and got a little worried. 

I have had my fair share of bear runs-ins in the past as I have crossed paths with many Black bears (including a mamma with three cubs and even a few Grizzly bears). See video for details.

http://www.youtube.com/audio?feature=wenh&v=tmwQWUHCBF4

I am typically not scared of bears when I am with others, big others, like David but alone with Little Dragon, I wasn’t feeling very confident. Plus, we’d been walking for two hours already and I was okay with turning back at this point. I investigated this “bear” information when I got home and yes, there are Black bears on the Quebec side as: "there are some 200 that reside in Gatineau Park". Who would have thought?  

Black bears aren’t typically aggressive (only get territorial if they have cubs nearby or a carcass of an animal they are guarding) and usually will run away from people, but there are some cases where a Black bear has attacked (usually a single person or a couple) for no apparent reason. My Little Dragon is all roar but no bite when it comes to anything larger than himself. We’ll wait for a Sunday afternoon with Daddy to complete this walk.

One of my goals for being out here is to get a picture of a raccoon. David says there are lots out here. They just wander around and can be found on the highways as road kill as often as we see deer in Alberta. Super. Dr. Janel Yu, a periodontist that I used to work with grew up in Ottawa and said raccoons are a real problem out here as they like to find their way in people’s houses, making nests in attics and such. I still want to get a picture of one, even though I will likely scream a little bit when I see one, especially if it’s at night.

Even with no raccoon sightings, still had a lovely day with many great views.