National Treasures

I got to see two national treasures over the past few days.

I just returned from two days of camping in the Gatineau Park , with the family, up at Lac Philippe. In the days B.C. (before children), we used to spend a fair bit of time up there, hiking, biking and skiing so it was a nice re-introduction. I always forget what a treasure the Gatineau Park is!

Saturday night we had a raccoon (raton laveur in French or as I like to call them, with their mask, a raton voleur) visit the campsite despite me sitting 15 feet away in front of the camp fire. He or she had a good sniff around our cooking gear, cooler and food bin before sauntering off, disappointed.

On Sunday morning, we did an 11km hike past Lac Renaud, Lac Taylor and up to the scenic lookout, then back.

After a swim, we did a hike to Lusk Caves and went spelunking in the two caves. The caves are quite amazing and easy to explore, just bring good flashlights or headlamps.

Monday, we headed home in time to get unpacked, washed and fed, before heading out to see Stuart McLean of CBC’s Vinyl Café perform a live show in Gatineau. This was our third trip to see Stuart, having been to his Christmas shows the last 2 years.

Stuart is truly a national treasure and if you are not familiar with him, you should tune into his show on CBC Radio, via the Internet or Sirius satellite radio. See http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/listen.php for more details.

Stuart’s show is a throwback to the golden days of radio when the story was as important as how you told it (or so I’m led to believe – I’m not that old). Vinyl Café also prides itself in showcasing wonderful new Canadian musicians and has introduced us in the past to great acts like Dala, Roxanne Potvin and Danny Michel.

Two weeks ago, Stuart did a show on the Via Rail train, the Canadian, which crosses Canada, telling fantastic tales about our country, Canadians and the railroad. A podcast of the show should be available on the CBC's web site for a few more weeks if you missed it. It was a very poignant episode with Canada Day just 2 weeks away at the time.

Monday’s live show was split into two segments that will be separate radio episodes. One segment featured a monologue about the Canadian Museum of Civilization, designed by architect Douglas Cardinal, the wonderful Canada Hall and exhibits such as the totem collection. Stuart’s tour of the Houses of Parliament uncovered hidden treasures in the Library of Parliament for another segment and two wonderful, new Dave and Morley stories were unveiled (I’ll never look at rusting hulks of cars in the woods in the same way, Stuart!). Finally the show featured great performances first by Ottawa’s Andrea Simms-Karp and then by Hawksley Workman.

Another great show! Thanks, Stuart!