Eastward Bound - Canada 2024

I wondered why two of the gates were higher than the others. We didn't get to see much of the dam from the locks.

 

Outside of Brockville, ON, we took a cruise through the eastern part of the 1000 islands. It was a hot day so we got permission to bring Shadow along. Because it was a smaller boat, dogs were allowed by the decision of the Captain. It was a 50 passenger boat and it wasn't crowded.

The river is narrower here and the islands are quite rocky.


The shore line on the Canadian side is lined with houses by the rich and famous.


Wildlife abounds on the island. Back home, this would be called Seagull island as it was a nursery for seagulls.


Cormorants are starting to move into the seagull nesting area.




Once Shadow figured out there would be no treats handed out for her, she curled up in her bed and stayed there for the trip.


Take away the high rises and the waterfront looks very much like it did many years ago. Several tall spires are the older buildings.




Again, houses tucked everywhere on the islands. Many of the islands are privately owned and all need a boat for access.


Narrow channels are everywhere and here you can really see the current of the river. Hard to remember it is a river otherwise.


The boathouse to a much bigger house up in the trees.




I saw this coming as it was entering the area. I didn't realize it would be coming up this small channel. It threw quite the wake. We went behind a small island through a channel called the Needles.


The sailboat was having quite the time sailing. It was going with the current with the wind hardly faster than the current. It is hard to keep the sails flying properly when that happens.


Brockville/Ontario governments purchased some of the islands back in the day when they weren't very pricey. Boat access campgrounds are on those islands.


This tall ship was built as the icon for the towers behind the ship. In the summer, it is used for an outward bound program for students.


I forgot to take a picture of the boat we were on. Very flat bottom so it can cruise through the islands and close to the shore.

 

We were fascinated by Iroquois Lock. It is so neat to see the ships up so close. We really appreciate the talents of the crew to get the ships into that narrow channel and out again without incident. We were there in good weather but it must be a challenge to navigate it all in the worse weather.
Sometimes the ships went through without stopping, other times they stopped. I think it was a place to change crews on the more local ships.
Our Locks and Channels - Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System

CSL ships are everywhere. We have gravel ships that come into the facility outside of our town. The shipping company was formed by a merger of 11 shipping companies in 1913. Over 175 years of shipping history | CSL.
Paul Martin was first a CEO in 1981 and became an owner in 1988. When he got into politics, he handed the company over to various CEOs. He became a finance minister and then a Prime Minister of Canada.


A couple of videos are much better than photos.






For all the motorcycle fans out there, a couple arrived in this. I looked it up. In Canada, it is a motorcycle.


I took lots of pictures of the ships going through the lock.








This one was one of the longest we saw.






There is an app called Marinetraffic.com It tracks every large ship in the world as well as working vessels and larger pleasure craft. You can narrow down to the area you are interested in. I used it a lot and when it looked like a ship was nearing the lock, we headed on over there to watch it go through.


campinspecter even went and watched a couple go through while I was doing laundry at the laundromat.


We went over one evening and watched a ship go through in the dark. Each time as we are all standing around there, we met some interesting people who come here a lot.

This was the view from our campsite in the area. Right on the river where all the ships pass by.


It was gorgeous when we first arrived. USA is the far shore.


The next day was grey, drizzly and overcast. Just like home only much warmer.


Our last ship we watched go through the lock.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to share your wonderful experiance with us all!

 

Headed back to the big city of Toronto for some fun times.
Yes, we went to two Blue Jays games, one a night game and then a day game. It was fun even though they lost both games.




When we got there early for the night game, batting practice was happening and the roof was closed.


Because I was watching people and looking at everything, I almost missed the whole roof opening operation so I didn't get any pictures. What happened is that the center section moves to the right in the picture over the half dome, then the half dome on the left slides around the edge and goes between the center section and the half dome on the right. Pretty slick.
I found a video of the roof operation




campinspecter It was a hot evening.


Next day, I took more pictures outside. Held the phone nearly flat to take this. CN tower right next to the stadium.


