Day Seven
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Lisa: This is one stretch of the trail that isn’t completely done (they’re constructing a bridge—no word on when that will be completed) so there’s a full-sun detour along dusty dirt roads. But arriving in beautiful Ottawa was a great reward, as was our Airbnb, which is inside the old City Hall building. Diane and Rick renovated the building, leaving much of its character intact, and it’s elegant and comfortable.
Marianne: This was one of the hardest days for me with unshaded, large-gravel rock roads that went on forever. There wasn’t really anywhere to get off the road when a car or truck blew by, so we had to go into the grass and cover our faces. Some cars were nice enough to slow down for us while others just left us eating their dust!
Pomona to Ottawa
Airbnb, Old City Hall
11.75 trail miles, 14.02 total miles
60° at 7 a.m. with a high of 91°
Ottawa
We patronized several businesses in Ottawa, including Mexi-Wraps Fresh Tacos and Bar for dinner, Corner Market for breakfast on Day Eight, and Wray’s Bulk Foods. We recommend them all!
Click on the yellow crosses to the right to read the sections below
Downers
Lisa:
- That dusty detour
- The restaurant we wanted to go to was too far to walk
Marianne:
-
Eating dirt
-
Wish we could have stayed and toured Ottawa longer.
Highlights
Lisa:
- Meeting Rick and Diane (Airbnb owners) and getting a tour of the Old City Hall
- Rick and Diane allowed us to park our strollers in a vacant unit
- Striding into Ottawa listening to Kansas’s first album
Marianne:
- Tour of Airbnb in historic City Hall building. So cool!
- Air conditioning
Fast Facts: Ottawa, Kansas
- Founded in 1865
- Population 12,625 (as of 2020 Census)
- Home of Plaza 1907 (formerly known as The Plaza Grill and Cinema and Crystal Plaza and The Bijou, the second oldest continuously running movie theater in the world (the oldest is in Denmark and opened two days before Plaza 1907)
- Named for the Ottawa tribe
Photo Gallery
Click on a photo for a captioned slide show to learn what you're looking at
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