Let's Go Places: Postcards from Ottawa - Toronto - Richmond, Virginia - Tallahassee, Florida

 

Friends, this is what I've been up to so far in my early retirement travels.  Four locations, three trips, two countries. 

I enjoyed all of these trips very much, but when I went to write them up as stand alone posts, something didn't feel right.  The highlights of the capitol/legislature buildings are going to get their own posts in the future, so that part already felt like repeated information.  I went to a lot of museums, and no matter how great a museum is, it's pretty tedious blogging content.  And yet I still had things that I wanted to say about these places, so let's try a postcard style write up.

I put very little planing or effort into these trips.  Loosely speaking, my goal is to spend at least one night in every state and provincial capital city, so the planning process was "looks like I have free time next week, where does it make sense to go?".  Now that we're looking at this in hindsight, I like how the "seat of my pants" travel planning worked out.

Trip 1: Ottawa and Toronto, Nov 1 to 6 (three days in Ottawa, two days in Toronto)
Trip 2: Richmond, Virginia, Dec 2 to 6
Trip 3: Tallahassee, Florida, Dec 15 to 19 (December 19 is today!  As you're reading this I am making my way home).

Let's go places!

Ottawa, Ontario

• How I got there: road trip!  Ottawa is eight hours from home.
• Where I stayed: Hyatt Andaz, Byward Market.  You know I love my Airbnbs, but I didn't see anything that looked good, and this Hyatt was close to the sights that I wanted to see.  The point redemption values were very good, so it made sense to dip into my stash of Hyatt points and stay for free.  The picture above is the view from my window.  The hotel was nice overall, but I disliked that there was no sitting or eating area in the room, and no microwave or freezer.
• What did I do? 
• Toured Parliament, which is three separate tours: the Senate, the House of Commons, and the Parliament Immersive experience.

• National Gallery of Canada.  Normally I'm not much of a museum person, but when it's the national art museum of a country, you make an exception.  Especially when there is a giant spider sculpture right outside.

• I walked across the pedestrian bridge from Ontario to Quebec and went to the National Museum of Canada.

• What did I like the best?  It's a tie between touring Parliament and just walking around the city.  The fall colors were on point.

• What was special?  Remembrance Day!  On my side of the border, November 11th is Veteran's Day, which is a Federal Holiday but not much else so if you blink you miss it.  In Canada, Remembrance is much more than a day, and the lead was in full swing in early November.  Everyone was wearing red poppies.  These pictures are from high schoolers and were on display in the House of Commons:

• What did I like the least?  The neighborhood around the hotel was not great.  I saw some rough things and did not feel entirely safe.  It was a much better scene in the more touristy areas.
• What did I eat?  The finest that the grocery store deli had to offer!  I know that Ottawa is supposed to be a great food city, but I didn't see much that was appealing, and I also didn't want to be outside after dark for the not-great neighborhood reasons.  I grabbed a slice of pizza one night and a pretty epic hummus wrap and a piece of cake the next night and was happy with the haul.
• A random funny thing: this barbershop.  Christopher Walken/walk-ins.  Get it?

Toronto, Ontario

• Something really obvious that I didn't know before now: I had no idea that Toronto was the capital of Ontario!  Hear me out: New York City is not the capital of New York, Chicago is not the capital of Illinois, neither Los Angeles or San Francisco is the capital of California, and Vancouver is not the capital of British Columbia.
• Let's Rate the Airbnb!

• The unit was a one bedroom apartment in a high rise condo in a very posh neighborhood, close to the Royal Ontario Museum and (big surprise) within walking distance of the Ontario Legislature
• Good things to say:
• I'm not kidding when I said it was a posh neighborhood.  If I had done nothing but sit out front and people watched it would have been a fun and full vacation.
• It was a very small unit, but perfectly comfortable for one person.
• Bad things to say:
• Remember how I said it was a small unit?  This was the kitchen trash can.

• There was no microwave.  That's a first for me in an Airbnb.  I had to bake my breakfast burritos in the oven.
• For the life of me I could not find the shower diverter (you know, the thing that you flip to move the water from the faucet to the showerhead).  This led to a late night session of scouring the Airbnb reviews for the unit and Googling.

• Thank you Google!  Maybe it was obvious to everyone else, but this is the first time I've seen something like this.

• At any rate, in spite of the Secret of the Shower, I liked the unit very much and it elevated my stay.
• What did I do?
• Toured the Legislature
• Walked all over creation admiring the city
• Went to the Royal Ontario Museum.  I was expecting something like a state museum, but this was on a much larger scale.  I'm not much of a museum person, but I stayed quite a long time and enjoyed it.  This coin was worth $1 million at 2007 gold prices...today it's worth much more and there's a wacky reddit thread for it.

• What did I like best?  Just being in the city!  20 years ago I used to come to Toronto for work quite frequently, but I hadn't been there since and this was my first time coming for fun.
• What did I like the least?  I only spent two days here.  Next time I will come for longer.
• What did I eat?  No more grocery store delis for me!
• I had the best poutine that I've ever had at Hemingway's, steps away from the condo.

