I grew up in Ottawa, I have the requisite pictures of little kid me being pushed around the canal on a sled, I've eaten a fair number of Beavertails in my life and I have fond memories of being privileged enough to grow up walking distance from the canal. But the fact is that I haven't been to Winterlude in years, except for a very short journey with the stroller a few years ago – while putting on my new skates I realized that I had not in fact skated in over a decade. When the kid had a day off school and the weather was forecasted to be just about perfect, the kid and I made the trek to Jacques Cartier Park to see what Winterlude looks like these days.

How was it? In the words of the kid: "Awesome."

We walked through the gate and she saw the ice covered slides and immediately was ready to go. We had barely come to a stop in our inner-tube at the bottom of a hill when she asked to go again.