travel far enough and you meet yourself.

It has been a while since I've fallen in love with a city. Recently, my husband whisked me away on a last-minute weekend getaway. The destination? Ottawa, Ontario. Though it was only a four hour drive away, I hadn't been there since a brief stopover in the eight grade. Needless to say, my memories of the area were foggy at best.

There were a few reasons this unexpected trip took place. The first? I have been sick all summer long and as a result, my spirits had gotten pretty low over the last while. My husband could see that I was down, unfocused, and unmotivated. He knew that I needed a change of scenery to feel like myself again. The second reason? We recently celebrated our two year wedding anniversary. On the day of, we kept things pretty low-key, opting for dinner and a movie. This mini-vacation was a great way to belatedly celebrate that special event!

This trip was exactly what I needed. We both adored the city, the sights, and the people. On our trip we packed an awful lot into a short amount of time. To start, we stopped at the Agricultural Museum (there were so many animals to see and pet), wandered around the Byward Market, saw the Parliament buildings (we went up the Peace Tower on the second day), visited record shops, stopped at memorials, had a picnic lunch at the locks (my favourite part of the trip, to be honest), and explored as much of the city as we possibly could. Bonus? We stopped at The Big Apple on the way home - a really fun roadside stop. It was such a blast and Ottawa is an incredible place.

My hope is that we are able to go back again some day to see some of the many things we missed. Since it was such a great weekend, I wanted to share a few of my pictures with you. Here goes!

Visiting Ottawa was exactly what the doctor ordered. I came back from the trip feeling exhausted but really, really happy. Suddenly, I felt like my normal self again. Ahh, the power of travel.

Have you done any travelling this summer?

xo Shannon