• A surf n'turf bowl with spicy peanut sauce from imPefect

• My silliest purchase: when in Rome...look we don't have these on my side of the border and it's just as well since I'm not looking at gain any more weight.  Reviews: the jerk chicken chips unfortunately tasted exactly like chicken so I ended up not eating them, the Magic Masala chips were very spicy and oh so good, once you know that there is such a thing as ketchup Cheetos you can't not get them, and the sweet chili and sour cream chips were amazing.

Richmond, Virginia

• How I got there: road trip! Richmond is seven hours from home.
• Let's Rate the Airbnb!

• The unit was a one bedroom apartment located in the same building as other apartments and a wine shop in the Falls Church neighborhood.
• Good things to say:
• Soooo quiet.  I went outside a few times to verify that there was in fact a business operating on the other side of wall.  
• Comfy and cosy.
• Good neighborhood.  Interesting views, and it felt safe.  Lots of dog walkers out at night.

• This is a first for the blog, because apparently I haven't been reviewing Airbnbs here as long as I thought.  Airbnb wine!!!  Plus a small vase from the owner's pottery studio.

[Note: the mileage of Airbnb wine varies.  I've had some that was quite good, and some that went down the sink immediately after opening. We haven't had this wine yet, so I will report back.  Regardless of the quality, Airbnb wine is always appreciated.  This is the first time that I have been given Airbnb pottery.]

• Silly things to say: everyone needs a portrait of a zebra over their bed, if only for a few nights.
• Bad things to say: it's not bad, but I didn't look at the listing photos closely enough.  The chair for a bed table is fine, but the lack of floor lamps in the bedroom and living room was annoying.
• What did I do?
• Toured the capitol, naturally.  The bleachers that make it so hard to see the building are there for a good reason: for the inauguration of Virginia's new governor in January.  Not only is Abigail Spanberger Virginia's first female governor, she's a spy!  I dunno about you, but I've been quite turned off by politics and politicians in recent years ("recent years" = most of my life), however I do feel that I'll be keeping an eye out to see what she does.

• Toured the Confederate White House.  I was unaware that Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States of America, and from 1861 to 1865, the CSA operated out of the capitol building.  They needed a White House equivalent so that their president could entertain heads of state, however they didn't get a lot of visitors because the USA made it clear that any country who recognized the CSA would be joining them on the battlefield.

• Edgar Allen Poe Museum
• The Holocaust Museum.  Richmond gained a significant Jewish population during the war and after, and the survivors had a few memories to share.  If you're thinking that this is outside of my normal tourism activities, you are correct.  I was inspired by a passage in Zarna Garg's This American Woman.  She was a tour guide at a Holocaust Museum in New York.  Pro tip: read this book ASAP, and then visit a Holocaust Museum at your earliest convenience (two very different, very moving experiences).

• Virginia Museum of History and Culture
• The Civil War Museum
• Walked the riverwalk

• The Wilton House Museum

• Maymont.  All of the buildings were closed for renovations and it's December so not a wildly exciting time for the gardens, and yet I spent a lot of time wandering the grounds and felt a great sense of peace there.  What I'm saying is that I had an epic time when it was at its worst, so I can only imagine how much more fabulous it is at its best.

• What did I like the best?  The capitol and Maymont.
• What did I like the least?  No stinkers to report.
• What did I eat?  Shrimp and grits at The Hill Cafe, which was about two blocks away from the Airbnb.  It was so good.

Tallahassee, Florida

• How I got there: I flew on Allegiant into Jacksonville, which is a few hours away but the fastest/cheapest way to get to Tallahassee.  The flight got in after dark, so I stayed at an airport hotel with shuttle service so that I didn't have to mess with getting a car at night.  The next day I picked up a rental car and drove to Tallahassee.
• Where did I stay?  The Tallahassee Hyatt House.  It was super inexpensive, there was a points bonus, and the location was perfect.  Normally I don't love hotels, but this was an exception.

• What did I do?
• Big surprise, toured the capitol(s).  Tallahassee is a two-fer with the current capital building and the 1902 capitol which was preserved as a museum.

• Did a couple of house museum and museum tours that were OK.
• Did the nature walk at the Tallahassee museum and hung out with wolves.  Hubs was concerned when I sent him this photo, but let me assure you that this is extreme zoom from the walkway and that the wolves and people were far apart.

• Goodwood Museum and Gardens.  The house tour was amazing, 10/10 highly recommend.

Goodwood's ceiling game is on point

• Went hiking in the rain at Leon Sinks Geolgical Area and was fascinated by these mushrooms.

• Went to the St. Mark's Lighthouse, also in the rain.  It was a balmy 60 degrees and I had an umbrella, so I didn't care.

• What did I like the best?  Goodwood!
• What did I like the least?  There were a few non-exciting museums, but that comes with the territory.
• What surprised me?  If I'm being very honest, I came to Tallahassee to check a box.  I was not expecting to enjoy my time there so much.  It's a really neat city.
• What did I eat?  I struck gold!  Never have I ever eaten at the same place three nights in a row, but that's because I had never been to The Bark before.  It was close to the hotel, and picked itself when I saw this description on Google maps.  I had the fried oyster mushroom po'boy, the veggie smashburger, and the bahn mi.  All of them were spectacular, but the po'boy was the best.

Artwork at the corner on the way to The Bark

That's a wrap on my early retirement travels so far!  Who has been to any of these places?