And what is a baseball game without the classic Cracker Jack? I haven't had this in more years than I would like to say. Back then it came in a box.


Looking at the edge of the roof, you can see the white edge of the center section and the left side of the dome is tucked in between the center section and the fixed right section.


Day game, we ended up in sitting in the sun. Fortunately for us west coasters, it clouded over and a breeze was felt in the stadium. jrider have you ever been to Rogers Centre?


yes, camping in the city. Really nice park with big sites.

 

Going through Trenton, ON, to me, is so neat to see all the older brick buildings. Some of these have been renovated and updated but still most are older than the town we live in. The main street of a town called Brighton was another one lined with old houses. Our town was created in 1968 so old houses are not really old.





And the churches. So many of them. Some have been turned into businesses, others into dwellings. Quite few are still being used to worship our Creator.


And what town out our way would have a stone tower in its downtown.


We went to Kingston, ON to take a cruise through the western portion of the 1000 Islands. This is the courthouse across the road from the dock.


Between the courthouse and the docks was the visitor center. It looked like it was a train station at one time. There was an old style train engine parked out to the left of the picture. Sorry, Scotty Overkill, I didn't get a picture. I am assuming a rail line came by along the waterfront.


1000 Island cruise company run three boats from Kingston. They have cruises that offer dining, sunset watching, events such as weddings, birthdays etc. We were just taking the sightseeing cruise.


Island Queen II was the one we were on. There is paddlewheel at the back for looks.


Kingston was originally a military base. These buildings house a military academy now.


Naval sailing training.


In defense of the area, Fort Henry was built. France and Britain were contesting each other for the area and protection for the British Loyalist fleeing the War of Independence in the USA


We couldn't get over how wide and lake like looking the St. Lawrence river is at this point. Kingston sits at the eastern end of Lake Ontario where it empties into the St. Lawrence river system.


Like the other cruises we have taken, there are houses tucked in everywhere there is a nook.


Boating here looks very much like home except it is fresh water and much warmer winds than home.


The original owner of this island didn't like any of the others to buy so he created this one on a rocky spot in the river.


The roof was built first and then the house structure afterwards.






The lady on the bridge just turned 91 and usually is out on the bridge to wave to the people. Her family were having a birthday party outside for her a couple of weeks ago so when the Island Queen came by, it got close to the shore and everyone on board sang Happy Birthday to her.


House boats to me belong on a lake but here they are docked at one of the government campsites in the islands.


We didn't see any freighters as they were on the other side of the long island across from Kingston. There were a few working boats in the area.




The man that originally built this house was a chemist. His milkman was telling him that the smell of spoilt milk in his milk van was pretty hard to take. The chemist had been playing with reproducing the smell of pine so he took a triangle piece of paper, added a string and put some pine essence on the paper and gave it to the milkman. How many of us have bought a pine tree air freshener to hang in the vehicle?


There were a couple of ferries connecting islands with the mainland. This one was a cable ferry.




I am still learning how to take photos of things at a distance. There is a house in the background but it looks like the upper deck on the dock would be the place to be most of the time.

 

Wonder is any of the boats at the government campsites were doing “the great loop”. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/great-loop.html


It’s on my list of things to do when I become independently wealthy.

 

Looks like an awesome trip to do. It would take a bit of time so you might have to do it sections. Going down the Mississippi would be really interesting. Think of all the songs it has inspired.

 

Not yet!

 

Curious, you mentioned it was a hot evening for the baseball game. At what temps do you's call it a hot one?

 

It's all relative, no?

The older you get, the less you'll want to deal with the heat. You'll find out.

 

Absolutely. Already there.

 

Well, I guess for easterners it wasn't that hot but for us it was. It was about 30 C or 86 F. Our summers where we live very seldom get above 80 F. They usually are at about 75F. This has been quite the experience for us this summer.
As I type this, we are having a lightening storm with heavy rain. It just shook the RV. Shadow and I will be postponing our evening stroll for awhile.

