Vacations Altered, Not Spoiled

My vacation is over, and for the third time our intention to get to Nova Scotia has failed.  Not that we have never been there, but in recent years we just don't seem to make it to our planned destination.

The first time we tried, we thought we'd do the Lighthouse Tour along the Atlantic shore of Nova Scotia. We ended up doing what I like to call the All Saints Tour, along the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy.  (St. Stephens, St Andrews, St. George, St John and St Martins).  That was a lovely trip, but we needed to try again to get to Nova Scotia. 

Last year we decided to take the American Route, which we had never done before. We took our time and enjoyed Vermont and New Hampshire, and then the weatherman mentioned a big storm closing in. We thought we'd best get out of the mountains before that happened, and looked east, only to discover there was going to be a big storm out there too.  We looked back towards home, and the weather was going to be fine, so we headed for home and finished off our vacation doing day trips. That was also a lovely vacation, even if not the one we planned.

The thing is, we are getting older, and we want to do the Lighthouse tour before the lighthouses all disappear. They are no longer needed, now that the ships are equipped with all the modern technology....GPS's and such.  Many of the lighthouses have now been decommissioned, and I don't know how long the public can keep them up. Also, this year we had a reliable vehicle, so it seemed a perfect time to make another stab at it.

We were all packed to go, but once again, the weatherman got in the way. Perhaps if technology didn't allow me to see the day by day forecast anywhere I choose to look, we might have just gone and ended up there in the rain. But that would have cost a lot, and would have been no fun. We don't go somewhere to sit in a hotel and watch the rain. We like to explore....outdoors!

With the trip cancelled, we set about amusing ourselves with one of those Staycations you hear so much about.  First we went to Cornwall, and visited with a relative who has recently taken up residence in a retirement home. On the way ate at a favorite little café in Morrisburg, run by some humorous older ladies. It's aptly named The Basket Case and I highly recommend it. On the way home, we decided to try the new Shirtless Joe's, in Kemptville. That was a long full day away from home and definitely vacation time for me since I didn't have to cook or clean up afterwards.

Then we went in the opposite direction, to Picton, by way of highway 15. It was a beautiful day and we had plenty of time to view the scenery along the way as we found a great deal of this route was under construction. We discovered that it must be part of the job requirements to be a young blonde female if you want to work as a flag person these days.

The annual craft show is held on a Thursday at the Picton Fair grounds, as the venders all head to Barrie for the long weekend. (Mmmm....we haven't been up there for a long time. Maybe next year...if we don't get to go to Nova Scotia for some reason.)

The craft show has 200 vendors, in three buildings and also lots of tents set up outside.  The first time we went it took us a long time to work our way through the offerings as so many of them were new to us. This time it didn't take nearly as long, and we didn't find anything to bring home.  Well, I did see something I would love to have had, but I somehow managed to talk myself out of spending the money for something so purely ornamental.


We took the ferry across when we left, and followed the St Lawrence route back to Kingston. After supper at Montanas,  we looked up a friend who runs a karate dojo, and then another who used to be one of our own students.








 

On Saturday we took in the Crosby Flea Market. If you ever want to stock up on books, that's the place to go. Many of their other items are also lower in price than you'll find them for anywhere else too. I picked up a few things on this visit, including a lovely tea set for just $5.  As you can see, it goes perfectly with my kitchen.  Who can resist a bargain like that? We tried to eat at the nice restaurant that used to be in Portland, but it's been closed. We settled for some fries from a chip wagon and then spent the afternoon geocaching along the route home.

The next day we went to Rideau Carleton for dinner and the races. This is something we enjoy doing, but it was the first time we were ever unable to get a program for the races.  Somehow we managed to win every race we bet on anyway. The waiter brought us a program that someone else left behind, and we didn't do nearly as well with all that vital information at hand. Once again, too much information managed to spoil things a bit.

Monday the weather was nice so we decided to go off geocaching again, this time along the St Lawrence between Maitland and Brockville, before stopping for supper in at Swiss Chalet in Brockville.

Wednesday we took the 1000 Islands Cruise from Rockport.  This quaint village was once the hub of activity in an era when millionaires made their summer homes amongst the islands. These days it seems to attract artists and tourists.













 
We had a 2 hour stop over to explore Boldt Castle on Heart Island. Things have sure changed there since the last time we visited.

 Much more restoration work has been done and it's still ongoing.

