In this week’s Heads Up post, you’ll learn about a new Carleton Place hotel inside a 150-year-old mill, a scenic bike ride near Napanee, cool coffee shops in Nepean and Hull, a weekend-long art retreat in Newboro, a family deal on a Laurentians hotel, upcoming culinary competitions in Ottawa, and lots more. I’ll even tell you why “JOMO” is the new buzzy acronym in the tourism industry. Enjoy!
Events
The Pursuit of Happiness—a 1980s Canadian radio staple—are performing at Neat Coffee Shop in Burnstown on Friday, October 16. I suspect these tickets will go quickly. (Clearly, the coffee shop does, too, as they’re quite a bit pricier ($85) than the venue’s usual concert tickets.)
The first-ever Smiths Falls Literary Festival is taking place on September 19 and 20, with lots of panels and author talks.
Speaking of Smiths Falls, ticket sales are now open for the popular Hallow’s Express day at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario. The Harry Potter-themed event is taking place on Saturday, September 19.
Tickets are now available for two big culinary events in Ottawa. On Monday, September 21, capital chefs will be competing in the local finals of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. They’ll be vying to represent Ottawa in the Canadian Culinary Championships, which will see chefs from across the country competing here on January 29 and 30.
A waterfront park in Bath, Ontario.
Spots are still available on the Discover L&A Ride, a 56K scenic bike ride (not a race) on Saturday, September 12. Tickets are $40 each. The route winds through the area around Bath and Adolphustown, south of Napanee.
Remember the Zentangle workshops at Stone Manor Studios that I wrote about earlier this year? The Newboro studio is hosting a three-day Autumn Zentangle Retreat from September 18 to 20.
Taste! Community Grown is a food-and-wine event happening in Picton on Saturday, September 12. Admission is free, but you can also buy a passport that gives you five wine tastings, a tote bag and a commemorative glass.
There’s a LOT happening at Ottawa’s municipal museums in September and early October. Among the highlights are the following:
a junior explorers picnic for kids 10 and under at the Billings Estate National Historic Site, also on Sunday, September 20 (advance registration required); and
an interactive, escape room-style performance by the Live History troupe at Pinhey’s Point Historic Site on Saturday, September 26, and Saturday, October 3 (advance registration required).
Discounts and deals
The boardwalk leading to the Sentier des Cimes observation tower runs through beautiful deciduous forests.
Until October 15, the Microtel by Wyndham Mont-Tremblant hotel is offering the Sentier de Cimes package, starting at $280 a night. It includes one night in a standard room with two queen-size beds, admission to Sentier de Cimes for two adults and two kids, continental breakfast, and access to the hotel’s pool, outdoor spa and indoor waterslide. Sentier de Cimes is a big observation tower that gives you sweeping views of the forested Laurentians, and those views are spectacular in fall. (See my photo above.)
Early-bird tickets are available now for the Autumn Evening for Autism, taking place at NeXT in Kanata on Wednesday, October 14. It’s a gala fundraiser, so the tickets aren’t cheap. The early-bird price is $225, which will rise to $250 later.
Other
A mochi donut and tea at Casa Bonita in Nepean.
Recently, I checked out Nepean’s Casa Bonita Coffee and Bakery, which serves something I’d never heard of called mochi donuts. They’re like a hybrid of a regular donut and Japanese mochi sweets. Made with tapioca or rice flour, mochi donuts are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I had a half matcha, half Oreo cookie one and it was dee-licious. You’ll find Casa Bonita in a plaza at the corner of Fisher Avenue and Baseline Road. Here’s a little Facebook reel I shot there.
Speaking of bakeries, this Tourisme Outaouais post has me eager to visit a Hull bakery called Maison Oddo. Why? They make something called a maple escargot—a snail-shaped pastry filled with maple syrup. Sign me up!
Over on the great Ontario Hidden Gems Facebook page, Stephanie Mayo has a post about her stay at the Tri Century Mill Suites, a new hotel inside a 19th-century mill in Carleton Place. (I’m adding it to my file of places to check out ASAP.)
A new national monument recognizing historic discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in Canada opened last week in Ottawa. Called Thunderhead, it’s located near the point where Wellington Street meets the Portage Bridge.
News flash! Just as we all got used to the term FOMO (fear of missing out), a new survey shows that it’s been surpassed among people planning trips by two other acronyms: YOLO (you only live once) and JOMO (joy of missing out). And in case you think JOMO means that people are staying home, think again; it refers, instead, to people choosing to travel to quieter, less trendy locations.
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.
