I was at the fair Thursday evening. Was looking at items with vendors. One vendor kept insisting I…read morebuy something when I went to leave she grabbed my wrist and I had to pull my hand away and leave quickly to get away. It was a strong grip not just grabbing to me nobody has the right to grab you by the wrist and force you to buy something.

It was a packed day and lines were insanely long. The quickest wait we had was approximately 30…read moreminutes. While waiting in one of the long lines there was a smoker not far in front of us in line. After stopping and asking one of the personnel on a golf cart if he could ask the individual to stop smoking, I was bluntly told, "This isn't city property, people can smoke where they want, sorry". I went to their website at carpfair.ca and used their chat option to ask what their smoking policy was. Their response was "9 meters from any building and that it's best to be off to the side away from people". I asked for them to clarify if smoking in the line was permitted and their response was "I would not do that". I asked if it was allowed in line again and received the response,"With the amount of people we have on the grounds and the amount of children we would respectfully ask you not to and to go to the designated smoking areas around the grounds." When I brought up the exchange I had with their employee and requested clarification I received an automated response saying they would get back to me and if this is urgent to call their office. Any subsequent questions were responded to with this same automated response. Had I known the smoking policy prior I would not have gone. For the price of admission which does not include rides I find it ridiculous that there isn't a policy for smokers to smoke else where. Their comment about a "smoking area" appeared to be false, as I walked around the grounds I could not see a single visible smoking area. I detest the run around I received when inquiring about their own policies. If you enjoy second hand smoke, this fair is the right fit for you.

Jacques Cartier Park is on the other side of the Ottawa River in Gatineau. There was parking there…read morebut it filled up quickly and we ended up parking on the street quite far down. Either get there early or be prepared to walk back. It was such a pleasure wandering through the various plant displays. There was a lot of people when we went but it was expected since it was a lovely summer day. There's everything from trains, animals (puffins, moose, dragons), Mother Earth, a self playing piano and of course quintessential Canadian displays such as mounties and hockey players and even a vegetable patch.

We've had an amazing time, last year, and so I've had no grand expectations visiting it again (it…read moreis now called Mosaiculture), but boy, was I wrong. The new tree statue is absolutely spectacular, absolutely eclipsing the lady with the waterfall, from last year. Will definitely repeat, in a year or more from now.

Almonte is a small town about 50 km outside of Ottawa. Growing up in Toronto, I feel that even…read moreOttawa is small, and admittedly I had not had much interest in small towns where the population is only marginal greater than the population of my former highschool, lol. However, recently, my husband and I were on our "staycation" and we decided to venture out to Almonte in search of new scenery. I won't be packing my big city bags for the small town life anytime soon, but I'm glad we had our little jaunt into Almonte. So Almonte is a picturesque little town that I discovered is very popular with tourists. I foolishly thought that one of the advantages of a small town was free and readily available parking. The streets were teeming with tourists and we had to circle the main street a few times before we found a parking spot. Parking was free though. So "downtown Almonte" is along Mill St, which is where the touristy stuff is. The newer strip is along Ottawa St where you will find businesses like breweries, distilleries, and coffee roasteries. We visited both areas. The downtown area is mostly coffee shops, restaurants and antique/vintage/second hand shops. It was nice to stroll around, but honestly, the place was not my jam. We had lunch at one of the cafes and it was good, but nothing that I couldn't get closer to home. They had a statue of the inventor of Basketball there, since he was born in Almonte (I think it was actually Ramsey, but after the amalgamation, it's all technically called "Mississippi Mills" now anyway). Yeah, I snapped some pictures like the tourist that I was. Now I'm going to tell you about the real gem of Almonte, and what made our trip worthwhile: a doughnut shop called Healthy Foods Technologies, where the doughnuts are fried in a machine that the owner invented so that they absorb less fat and are thus "healthier." They taste like normal doughnuts and they are delicious! We bought a dozen and I may or may not have eaten 6 for dinner that night, lol.

So this is where the Hallmark Christmas movies are made, eh?…read more This is a cute little town, about 45ish minutes to get to if you are coming from the east end. Super laid back, and an excellent place for families to roam. The fam and I didn't stay that long here during our day trip. We mainly stayed around Gemmill park which connects to the community town center (bathrooms are located inside..YAY), ventured out to the main strip, got some ice cream, had a picnic in the park and went home. I do wish I had more time here to explore, but I will have to make another trip out here in the fall. Beautiful town, can't wait to go back.

