I'm on the road to Ottawa this week for a little getaway. It's going to be an adventure! Check my Instagram feed for pictures from the road.
In the meantime, here are a few articles and links that are inspiring me this week:
First, I'm brushing up on "How to Plan the Perfect Road Trip" via Lifehacker. I'm wishing Roadtrippers would expand into Canada already so I could test it out already.
It's been a long time since I've been to Ottawa, but I remember loving the ByWard Market. It's one of the oldest public markets in Canada and is full of interesting food vendors, shops, and restaurants. I can't wait to get back and see what it's like now.
I'm tucking this list of restaurants near the ByWard Market in my notes so we can keep our bellies full when we need a break from shopping.
Paradise Lost by Gustave Doré | via Wikimedia Commons, uploaded by Holger Thölking
Keeping my fingers crossed that we will see the Gustave Doré (ends 14 September 2014) exhibition at the beautiful National Gallery of Canada. Doré (1832-1883) was and artist, sculptor, and printmaker, but he especially well-known for his illustrations and engravings.
Since a tour of Parliament may be in order, here are the CBC's 5 secrets from Parliament Hill and a bonus 4 to follow-up. Who doesn't love knowing there are secret stairwells, special scotch, and that each year $4000 to $5000 is collected from the fountain around the Centennial Flame to fund disabilities research?
Travel = new books for me. I'm using NPR's "Book Your Trip" feature to find some recommendations. Just choose your mode of transportation and you'll get a list of books inspired by that kind of journey. Perfect! I was also recommended The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt twice this week, so that might have to be first on my list.
Now that my Whole30 is over, I'm sticking with Paleo eating for awhile and finding advice on healthy travel snacks from Nom Nom Paleo.
Condé Nast Traveler's 2014 list of friendliest and unfriendliest cities in the US is out. I can't say I'm surprised by most of it, but when we were in Detroit for the Winter Classic, everyone we met was lovely. We didn't venture too far off the beaten path, though.
These photos of Italy's most beautiful beaches make me long to book a trip right now. It's been a cold Canadian summer up here and I can't imagine how glorious one or all of these would be.
via Foodie's Feed
A French hospital opened a wine bar to help "restore longing, taste, desire, and even pleasure" to terminally ill patients, once again reminding us how important it is to take time and enjoy life.
Falling in love with the Chesapeake Bay all over again through Tim Neville's beautiful story of a father-son fishing trip in the New York Times.
That's it for this week! Are you off to anywhere fun? Have any great road trip advice? Let me know!