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OTTAWA TOURISM
With everything from patriotic tic tacs to burgers shaped like maple leaves, it probably hasn't escaped your notice that it's Canada's 150th birthday this year. Ottawa, the capital, has been front and centre, with a year-long parade of events. In my cover story Rediscover Ottawa for CAA magazine I go beyond the tulips and tours of Parliament to explore what's percolating behind the scenes in this creative and outdoorsy city. 

Paddling into a painting: B.C.'s Wells Gray Park

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Canada is rich in brand-worthy parks: the Haida Gwaiis, the Kluanes, the Gros Mornes. But B.C.'s Wells Gray Provincial Park just didn't seem to get the same pop. So I grabbed a head lamp, paddle and pushed off in a canoe last summer with Wells Gray Adventures to find out more. And this is what awaited me -- my story and photos on the Park Next Door in The Globe and Mail.  Bonus: watch mini-video from this trip.

Look Ma: My Ottawa Tourism Travel Writing Award

PicturePoppies in bloom on the grass roof. Photo by Steven Darby, CMC
Ottawa has a wealth of great museums dedicated to history, nature, art, even children around the world. But I paused at taking my daughter to the Canadian War Museum. Was she too young? This is my story on that visit -- one that won me the 2013 Ottawa Tourism Travel Writing Award. 

The judge said: "Good travel writing gives serviceable facts. Great travel writing captures the reader's heart. This entry is a winner precisely because it tells a wonderful story, in this case a three-generation visit to the Canadian War Museum." Very honoured.
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Words & Photos by Karan Smith © All Rights Reserved