On April 1st we visited Pennsylvania’s largest cave, Laurel Caverns, it is smaller than Carlsbad Caverns and the tours are run like a assembly line-efficient but you do feel slightly rushed. We spent three days in Pennsylvania which gave us enough time to visit Gettysburg and drive through Amish country, we stopped in Intercourse and had the best ice cream ever but our must-see destination was Steamtown in Scranton. If you even slightly like trains this is a great place to spend the day.
We arrived back home in Ottawa on April 7th, this was earlier than we had anticipated but the weather in Vermont and New Hampshire was cold and miserable so we thought we might as well be in Ottawa visiting friends and family and tying up the last of our loose ends. We managed to get everything done that we had set out to do and more due to the unexpected task of replacing our hot water tank which sprang a leak three weeks after arriving in Ottawa. Joe had been hesitant to put the original hot water tank back in when he was rebuilding the rear of the truck but his plumber had convinced him that “it should be OK.” So it was not a complete surprise when it leaked, at least it happened at home and not on the road. We also managed to sell our rental property (my first home, a townhouse in Kanata), we now officially own no property. This feels completely liberating, when we are ready, we could settle down anywhere! So many places to choose from…
While in Ottawa I went to see the Alex Colevile exhibit at the National Gallery, thanks to a friends’ recommendation. It was lovely to visit downtown, I felt like a tourist which allowed me to see my hometown from a different perspective. Thanks to another friend I also visited Gillies Grove in Arnprior, a little gem close to home which has Ontario’s tallest tree, a white pine standing 154 feet tall. We were also in Ottawa at the right time to enjoy Tulip Festival, always worth a visit in our opinion.
Although we were in Ottawa significantly longer than we had planned, nine weeks instead of three! we were productive and had plenty of time to visit all the wonderful people in our lives.
the wandering heffalump 