 You can now go all the way up to the 4th floor, though the top two floors look much like the castle did when we went before.

The bottom two floors are all nicely restored and furnished now.










I was a little disappointed that we could no longer go up into the old "Playhouse" but I think there are likely too many people now to make that possible, traffic wise, on those narrow stairways.








The following day we took our oldest grandson geocaching, as he's been asking to go. We started him on this 6 years ago, when he was only 3. He gets exclusive use of my old GPS now, and really seems to enjoy the experience. We stopped in Manotick for Pizza part way through the day.

We had one day to do our own thing, as my hubby went off golfing with one of his brothers and a friend, while I joined a friend of mine for tea at her home.

 The following day we decided to visit our favorite local Chinese buffet, The King Star, on Hwy 15,  and got home just in time to receive visitors from Cornwall.

We finished off the vacation by going to brunch at a place we had heard about but never been to before. Woody's Place, in North Augusta. There was a wide variety of things to choose from, though you wanted to leave room for some of the very tempting desserts that were on display on the bar. 

I had a great vacation as I hardly ever had to cook, and I certainly didn't do any housework during those two weeks. Of course, I'm scurrying around now trying to put the place back in order. 

As it turned out, the weatherman was wrong. Friends in the east insist the weather was fine and we could have gone after all. But we don't regret our decision. We enjoyed our explorations, our socializing and eating entirely too much food.  Staycations work just fine.

It's Finally Geocaching Time!

The Thousand Island Spring Arts Show and Sale was held in Rockport Victoria Day Weekend. We decided the weather was nice enough to finally get out to do some geocaching, so we headed in that direction, armed with a GPS full of coordinates.  

Rockport is always a busy place, but it was over run with people on Saturday. We found an area designated as event parking and set off to see what we could see around the village.  I found John Shea, whose art I've admired for the past couple of years. His paintings are uncomplicated, and striking because of it.  Nearby was another artist whose work taught me much about the use of colour.  Tricia Wilmot Savoi has mastered the art of getting my attention, and that of many others. What more could an artist ask for?  I'm ready to abandon watercolour for a while, and see if I can apply what I learned just from looking at her paintings.  Somehow, I doubt be able to duplicate the effect, but I'm stirred up and willing to try.

We would have stayed in the village longer, and even done some geocaching there, but the people were so desperate for parking spots, they didn't care if they blocked each other in or not. We decided to make our escape while we still could. 

We crossed the 1000 Islands Parkway and explored a few other artists, including a photographer, a glass artist, and a guy who made concrete plaques and mushrooms.  He reported that sales were going very well for him.

We hunted down our first geocache nearby, near, but not in a cemetery. It was just a micro though, and so, after signing and replacing the log, we journeyed onward.  We found two other caches on this day, but found more interesting things where we didn't actually find the caches.  As I've said before, it's not the treasure, but the hunt that makes it all so much fun.

We made a rest stop at the Jones Creek property of the 1000 Islands National Park.  It's too early in the season for the main building to be open, but signs directed us to a compostable toilet along the nearby trail.  I think this site was worth the stop. I know of a two story outhouse at a nearby museum. This one in the woods is not a two story one, but rather just a second story one. I've certainly never seen that before. I might add that it's a great idea though as it's a very clean place, unsmelly place..

View from the top.  Notice the trail well below.

 Traveling back along the 1000 Island Parkway, we saw a couple of families of geese, as well as some interesting islands. Some of them were not far from the mainland.

 While looking for geocaches, we found this old drain. It is inscribed "The Kings Highway 1938".  It's big enough I suspect the area wild life use it go get to the other side of the road during certain seasons. 

One of the great things about geocaching is you often learn something you didn't know before. We found out that the 1000 Island Parkway was originally built to be Hwy 401.  After the eastbound lane was completed they abandoned the project and completed it further north, leaving us with the beautiful scenic roadway we have today. There is a bike path on the north side of the road, which would have been the westbound lane and runs between Gananoque and Long Beach. The path was laid by Bell Canada and covers a Fibre-Optic line that runs through the area.

There is a place where it is very obvious that the bike path was supposed to have been a roadway as both bridges were built before they the people in charge of this project changed their mind. 

The parkway is on the right, and the bike path is on the left.  Enlarge the picture by clicking on it for a better view.

 

 

 From the right hand side of this bridge, there is a view of where an older one once stood.

We finished off our day at Tim Hortons.  So did everyone else, from the look of things.