More Ottawa

These pictures are in reverse order of when they were taken.
Musical parade of RCMP

Start of musical parade of RCMP

US Army Black Knights parachute in to parade of the RCMP


Guests of honor at parade of RCMP

On trail at Pink Lake in Gatineau Prov. Park

Sunset from Irina's apartment.

At Irina's apartment.

At the Ottawa mint.

Rideau Falls on the Ottawa river.

Cool breeze on the Ottawa river tour made it quite cool and nice.

Ottawa river tour: Ottawa skyline.

Rideau Falls

Parliament building.

Here's comes our tour boat.

At Ryan's apartment.

Fountain near many foreign embassies.

Bridge to the Museum of Civilization with Parliment in the background.

National Art Museum with Notre Dame Cathedral in background.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

Applying sunscreen.

Parliament.

Ottawa pictures.

Ottawa River and bridge, Parliament, Rideau Canal locks, and at Ryan's apartment. Camera goofed on the date so I did a great job of editing.

Carbondale Illinois

So Jason and I had a quick jaunt to Carbondale Illinois. Jason spent Friday in a 10 hour interview (not exaggerating), and I spent the day driving around seeing sights. I think I got the better end of the deal, however, I did get to meet some of the people he met with and they were just sweethearts! Jason loves being adored, so I'm sure not ALL of the 10 hours was bad. :) We were even invited to dinner with a couple of people and to a play on campus!

We flew into St. Louis, MO and drove about 2 hours southeast to Carbondale, IL, the home of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Salukis! Not much there, definately a college town and will be booming with excitement in another couple months when the majority of the students come back into town. But it was pretty, lots of lakes and thick trees. Here are a few pictures of the trip. While I was driving to Giant City State Park, I came across this park that a family had made in memorial to their son. It was amazing and I could have stayed there for hours! Sydney and dad would have loved it too! So a lot of my pictures happened to be of it, haha! Enjoy! Oh, and keep in mind I was driving and taking pictures, not a great combination, so they aren't the greatest of pictures!

ST. LOUIS ARCH "GATEWAY TO THE WEST"

CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER INTO ILLINOIS



STOPPED FOR DINNER AT LONE STAR, IT WAS YUMMY!



ALL DRESSED UP FOR HIS INTERVIEW!


COUNTRYSIDE IN ROUTE TO GIANT CITY STATE PARK:


GIANT CITY STATE PARK, WELL, SOME OF IT, OKAY, JUST THE PART OUTSIDE OF THE VISITOR'S CENTER


THAT'S THE CAR WE WERE DRIVING, PARKED OUTSIDE THE GIANT CITY STATE PARK VISITOR CENTER
THE COOL PARK:





CRAB ORCHARD LAKE, IT'S REALLY BIG

GOSH, I ONLY HAVE ONE PICTURE OF CAMPUS AND IT'S NOT EVEN THE WELLNESS CENTER! THIS IS ONE OF THE DORMS ON PART OF CAMPUS LAKE.

More bike stuff...

Does it ever end? No, it doesn't. :)

Bike Race... the saga continues

The other night, I was talking to a pro DH racer friend of mine, who looked at the race photo I have up on Facebook and said, "Wait -- did you really run those tires in the race? Those are downhill tires! Look at those knobs. You probably had twice the rolling resistance of everyone else." He was absolutely sure that had I been running other tires, I would have placed at least one better. Second place, easy.

Then, at spin last night, I was talking to my friend Jackie, who watched the race (above). She said that the chick who took first in my division went the wrong way and skipped the big monster climb on the first lap. (I'm sure it was an accident -- there were no course marshalls where you turn up the hill, and the "regular loop" skips that hill.) So that eliminates the first-place girl...

It's almost like I won! Hahaha...

There's another race this weekend in Napa -- the Skyline Dirt Classic -- but I can't go, because I'm getting a fabulous new haircut. AFTER I do a little tire-shopping, that is.

Ottawa in May

Ottawa is rather cold and brown for most of the year. Nonetheless, for a few months of the year, it gets warm and green and almost tricks one into believing that it is a wonderful place full of secrets and awe. Starting in May, these are the kinds of things you see if you look around in the area:

First off, pines and such near Ryan's apartment.

Baby pine tree:

Woodpecker:

Pink Trees:

View of the Ottawa Valley as seen from the Gatineau Hills:

View of Ryan as seen from the same lookout point:

Pink Lake: