Canada’s national museum of human history is located in Hull, Quebec, directly across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The location itself is very scenic: the Museum overlooks the River and offers great views on Ottawa’s downtown core and main landmarks, including the Locks, the Parliament, Château Laurier and Nepean Point.

Mark took his first interprovincial trip when Feng and I decided to check out the fall colours in Gatineau Park, in Quebec. We drove around for half an hour—I’m always impressed by how huge the “park” is!—and made it to Pink Lake, a popular scenic lookout around the eponymous lake (which is not pink).

After relaxing by the Meech Lake, we headed to our favorite viewpoint, atop the Eardley Escarpment. From the Champlain lookout, perched 335 meters above sea level, you get to have offers a bird’s-eye view from the Gatineau Hills over the Ottawa Valley.

Meech Lake is nested within Gatineau Park, the huge 400 km² park North of Ottawa, in the province of Québec. Many Canadians associated it with the 1987 Meech Lake Accord, when the then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney tried to persuade the the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution (yep, didn’t work). But for a lot of residents in the National Capital Region, Meech Lake is a nice sandy beach and a popular swimming spot during these hot and humid summer days.

This week is walking down memory lane week. First, I came back to see these amazing sculptures on the shore of the Ottawa River, at Remic Rapids, that I discovered in August 2009. And then, last Saturday, we attended the yearly Lac Leamy Fireworks Competition, like we did last year

Ottawa has ice sculptures, Québec has giant snow ones. The theme of the national Snow Sculpture Competition for this year was “winter fun”. Each team was given a huge 3.7 m x 4.9 m block of snow and beautiful winter themed art pieces were created.

The Gatineau Park in Québec, right across Ottawa, probably offers the best Fall scenery in the region. The trees that make up the huge forest slowly turn yellow, orange and red. Lakes reflect the Fall colors and hundreds visit the park to witness the transition to the dreaded winter.

It’s pumpkin day in North America!

I personally think we should make it “chocolate day”… Seriously, a pumpkin pie vs. a chocolate tart: I made my choice!

Winter has definitely arrived and soon enough, the trees will be bare. White will be the season’s color… meanwhile, here are the last fall colors.

The surface of the waters are a deep green due to the abundance of algae in the water… or a deep blue, depending on the light. The two kilometers walk around the lake offers a great view on the forest and the waters.