So I thought I’d share my latest adventure! Michael and I went to Ottawa this past weekend to explore this beautiful city, eat some great vegan food, and maybe, just maybe, go white water rafting down the Ottawa River!
We arrived at the Arc The Hotel in Downtown Ottawa. It was lovely. It is a boutique style hotel located just steps to Parliament Hill. We settled into our room and then we were off for dinner!
We’d heard amazing things amount about ZenKitchen (a completely vegan restaurant) so we thought we’d try it out. Well needless to say we didn’t leave disappointed! It was fantastic. They use local and organic ingredients whenever possible. We had the polenta fries and the bruschetta to start! OMG. They were devoured within minutes! Perfectly cooked and what a sauce to dip the ‘fries’ in….chipotle sauce. YUM!
We then had the Ravioli (gluten free too), and the Raw Burrito (GF too) for dinner. The flavours in those two dishes were absolutely incredible. An added bonus was that almost everything on their menu could be made gluten free (a great option for those of us a little sensitive to gluten…me! And for those wishing to abstain). We enjoyed ourselves so much, we ate here every night we were in Ottawa! I can’t believe it!
The next day was spent exploring Ottawa. We took a short drive to the Ottawa Farmers Market, which we found out is one of the largest local farmers markets in all of North America! We were absolutely blown away by the sheer size of it and the organic and local produce available in this market. Here’s what I had for lunch!! Baked Sweet potato with a homemade quinoa salad…Mmm…
We then took a stroll up to Parliament Hill and the Byward Market! It was great seeing so many local vendors with such support from the local community. After a long day of exploring we found a local health food store called Herb & Spice to stock up on healthy vegan snacks for our hotel room!
On our final day we took the plunge and went white water rafting. OMG it was ridiculously fun! We drove about 1 hour outside of Ottawa and arrived at RiverRun Rafting. The guides were fantastic. They explained everything so well and we felt completely safe and ready to run the rapids! Michael was a seasoned pro at this so it was more me that needed my nerves calmed :). So off we went for about 4-5 hours on the whitewater of Ottawa! We actually ended up going cliff jumping afterward (ahhh!! So scary) and swimming down the river (yes…in the rapids!!!) as well! Talk about doing one thing EVERY day to scare you! I DID IT!!
When we arrived back to base camp and our car, we were absolutely exhausted (and also completely exhilarated!). We then drove home…taking power nap shifts all along the way 🙂 !
It was a great trip, mostly because I was able to spend some quality time with my hunnie, eat some great food, and conquer my fears on the water!
Love,
Erinn
xo
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