The Thousand Islands (Canadian version)

On July 8, we re-entered Canadian waters. We left Alexandria Bay and motored amongst the islands across the St. Lawrence River, heading for Rockport, ON. We then cruised upstream, admiring the landscape that is our beautiful country. We saw lots of islands - some uninhabited, some looking like cottage country, and some with palatial estates built upon the waterfront. What a place to spend time!

One highlight is the statue of St. Lawrence, located riverside high up on the cliffs, east of the Thousand Islands Bridge

(https://tilife.org/ThePlace/History/HistoryArticles/tabid/484/ID/484/Patron-Saint-of-the-St-Lawrence-by-Jim-Morrison.html). Greg saw it - I missed it, much to my chagrin (poorly timed bathroom break). One does not stop their boat mid-river to see sights when one is on the St. Lawrence! Greg insists I did not miss much as it is hard to see from the water; still!!

Our port of entry to Canada was Gananoque, a fairly innocuous rite of passage. We called Canada Customs; we answered a few questions; we waited on our boat for the requisite 30 minutes post-docking for someone to show; nobody did, so we left for refreshments.

While in Gananoque, we visited the Thousand Islands Boat Museum (https://www.tiboatmuseum.org) - very similar in function to that in Clayton, NY but much smaller. The boats were just as beautiful; we do not make boats like these anymore.

We spent time biking around Gananoque - it is a pretty little town with a renowned playhouse. Unfortunately, the play being performed on our night in town was 'Mary Poppins'; it garnered no enthusiasm when I proposed attending it. We did ride by the Gananoque Canoe Club, a facility I did have knowledge of from past national paddling competitions that the boys attended long ago. Greg supported the local economy when he purchased some lemonade from one energetic young man, raising money to purchase his goalie gear for this years' hockey season.

After two days in Gananoque, we set out for Kingston, the gateway to the Rideau Canal. We booked time at the Confederation Basin Marina as access to the canal is dictated by the opening of the LaSalle Causeway Bridge, an event only performed on Sunday's. Kingston is a lovely city to while away some summer time! The buskers were in town and performing all along the waterfront for the whole weekend. Greg and I were able to visit with friends (Erna and Craig), visiting their home and catching up over a lovely supper. We biked (a lot) around Kingston and visited many of the tourist sites.

One was the Kingston penitentiary (https://www.kingstonpentour.com). It was a very interesting tour, provided by personnel who used to work in the facility. It also reinforced the idea of how precious freedom is!

D Block - Site of the 1971 Kingston Penitentiary riot.

We biked to Fort Henry (https://www.forthenry.com/the-fort/history-heritage/) to visit the citadel and see the view of Kingston harbour. We weren't disappointed. It is much like the Halifax Citadel in structure. We watched a reenactiment of cannon loading and firing - RMC students are hired to provide such demonstrations, as well as other historic roles related to the upkeep of the garrison.

Of course, I would be remiss to not mention the Tragically Hip connection with Kingston. We did visit the beautiful Gordon Downie Memorial Pier, a lovely place for swimmers and thinkers alike on the Kingston waterfront. Swimmers have access to Lake Ontario from the swim ladders incorporated on the pier. There are benches and tables for sitting and just enjoying the view.

After biking around on a very hot day, we did hop on the 'Hop On, Hop Off' trolley for a tour of Kingston - it rounded out what we had already seen with a few other tourist tidbits, RMC and Queen's University to list a few. Who knew it was once the capital of British North America? On Sunday, we said farewell to this lovely metropolis and began our trek on the Rideau Canal.

A last look at Kingston.