We always come here for dinner as we like to gamble but last night's special was surf and turf on…read morefridays ...you have to ask the waitress for the steak and lobster tail in order to get it as it's not on the regular buffet pick up zone To be quite honest with you, my steak was a bit dry and I'm not a steak eater either so as soon as I bit into my steak I had to give it to my husband who also confirmed with me that it was a tad chewy. The lobster tail was a bit overcooked as well and chewy but it still was very flavourful I don't know if I would recommend it or eat it again but it was all right The service as usual is always splendid we got a table pretty quickly as the place was quiet this entire time as we were here around 6:30-7PM I was a bit nervous as to why there was not that many people here today it is the Friday night so I expected to see more people but to my surprise it wasn't that busy. The dining room is quite spacious and very clean The staff is always very friendly and cater to our needs really like their service a lot and the rooms ambience. The food however was hit or miss with some things rather than other things. For example: I had her baby back ribs which were very delicious and tender I had to go back to get some more as they were succulent and very much recommend it. The potatoes were not seasoned properly and did not taste very well the pasta was bland and dry my potato leak soup was very flavourful and really enjoyed it but their bread was not fresh today and it was quite bummed about it. I also tried their quesadillas and it was missing flavour and quite very dry! The pierogies as well was very dry and overcooked it was very hard to chew I think they even burnt a few. Pork tenderloin the salmon and chicken potatoes were all quite overcooked unlocked a lot of flavour The salad bar however was very delicious fresh and tasty. I even enjoyed their sushi bar it was very delicious and fresh so depending on who cooked it or prepared it I'm sure it varies in chefs lol. Overall, we definitely enjoy this place as we like to gamble afterwards so we always come here to dine before we start earning some jackpot money LOL Unfortunately last night's food was quite lacking in flavour and I am not happy with that as the price still stays the same and I was also very disappointed that they charged for refills of soda like come on really that's totally greedy for a Buffet

So despite living in Ottawa for over a decade now, I had never been to the Rideau Carleton Raceway…read moreuntil tonight. Why not, you ask? Well, I'm not much of a gambler. However, life is all about experiences, right? So I decided that I was going to go to the RCR! Yeah, that was like 3 years ago. Then last week in our community newspaper there was an ad for the RCR with a 2 for 1 coupon for the restaurant. I like deals, so my husband and I decided to finally go. I figured I'd watch some horses, eat at the restaurant, then play some slots. Well, I guess it was very naive of me to assume that there were horses racing there all the time, because as it turned out there weren't any horses there tonight :( You can see the racetrack from the restaurant though, so I was able to see the empty racetrack during dinner, haha. The dinner was a buffet. It's usually $19.99 per person. Apart from the staff we were one of the youngest people there. I felt like I was dining in a retirement residence cafeteria, lol. Just an observation. Staff were incredibly friendly and very efficient and competent. My husband's beer came out very promptly and our waters were automatically refilled as soon as they were empty. Plates were cleared quickly as well. The food was good enough for the price and excellent for half price (with the coupon). I think it's comparable to Tucker's Marketplace. There was nothing exotic, and I wasn't wowed by anything, but I've had much worse at sit down/full service restaurants for a much higher price. The roast beef was tender and the carver gave me a huge slice. Many people would probably consider it too well done, but I thought it was fine. The stir-fried shrimps were good and I was pleasantly surprised that they had a spicy kick to them. The ribs were fall-off-the bone, although a bit of the fatty side. They had a kale salad with beets, chickpeas and radishes. I had some to add some vegetables to my meal. The vinaigrette was little too vinegary, but otherwise the salad was great. The baked fish was meh, very bland. They had sushi, believe it or not. Only maki, and no raw fish -- so California rolls, shrimp rolls, shrimp tempura rolls, and vegetarian rolls. The quality was similar to sushi at grocery stores. Not awesome, but very edible. No fishy smell and the avocados were nice and green, not all brown and rotten. They also had open-ended egg rolls. They were very crispy and filled with ground pork, cabbage and onions. They tasted very similar to egg rolls you'd get at a food court. They had lots of items that I didn't try like roasted chicken, roasted pork, lots of different types of pasta, chicken quesadilla, rice pilaf, loaded baked potatoes, clam chowder, cream of chicken soup, steamed vegetables. They had a salad bar too with the usual salad bar ingredients. They had a lot of different cakes for dessert, lots of different cookies, butter tarts, chocolate dipped meringues and cream puffs. I found the cream puffs terrible. The choux pastry was so dry and the filling was more like a whipped cream, while I prefer more of a custard filling. However, the chocolate dipped meringues were excellent. The meringue was light and crunchy on the outside yet still slightly moist and chewy on the inside. I wish I had saved more stomach room to eat more meringues. The slots were ok, but I always feel a sad vibe around casinos. Slot machines are slot machines, what can I say? They only have slots here. They don't have blackjack, roulette, or anything else. There were a lot of people out gambling on a Friday night. The parking lot is huge, and self-parking is free (they also have valet parking). The RCR is kind of in the middle of nowhere though. It's south of the city. A bit further south of Findlay Creek. It's not really my kind of place, but I'm glad I went so I know what it's all about. I might return one day when they actually have the horses racing, as I've never been to a horse race before. Maybe I'll wear a fascinator and pretend I'm at The Derby at Epsom, yeah or maybe NOT! Lol. Oh, it's actually harness racing here, so the jockeys don't ride the horses, they are in a little cart and the horse pulls them around.

