Trip to Ottawa

Took a trip to Ottawa a couple of weeks ago to attend the wedding of Kylie Mestelle and Kyle Booras. On the way there we stopped in Olney to see if we could spot the infamous White Squirrels.

As you can see, we were successful. They really are white. Not light gray, white.

Bad news is the number seems to be dropping.

In the 40's there were about 1000 of these things roaming Olney.

There seem to be a couple of stories about the early history. You can read more about them here.

White Squirrels

Turns out there are several pockets of white squirrels around the country.

You can read about the Squirrel Wars here.

Squirrel Wars

Here is a grey cousin for reference.

No pictures from the wedding but here are some from Starved Rock on Saturday morning before the wedding.

There had been a lot of rain and wind a couple of days before so a lot of the leaves had been knocked down.

Fungus growing on a tree.

I don't know why.

A farm across the river.

Nice visitor's center at the lock and dam across from the park.

Here is a picture of Starved Rock from the lock and dam.

The lock was busy while we were there.

This is an American White Pelican fishing near the dam.

The tug boat has a wheel house that can be raised and lowered. For low bridges, I guess.

Here is a picture of Margot and me from the reception.

A very lovely affair all the way around.

Dan and Lisa have had a lot of practice - 3rd of 4 girls.