This week’s Heads Up post is nothing if not eclectic. For royals watchers, I have the scoop on King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s whistle-stop visit to Ottawa next week. Classic rock fans will find out where they can see Honeymoon Suite this summer. If hiking’s your game and you don’t have a car, learn where you can catch a free shuttle to Gatineau Park. I’ll also point you to a new rural café, a Father’s Day train event, the chance to do yoga by a river and a Hardy Boys-themed scavenger hunt. Enjoy!
The King and Queen are dropping into Ottawa next week
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are paying a lightning-quick visit to Ottawa on Monday, May 26, and Tuesday, May 27. If you’d like to glimpse the royal couple, you’ll have opportunities on May 26 at Lansdowne Park (1:50pm) and at Rideau Hall (2:50pm), and on May 27 along Wellington Street between the Bank of Canada and the Senate of Canada (9:50am to 10:15am), at the Senate of Canada (10:15am) and at the National War Memorial (11:55am). The ceremonies on May 27 will include an escort along Wellington Street by members of the RCMP Musical Ride and a 21-gun salute at the Senate. In all, the King and Queen will be here about 24 hours, so don’t blink or you’ll miss ’em.
The free Gatineau Park shuttle is back
The National Capital Commission has restarted the free Gatineau Park shuttle for the season. It will run six days a week (excluding Wednesdays) until Friday, September 19. On weekends and holidays, you can board the bus in Ottawa at Pīndigen Park, near the Canadian War Museum and the Pimisi O-Train station; and in Gatineau at the Canadian Museum of History and the Montcalm Rapibus station. During the week, the shuttles travel only between the Gatineau Park visitor centre in Old Chelsea and Pink Lake. The NCC website has complete details on the schedule and stops.
Tickets are available for Father’s Day at Smiths Falls train museum
Want to treat Dad to a ride on a vintage train (in a caboose!) and a visit to a classic car show on Father’s Day, which falls on Sunday, June 15? Tickets are on sale now for this Father’s Day fun at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in Smiths Falls. (P.S.: If you want to learn more about the cabooses, check out my post about staying in one overnight.)
You can enjoy a Hardy Boys scavenger hunt in Carleton Place
Did you know that the original ghostwriter of the Hardy Boys detective books, Leslie McFarlane, was born in Carleton Place? (He wrote the books under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.) Throughout May, you can take part in a free, Hardy Boys-themed scavenger hunt in downtown Carleton Place. Pick up a paper map at the Carleton Place library or download a digital map before setting out on your quest to find clues, solve puzzles and get a “treasure token” at the end of your adventure.
Tickets are available for music festivals in Petawawa and Spencerville
Planning your summer music festival road trips? Now’s the time to pick up tickets for the Ottawa Valley Stomp and Lumberjack Festival in Petawawa (June 27 to 29) or for the South Grenville Bluegrass Festival in Spencerville (August 7 to 10).
A farm café is now open in Williamstown
From the Off the Hook newsletter, I learned that Butte & Bine, a farmstay B&B and wedding venue in Williamstown (about 25 minutes northeast of Cornwall), has just opened a charming-looking farm café. You can pick up croissants, sourdough loaves, espresso and more.
You can do yoga by the river in Cornwall
Another tip courtesy of Off the Hook: Yoga instructor Lissa Joanis is offering a one-hour outdoor yoga class beside the St. Lawrence River in Cornwall on Sunday, June 8, at 10am. You can choose your price (starting at $10), and money raised will go to Beyond 21, an organization that helps adults who have developmental disabilities.
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in and around Ottawa? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide.
As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.