BEWARE of this company FMG (Festival de montgolfieres de Gatineau)- we bought VERY expensive…read moretickets ($40 each) to see the balloons launch last weekend, and then had a family emergency where we could not attend- we were told in person that the tickets would be refunded and when I followed up the company refused. Also, I found out afterwards that you can see the balloons launch FOR FREE on the opposite side of the fence and apparently (because of the weather) the balloons didn't even leave the ground that night! Total RIP-OFF and poor customer service!

I accidentally wound up in Gatineau around the time of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. I…read moreremembered reading a quick blurb about it being one of the largest hot air balloon festivals in the world (if not THE largest) so my boyfriend and I trekked over from our hotel to check it out. It was fabulous! There were dozens of balloons taking flight, and not just your typical balloons. There were cats, Noah's Ark, a giant panda, and many more. The photo opportunities were infinite and I wish we could have stayed longer. The festival continues into the afternoon with food, music, and fun for everyone in attendance, but unfortunately we had to go once the last few balloons had gone up into the sky. I highly recommend trying to come out and see this, especially if you're a flight/festival fanatic! The good news for anyone who may want to visit from the US? It's always over Labor Day (or Labour Day if you prefer!) so you could easily make a long weekend of the adventure. And what an adventure it is!

"Magic of Lights" is a light display at Wesley Clover Park. This year it is November 21, 2019 -…read moreJanuary 4, 2020, every night 5pm-10pm. It's $20 if you advance purchase online (any day of the week). If you pay at the gate, it's $25 Monday-Thursday and $30 Friday-Sunday. You can also tune into MAJIC 100.3 FM on your radio to hear Christmas music while you drive through the lights show. I thought the display was pretty, and I think it would be a fun activity to do with kids. They had different themes through the display such as fairy tales/nursery rhymes, Nativity scene, the 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas around the world, and a few others. This year is the 4th year of Magic of Lights. I'm glad I did it, but I think it's more of a one time thing. I doubt that I would go again.

One word. Spectacular! The place opens at 5pm, but be…read moreprepared for at least half an hour wait as the two long car lineups merge into one. Well worth the wait, driving at snail pace to the gate, as the 2 km journey inside takes just under 40 mins with lights display on each side of the one-way drive. Get your camera ready and as you tune in the 100.3FM, your video picks up all the Christmas Carols. Fortunately, it was not too cold and we were able to get lots of shots through the sunroof. Happy is see many Christmas themes in all the truly magic of lights coming alive. As we exit just before 7pm, we see the lineup way longer than we started. A must see annual attraction.

The Ottawa Little Theatre production of Scrooge (with Jacob Marley) was wonderful! So sorry about…read morethe passing of the superlative actor who played him.

While visiting Ottawa my husband decided to check out this small theater and their production of…read moreMending Fences. We chose and bought our seats online and they were great. There is no bad seat in the house. The play was fantastic. Very witty and very well acted. The theater was clean and well kept and full. I wish we were going to be here for the rest of the season.

Blues and Ribfest and great entertainment Worth a short…read moredrive from Ottawa or wherever to relax and enjoy the weekend Dawg FM (101.9) put on a wonderful event The performers are top notch Music begins just after noon right into the night Last band scheduled for 9:30 PM Friday and Saturday Sunday entertainment ends earlier Bring the whole family Food is Fantastic

I have to agree with Norm D; these concerts are a lot of fun! DAWG FM treats their volunteers…read morepretty good; by agreeing to do 2 four-hour shifts, you can camp on site for free, and they give you lunch and a free t-shirt. I've been volunteering at this festival for 5 years. It's a beautiful drive up here from Ottawa. The staff is friendly and helpful. The food IS great! While you're here, try Canthooks Restaurant, in the hotel right at the peaks. We had lunch for about $15 there. But I digress... The music at this festival is always good no matter if I don't know the entertainers. There have been really good headliners over the years; this year was Randy Bachman; last year was Keb Mo, and a couple of years ago it was Colin James - singing his lungs out on his birthday! The ski lifts are usually operational at $6 a ride. The view from the top is amazing! They usually have fireworks after the show on Saturday night, but they couldn't do that this year because of the fire ban. Too bad! it's always a great show! On the other hand, the big damper this year was the weather (yes, I know - no control over it!) Saturday's downpour broke records for that date in history (old record was 24 mm; this year it was something like 74mm!) It's still a good event, even in the rain!