 

We were in our nation's capital city, Ottawa. Got on a double decker bus tour and sat up top in the sun. Very interesting old buildings.
Old church in downtown Ottawa


I like taking pictures of old buildings. There are many embassies from countries all over the world here.


Sports and recreation center Lansdowne Park


Rideau Canal. It links the Ottawa river with Lake Ontario at Kingston with a series of locks and waterways. Used mainly for pleasure craft now.
Rideau Canal National Historic Site


Normally the canal is 10 ft. deep during the summer to allow boat passage. In the winter, it is drained down to less than six inches and freezes. It then becomes a very long public skating rink.






Revenue Canada's office building. For Americans, this would be your IRS.


Byward market. A very large indoor/outdoor market surrounded by restaurants of all kinds.


Notre Dame Cathedral. Oldest Catholic church in Ottawa.
History




Guardhouse for our Governor General residence called Rideau Hall. When the Queen or King of Canada is visiting Ottawa, Rideau Hall becomes their residence.


Statue of Queen Elizabeth II outside of Rideau Hall


Gatineau River hydro plant in Quebec


Zipline between Gatineau, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario. Goes over the river between the two.




Part of our nation's Parliament buildings.


Main center block of the Parliament buildings. Major renovations are taking place to reinforce the foundations.




Part of the tour included the training ground for the RCMP musical ride. Horses were out in the fields when we went by.
We also went by the National Center for Space and Aviation but I wasn't quick enough to get any pictures.

We know the prairies are flat ground and many jokes are made about them. This is surprising very flat as well. It is the Ottawa river valley between Ottawa and Montreal.

 

Revenue Canada = IRS in the US. Internal Revenue Service.

Ottawa has a lot of European looking architecture. No surprise there. Nice weather for the bus tour!

 

MikeInMa thanks for the clarification. I knew I should have looked it up and not guessed.

Moderating Would you be able to fix my mistake on the Revenue Canada picture?

 

jtakeman Thank you.

 

Sorry it has taken a while to post some more pictures.
We visited Montreal very briefly. It was hot and we just drove around. Stood on Mount Royal and drove by the Big O. Olympic stadium that built for the 1976 summer Olympics.
The construction - Parc olympique

We then visited Quebec City. Driving around old Quebec City is quite the experience. Lovely old buildings and very narrow streets with a lot of one way streets. No parking for us as the truck is too high. We wanted to take the tour bus.






A very nice drive along the waterfront of Quebec City
Promenade Samuel-De Champlain


Lots of old churches.


Our neighbours in the campsite suggested we visit Montmorency Falls outside of Quebec City.
Parc de la Chute-Montmorency - Quebec City - Canada - Sépaq
there is a walking bridge across the top of the falls.


If you walk across (Yikes) and along the far path, you can go down the series of stairs to another look out.


View from the bridge


I walked down to a view point along the side of the falls. The lines crossing the falls is a zipline for two people


Hard to get a good picture when you are right beside it.


Action shot
https://i9.ytimg.com/vi/CYMlj0Wq5Sg...DYwDw==&rs=AOn4CLBxEjpcWAo_SQB8ONdjil7pkyYrgQ

You won't find me on the zipline. I couldn't get across the walking bridge.


From the lower viewpoint, you could see the viewpoints at the bottom. Best view of the falls is the one across the canyon.
The falls are higher than Niagara but obviously not as wide.


Shadow and campinspecter people watched while I went down the stairs to the lower viewpoint. Shadow travels so well.

 

You were all wondering what happened to us as it has been a while since I posted any pictures. Different places we have been staying have had really poor internet and I haven't had time to load pictures and videos. So be prepared to be overwhelmed with my posts.

We ventured into New Brunswick and found it flatter than I anticipated. We had a really pretty campsite in Edmundston, NB.




The view from my "kitchen" window




Western New Brunswick was much flatter than I thought it would be.




Still looking for the forest of trees.


This is definitely not West coast style logging truck trailer. I couldn't figure out what they were at first.


This gave me a clue on how they are used. We saw one later one that had the logs stacked crossways on the trailer.