The Balanced Rocks of Remic Rapids

This is kind of cool, and exactly the type of thing we love to see when we're exploring an area.

Our hometown is Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Because we grew up here, and we know the city very well, we wanted to find some things to do that we've never seen or done before.

Just before noon yesterday, we drove down to Ottawa. My mom is living in a seniors residence in the west end of the city and she had invited us for lunch. We were also dropping off our son Alex back at his downtown apartment, plus we were meeting with Jantine at Ottawa Tourism so that she could give us some ideas of what's new in the city of Ottawa.

Had a nice visit with my Mom and fixed a few of her computer issues while we were there. We both remarked afterwards that she's doing really well and hasn't changed a bit since we last saw each other almost a year ago. Keep it up Mom!

Said goodbye to our son, knowing that we'll be seeing him again a few more times before we leave here, then made our way right into the downtown core. Lots of construction going on...Ottawa is obviously a growing city.

We spent some time with Jantine at the Ottawa Tourism office, and we're going to be showing you some really interesting things over the next two weeks. Ottawa is a beautiful city, and the area has a lot to offer.

As we were leaving the offices (on the 18th floor of a downtown building), and waiting for the elevator, we noticed the listing of other offices on that floor.

One of them was the Embassy of the High Commission of Lesotho. Have you heard of the country of Lesotho?? Well if you're a regular reader of this blog, you are going to know a lot about Lesotho, because we are going there!!

The tiny Kingdom of Lesotho.

Lesotho is a small country surrounded entirely by another country, South Africa.

We knocked on the door!

We had planned on seeing Lesotho anyhow, but after speaking to the people at their embassy, we now want to spend even more time there. Not just a visit, but an experience. The mountainous country looks to be exactly what we love in terms of hiking and scenery. One of the ladies in the embassy said she would even meet us there and show us around if we were going next month, but unfortunately we won't be there until January or February. I'm sure we'll meet a lot of other friendly people while we're there.

Heading out of downtown at rush hour, we drove west along the Sir John A. MacDonald Parkway. Formerly known as the Ottawa River Parkway. Why do they have to change these things? I like the old name better! Anyhow, it's a scenic drive along the Ottawa River, heading west.

Jantine had suggested we see some balanced rock sculptures, so we pulled off at that location.

In 1986, John Felice Ceprano began creating balanced natural rock sculptures at this site. The sculptures are made entirely by hand, using rocks found exclusively at this location. The rocks are heavily fossilized and have a rich variety of colors, textures, and forms that are unique to the region. Every year, the sculptor returns to work and the project continues until the beginning of winter, when the forces of nature cause the sculptures to collapse.

Canada's Parliament Buildings in the city of Ottawa in the background.

You can find these sculptures at GPS coordinates 45.410532 -75.74211.