A Visit and Ottawa

 12 or 13 years ago a couple began coming to our church. They had recently moved from Canada. I became friends with them and Debbie became a mentor to me. That summer their niece, Crystal came to visit and we became pen pals and friends. I was SOO excited when Crystal was able to come to visit over her Easter break. Since she'd never been to Ontario, we worked it out to go to Ottawa for a couple of days so she could see her countries' government. We had a lovely time and saw lots of fun things.

 We went walked around Rideau Hall (where the governor general, the Queen's representative, lives). Around the grounds there are lots and lots of trees with little plaques, because they've been planted by world leaders or royalty. We posed with the tree that William and Kate planted last July on their visit. So in 20 years we can come back and see how much it's grown!

We walked around Byward Market and saw the "famous" place that President Obama got shortbread cookies for his daughters. It struck me as really funny at how much publicity this place has gotten out of it. He got Canadian Maple cookies...but they are now called "Obama" cookies. It was the closest thing that I've seen at my two countries merged into one.

Here's Parliament Hill. Sadly the lighting is really bad because the sun was setting.

 Have you ever eaten a beaver tail?  It's one more Ottawa experience that we got in!

Who would guess that there's so many different ways to have a Beaver tail!

What a treat to have a friend come to visit! Thank you Crystal!!!