A Lake, A River and A Capital
June 10/18
It was a bright sunny day when we left Napanee heading east toward Brockville. Our next destination was Charleston Lake which is near the tiny community of Lyndhurst Ontario. Our friends Sally and Dave just bought a cottage on Charleston Lake and seeing as we were coming across Canada with an empty pick up truck, we offered to bring a few of their things with us. As we were pulling close to Lyndhurst I realized I had left my iPad at my cousins place in Napanee. What a dumb dumb, I thought to myself. (Fortunately for me, Joe rarely tells me what he is really thinking when I do silly things so he didn’t make me feel bad about having to go all the way back to get it). I told him I didn’t need it right away and that we should just go to the lake and enjoy the beautiful day and go back again the next day. This is Charleston Lake.
Sally’s son, Tom and his girlfriend Nicole were at the public dock to meet us with their pontoon boat. We decided to leave the stuff in the truck which we parked in the village of Charleston Lake and come and pick it up when we had more hands to help.
Sally’s twin brother, Rob, and his wife Donna, and Nicole’s mom Beth would all be joining us for a late lunch. Tom was great ferrying everyone to and from the Island whenever our hearts desired and for this we are very grateful! Unfortunately Sally’s husband Dave had to be in Victoria to work so we didn’t get to see him this time around. We could have used his help with the boxes, right Dave? Haha
The cottage sits on its own little island and looked like something out of Cottage Life Magazine
We spent the afternoon sitting on the Adirondack chairs overlooking the lake and visiting. We had a great time sunning ourselves and enjoying a great meal. Great meals seem to be a theme with all our friends and family so far and Sally put on 2 days of great spreads.
Before sunset, we all jumped in the boat to go back and grab the boxes out of the truck, and drop Rob and Donna off at their car so they could make the journey back home.
Now at this point I would like to make an observation about cottage life. I know it conjures up beautiful images of gorgeous cabins, crystal clear lakes, kids swimming, boating and fishing galore, and it is exactly all of that but it is also a lot of work. If you run out of food, its a 10 min boat ride and 25 min drive to the closest grocery store, not to mention having to load those groceries in a boat, take them back to the cottage and bring them up the hill to the cabin. A process that would normally take an hour at home can take 2 or 3 in cottage country. And because of my iPad, I learned the hard way just how much it takes to get something you need. Joe and I got up early the next morning, got Tom to take us back to the dock so we could drive all the way back to Napanee, grab my iPad, then drive all the way back. Tom was there to greet us once again at the public dock. He could probably have made some money if he had charged us for all the boat rides back and forth!
That said, Sally and Dave own a little piece of heaven, and I can see why any of the challenges of staying here would be absolutely worth it. They are going to have decades of good times and memories ahead and we are grateful to have been invited to spend some time here. Hopefully we will be able to get back here again someday!
The road and a reservation is calling us so it was time to move on after 2 glorious days at the lake. Our next destination was a campground called Milles-Roches campground on the Long Sault Parkway.
Long Sault Parkway is a series of 11 islands in the middle of the St Lawrence river. It was created when then flooded the St Lawrence river. When I was researching campgrounds, I came upon this gem and for no other reason than it looked cool, I make a reservation for 2 nights in a riverside campsite. While enroute from Charleston Lake we had to pass Upper Canada Village which is about 20 mins west of where we would be camping. I told Joe that one of my fondest memories as a kid, was going here with my mom and dad, 48 years ago. I can remember that trip like it was yesterday and yet am unable to tell you what I had for breakfast or how I managed to forget my iPad. So I made him promise we would go back to see it after we got set up in our campsite. And what a campsite...
Note the picnic table in the water...now thats what I call waterfront!
I thought that this campground would be really busy but we are finding that no park is busy at this time of the year as the kids aren’t even out of school yet so although reservations were not necessary, I am glad that I did make one because it allowed me to pick our site. I am sure in the summer, you would be hard pressed to get a site most of the time because it is just such a cool location.
It was a quick trip from Lyndhurst to Long Sault so as soon as we were set up we turned around and went 20 mins back the way we came to Upper Canada Village. This is a heritage site where they recreate life from the mid 1800’s using original equipment that has been operating for 150 years.
The sawmill
I even milked a cow!
The people who work there dress in period costumes and work like they would have way back when. They have sheep that they shear, cows that they milk, wood that they mill, as well as weavers, quilters, cheese makers, bakers etc. They even sell all their goods at the general store! It was better than I remembered and I even came home with a handwoven blanket that was made by the fine folks that run the loom! I will treasure it forever as a key memory of this amazing place.
