Check out the temporary installation of a seven-metre-wide sculpture of the moon by U.K. artist Luke Jerram at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Photo by Martin Lipman.
Fall and early winter are wonderful times for day trips and weekend getaways in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, West Quebec and upstate New York. The summer crowds have dissipated and a festive holiday vibe is in the air. And if Christmas isn’t your thing, no worries—there’s lots to do besides carolling and shopping. Here are just a few ideas to inspire a November or December road trip in and around Ottawa.
Enjoy some great food
East & Main Bistro in Wellington is one of the restaurants participating in the fall 2019 edition of Countylicious. Photo copyright Laura Byrne Paquet.
November is traditionally a slow month in the restaurant biz, which means you’re more likely to find promotions and deals aimed at getting diners in the door. In Montreal, you can sample special prix fixe menus at 150 restaurants across the city, at a reasonable price, during MTL à Table (November 1 to 13). In Prince Edward County, a similar promotion featuring about a dozen restaurants runs twice a year. During the fall edition of Countylicious, which runs from November 1 to 24, you can enjoy $20 lunch menus or $40 dinner menus.
Take the kids to a Santa Claus parade
Santa Claus greeting his fans in Barrhaven. Flickr/Creative Commons photo by David Carroll.
Ottawa’s big Santa parade is happening on Saturday, November 16, and communities large and small throughout our region are hosting other festive parades between November 15 and December 14 this year. Check out my newly updated list of Christmas parades in Eastern Ontario and West Quebec.
Take in a hockey game
Photo by Val Wutti courtesy of the Ottawa 67s.
Every local hockey fan knows about the Ottawa Senators, of course, but there are lots of other ways to see a hockey game at a fraction of the price. Why not check out one of the following:
- Ottawa ’67s
- Gatineau Olympiques
- Carleton University Ravens: women’s and men’s
- UOttawa Gee-Gees: women’s and men’s
- Kingston Frontenacs
- Pembroke Lumber Kings
Oh, and there are also two other little teams you might have heard of: the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
See the CP Holiday Train
Photo courtesy of the CP Holiday Train.
The CP Holiday Train is a 14-boxcar train gaily decorated with thousands of Christmas lights. When it pulls into a community, one car becomes a stage for visiting musicians. (This year in Ontario, Scott Helman and Madeline Merlo will be providing the musical entertainment.) It’s free to come see the train, but CP encourages people to bring donations of money or food for local food banks. The train will be stopping in Finch, Merrickville, Smiths Falls and Perth on Wednesday, November 27; see my CP Holiday Train post for the complete schedule.
Explore a museum in Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto
At the Qilalukkat! exhibition, you can see a recreated smokehouse and cooking camp, with models of whale meat and fish drying.
Museums and galleries are the ideal destinations when the weather is blustery. Inside, you can immerse yourself in sunny landscapes, ancient history, fascinating animal stories and more. In the next few months, here are just a few of the exhibitions you could check out in the National Capital Region:
- Neanderthal and Unceded: Voices of the Land at the Canadian Museum of History
- Qilalukkat! and Butterflies in Flight at the Canadian Museum of Nature (Me and My Microbes: The Zoo Inside You opens on December 20)
- Àbadakone: Continuous Fire at the National Gallery of Canada
- Iron Willed: Women in STEM at the Canada Science and Technology Museum
- Highland Warriors at the Canadian War Museum
- Above and Beyond at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum
Montreal is also home to a number of fascinating-sounding museum shows, including the following:
- Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
- Jean-Claude Poitras: Fashion and Inspiration at the McCord Museum
- Into the Wonder Room at the Pointe-à-Callière complex
- Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture at the Canadian Centre for Architecture
For a longer road trip, you could head to Toronto to catch one of these exhibitions:
- It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art from the Kurt Hammett Collection at the Royal Ontario Museum
- Early Rubens at the Art Gallery of Ontario
- WANT: Desire, Design and Depression-Era Footwear at the Bata Shoe Museum
- Savour: Food Culture in the Age of Enlightenment at the Gardiner Museum
- Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time at the Aga Khan Museum
Take a festive house tour
Photo courtesy of the Vankleek Hill Christmas Home Tour.
I don’t know about you, but I put up pretty much the same Christmas decorations year after year. If you’re more creative than I am and you’re seeking inspiration, holiday home tours may be just the ticket! Check out these events:
- Vankleek Hill Christmas Home Tour (Saturday, November 9)
- Homes for the Holidays (Ottawa, November 15 to 17)
- CFUW Heritage Perth Christmas House Tour (December 7 and 8)
Enjoy a small-town Christmas festival
Photo courtesy of the Adirondacks Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.
More and more communities are realizing that people crave small-town charm during the holidays. Maybe it’s all those Hallmark Christmas movies; after all, an astonishing number of them are filmed in our region, especially in Almonte and other Lanark County towns. Whatever the reason, many places are expanding their pre-Christmas celebrations into multi-day affairs, complete with everything from shopping promotions to strolling Dickens characters. There’s even one in a town that claims to be the inspiration for the classic Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Head to the following for some homespun holiday fun (note that many of the links below are Facebook pages):
- Get All Wrapped Up in Downtown Carleton Place (Thursday, November 14)
- Dickens Christmas (Skaneateles, New York) (November 29 to December 24)
- Manotick Village Christmas (Saturday, November 30)
- Old Town Kemptville Christmas (Saturday, November 30)
- Pakenham Country Christmas (Saturday, November 30)
- Christmas in the Village (Osgoode) (December 6 to 8)
- Holiday Village Stroll (Lake Placid, New York) (December 13 to 15)
- It’s a Wonderful Life Festival (Seneca Falls, New York) (December 13 to 15)
- Kintail Country Christmas, Mill of Kintail, Almonte (Saturday, December 14)
Looking for more ideas of things to see and do in and around Ottawa throughout the year? Subscribe to my free weekly e-newsletter!