Life Outside the Inbox

A few years ago, I made a very brief visit to Ottawa and remember driving by the beautiful building that housed the Canadian Museum of Nature and the vibrant Byward Market. But due to the lack of time, I didn’t get the chance to visit either of those attractions. With the 3 day opportunity for a road trip, Ottawa was the perfect distance combined with the types of places I wanted to go.

So what’s there to do in Ottawa? I set off on some trip planning:

Hotel:

When it came to searching for a hotel, we reminded oursevles not to be fooled by the exchange rate. We compared my trusted http://www.orbitz.com and http://www.expedia.ca – both came up with similar rates but Expedia was in Canadian dollars so that’s what we went with. We ended up staying at the Best Western Plus Victoria Park suites.

Attractions:

Ottawa has many of the nation’s best museums, or so I’ve read. Carl will be the first to admit that his expectations weren’t very high. I, on the other hand, love museums but still in search of a memorable Canadian museum.

• Canadian Museum of Nature
• Canadian Museum of History
• Canadian Aviation and Space Museum
• Byward Market
• Parliament area
• Rideau Canal

Please click the links to see pictures and reviews.

The map below displays our actual walking route spanned across the 3 days. We would’ve loved to visit a few more museums but most museums close at 5pm so it was hard to fit everything in.

Total Spend:

Gas: $150.00
Hotel: ~$350.00
Parking at hotel: $12.50 x 2 = $25.00
Museum of Nature: $12.50 (adults), $10.50 (students – university included)
Museum of History: $15.00 (adults), $10.00 (students – university included)
Parking at Museum or History: $12.50 full day
Aviation and Space Museum: $13.00 (adults), $10.00 (students – university included)
Parking at Aviation and Space Museum: $1.00/30 minutes or $6.00 full day
Food: ~$200.00 

Total spend: $811.50 ($405.75/person)

And of course, a road trip, just isn’t a road trip without stops along the way!