After a long day in the old town, we headed back to our campsite just in time for a big thunder and lightening storm to blow through. It was very cool watching it blow down the St Lawrence river in torrents of rain and huge cracks of thunder. Ontario hasn’t disappointed us, it has showed us everything we both remember growing up here. (Even though Joe was 12 when he left, he could never forget those summer storms!)
Our next day was to be spent in Ottawa. Our nation’s capital.
I had been to Ottawa a couple of times but Joe had not. After consulting with my cousin Lynda about where to park, we came up with the plan to drive to a mall out of the downtown core, then bus into the city as parking our big truck is not easy in the best of cities and Ottawa’s has limited park for normal size vehicles let alone our big ass truck. The storm seemed to have passed so stupidly, Joe and I got in the truck without our rain coats. This was a big mistake because as soon as we parked at the mall the storm came back with a fury. We quickly dashed into walmart grabbed a couple of umbrellas and headed for the bus.
After a quick 20 min ride into town we were dropped off 4 mins walk from Parliament Hill. We were hoping the rain would deter the tourist in order for us to get a tour of the Parliament buildings but again, we thought wrong. The earliest tour available would be at 6:40 pm and we wanted to be on our way back to the campsite well before then.
My cousin Lynda had given me the number of her friend and past work colleague, Phil Baldwin. He is the EA to MP Mike Bossio. She told me to give him a call if we had any trouble getting in for a tour, so I called Lynda, who in turned called Phil. Within 10 mins Phil met us under the peace tower and took us for a personal guided tour. (This ended up being way above and beyond the call of friendship as I had left my purse and ID at the campground so he had to vouch for me through 3 different stages of security) He also introduced us to his boss and between the two of them they were able to secure 2 seats for us to sit in on question period. People wait in line for hours to get tickets to question period so we really felt like we had lucked out and were being treated like royalty. Thanks once again to Lynda. You have great connections! We enjoyed our tour and question period was fascinating, all the banging and yelling and groaning back and forth. It was similar to being in a playground only the “kids” were all wearing business attire.
Our quick tour included the library which we found out is to be dismantled and this would be the last time for 10 years for anyone to see it. The picture says it all.
More than impressive. Phil also pointed out the bullet holes from the shooting that happened a couple years ago and spoke of the bravery of the people that ran towards the gun shots.
This just adds to the history of the building. And we were both so happy to have been able to see it on such an up close and personal level!
Up next, Quebec City and La Belle Province.
Ok grade 10 French, don’t fail me now!
It was a bright sunny day when we left Napanee heading east toward Brockville. Our next destination was Charleston Lake which is near the tiny community of Lyndhurst Ontario. Our friends Sally and Dave just bought a cottage on Charleston Lake and seeing as we were coming across Canada with an empty pick up truck, we offered to bring a few of their things with us. As we were pulling close to Lyndhurst I realized I had left my iPad at my cousins place in Napanee. What a dumb dumb, I thought to myself. (Fortunately for me, Joe rarely tells me what he is really thinking when I do silly things so he didn’t make me feel bad about having to go all the way back to get it). I told him I didn’t need it right away and that we should just go to the lake and enjoy the beautiful day and go back again the next day. This is Charleston Lake.
Sally’s son, Tom and his girlfriend Nicole were at the public dock to meet us with their pontoon boat. We decided to leave the stuff in the truck which we parked in the village of Charleston Lake and come and pick it up when we had more hands to help.
Sally’s twin brother, Rob, and his wife Donna, and Nicole’s mom Beth would all be joining us for a late lunch. Tom was great ferrying everyone to and from the Island whenever our hearts desired and for this we are very grateful! Unfortunately Sally’s husband Dave had to be in Victoria to work so we didn’t get to see him this time around. We could have used his help with the boxes, right Dave? Haha
The cottage sits on its own little island and looked like something out of Cottage Life Magazine
We spent the afternoon sitting on the Adirondack chairs overlooking the lake and visiting. We had a great time sunning ourselves and enjoying a great meal. Great meals seem to be a theme with all our friends and family so far and Sally put on 2 days of great spreads.
Before sunset, we all jumped in the boat to go back and grab the boxes out of the truck, and drop Rob and Donna off at their car so they could make the journey back home.
Now at this point I would like to make an observation about cottage life. I know it conjures up beautiful images of gorgeous cabins, crystal clear lakes, kids swimming, boating and fishing galore, and it is exactly all of that but it is also a lot of work. If you run out of food, its a 10 min boat ride and 25 min drive to the closest grocery store, not to mention having to load those groceries in a boat, take them back to the cottage and bring them up the hill to the cabin. A process that would normally take an hour at home can take 2 or 3 in cottage country. And because of my iPad, I learned the hard way just how much it takes to get something you need. Joe and I got up early the next morning, got Tom to take us back to the dock so we could drive all the way back to Napanee, grab my iPad, then drive all the way back. Tom was there to greet us once again at the public dock. He could probably have made some money if he had charged us for all the boat rides back and forth!
