Operating Heavy Machinery at Lemieux Island (Doors Open)

If you (or your kids) have ever wanted to operate a backhoe or crane, look no further than Lemieux Island. A nice surprise in their Doors Open display is the "heavy machinery" display outside complete with volunteers who aren't just willing to let you sit in their machines, but will turn them on and let you operate them as well (shown here are the boys using the outside controls to operate a small crane). Both kids and adults welcome!

The tour itself was a bit too in depth for my 7 and 9 year olds BUT...when we asked if we could skip the tour and just have someone take us in side to see the water system, the volunteers were totally agreeable. We got a mini private tour!

Doors Open Ottawa - Kitchissippi Style, June 5th and 6th

(For a paper list of Kitchissippi participants see my blurb in today's Kitchissippi Times)

In the spirit of discovering more of our own neighbourhood try out some of these local locations (photos appear at the end): Both Lemieux Island and Traffic Operations are on the city's "kid-friendly" list but don't let that stop you from visiting the others as well. Kids have a remarkable ability to appreciate unique environments whether they're deemed kid-friendly or not!

• the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral at 1000 Byron Avenue, (closed Saturday, open Sunday noon-4)
• the Keg Manor on Richmond Road, 529 Richmond Road (closed Saturday) and MapleLawn Gardens at the same location
• Lemieux Island Water Purification Plant at 1 River Street.
• the Ottawa Mosque at 251 Northwestern Avenue
• St. Francois d'Assisse Church at 20 Fairmont Avenue
• The Standard Bread Company Building which houses both the Enriched Bread Artists at 951 Gladstone Avenue and the Gladstone Clayworks Co-op Pottery Studio at 949b Gladstone Avenue
• Traffic Operations Public Works at 175 Loretta Avenue (virtually across the street from the Standard Bread Co.)

My other further-afield picks from the kids' list are Sun-Tech Tomatoes together with Watsons Mill in Manotick (see my blog posts on these from 2 weeks ago), the Diefenbunker, the OCTranspo Walkely O-Train maintenance facility and the Ottawa Mail Processing Plant.