That said, Sally and Dave own a little piece of heaven, and I can see why any of the challenges of staying here would be absolutely worth it. They are going to have decades of good times and memories ahead and we are grateful to have been invited to spend some time here. Hopefully we will be able to get back here again someday!
Long Sault Parkway is a series of 11 islands in the middle of the St Lawrence river. It was created when then flooded the St Lawrence river. When I was researching campgrounds, I came upon this gem and for no other reason than it looked cool, I make a reservation for 2 nights in a riverside campsite. While enroute from Charleston Lake we had to pass Upper Canada Village which is about 20 mins west of where we would be camping. I told Joe that one of my fondest memories as a kid, was going here with my mom and dad, 48 years ago. I can remember that trip like it was yesterday and yet am unable to tell you what I had for breakfast or how I managed to forget my iPad. So I made him promise we would go back to see it after we got set up in our campsite. And what a campsite...
I thought that this campground would be really busy but we are finding that no park is busy at this time of the year as the kids aren’t even out of school yet so although reservations were not necessary, I am glad that I did make one because it allowed me to pick our site. I am sure in the summer, you would be hard pressed to get a site most of the time because it is just such a cool location.
It was a quick trip from Lyndhurst to Long Sault so as soon as we were set up we turned around and went 20 mins back the way we came to Upper Canada Village. This is a heritage site where they recreate life from the mid 1800’s using original equipment that has been operating for 150 years.
The people who work there dress in period costumes and work like they would have way back when. They have sheep that they shear, cows that they milk, wood that they mill, as well as weavers, quilters, cheese makers, bakers etc. They even sell all their goods at the general store! It was better than I remembered and I even came home with a handwoven blanket that was made by the fine folks that run the loom! I will treasure it forever as a key memory of this amazing place.
After a long day in the old town, we headed back to our campsite just in time for a big thunder and lightening storm to blow through. It was very cool watching it blow down the St Lawrence river in torrents of rain and huge cracks of thunder. Ontario hasn’t disappointed us, it has showed us everything we both remember growing up here. (Even though Joe was 12 when he left, he could never forget those summer storms!)
Our next day was to be spent in Ottawa. Our nation’s capital.
I had been to Ottawa a couple of times but Joe had not. After consulting with my cousin Lynda about where to park, we came up with the plan to drive to a mall out of the downtown core, then bus into the city as parking our big truck is not easy in the best of cities and Ottawa’s has limited park for normal size vehicles let alone our big ass truck. The storm seemed to have passed so stupidly, Joe and I got in the truck without our rain coats. This was a big mistake because as soon as we parked at the mall the storm came back with a fury. We quickly dashed into walmart grabbed a couple of umbrellas and headed for the bus.
After a quick 20 min ride into town we were dropped off 4 mins walk from Parliament Hill. We were hoping the rain would deter the tourist in order for us to get a tour of the Parliament buildings but again, we thought wrong. The earliest tour available would be at 6:40 pm and we wanted to be on our way back to the campsite well before then.
My cousin Lynda had given me the number of her friend and past work colleague, Phil Baldwin. He is the EA to MP Mike Bossio. She told me to give him a call if we had any trouble getting in for a tour, so I called Lynda, who in turned called Phil. Within 10 mins Phil met us under the peace tower and took us for a personal guided tour. (This ended up being way above and beyond the call of friendship as I had left my purse and ID at the campground so he had to vouch for me through 3 different stages of security) He also introduced us to his boss and between the two of them they were able to secure 2 seats for us to sit in on question period. People wait in line for hours to get tickets to question period so we really felt like we had lucked out and were being treated like royalty. Thanks once again to Lynda. You have great connections! We enjoyed our tour and question period was fascinating, all the banging and yelling and groaning back and forth. It was similar to being in a playground only the “kids” were all wearing business attire.
Our quick tour included the library which we found out is to be dismantled and this would be the last time for 10 years for anyone to see it. The picture says it all.
More than impressive. Phil also pointed out the bullet holes from the shooting that happened a couple years ago and spoke of the bravery of the people that ran towards the gun shots.
This just adds to the history of the building. And we were both so happy to have been able to see it on such an up close and personal level!
Up next, Quebec City and La Belle Province.
Ok grade 10 French, don’t fail me now!
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