July 28, Friday, Newboro, Ontario

Yet another day was spent at the Newboro lock in the little town of Newboro, Ontario. We walked to town in the morning and treated ourselves to breakfast at the Sterling Inn.

Later we watched as other boaters came in, and were delighted to see Barefoot Lady again – Dodie and John – who we met on the wall in Ottawa. We helped them tie up and caught up a bit and made a plan to show them the town, all three businesses (!), when they were settled. I also spoke with Marilyn, one of the retired campers on the hill, and learned she is a professional organist, pianist and choir leader. I suggested that I might want to play my ukulele and sing later and she invited me to join their campfire where her friend often plays guitar.

I invited John and Dodie to join us for dinner, as I was planning to make veggie chili. Why chili? I was inspired because the missing part for the pressure cooker suddenly turned up on the counter somehow. Turns out Dirk found it in the engine room! Huh? So I washed it thoroughly and later started pressure cooking the soaked beans. It seems to be going well when all of a sudden – stream and spatter! All the bean-colored water from the pot sizzled out of a small hole onto the walls, etc. No major harm was done and I don’t know why the newly found part failed, but it was exciting! Fortunately the beans were almost done and the chili turned out fine.

After dinner we started with the ukulele and singing on our sundeck as Dodie and I started going through some of my ukulele chord and lyric sheets. Dodie has wonderful voice, and Dirk and John joined in for some songs. Later Marilyn joined us as well as another camper, and a guitar player across the canal was playing along with some songs, and we had neighbor from Quebec stop by and join us for a while. We were singing for about 2 hours on a narrow canal with about 10 boats around us, and we had no complaints and even some applause and a really good time!

July 27, Thursday! Newboro, Ontario

We are moving again. The next two locks after the Portland marina were open, but the one after that, Chaffeys, was still closed this morning. We decided to go ahead through the two open locks and hope that Chaffeys Lock would open maybe early afternoon. But no! And maybe not even tomorrow because so much water continues to flow into the area.

In case you are wondering why I keep talking about being held up by closed locks, there were 49 locks to navigate between the Ottawa River and Kingston Ontario. We estimated 4-5 days for the trip. It has already been 5 days and we still have about a third of the locks left to get through.

The lock locations are in the map here and some of those stops include up to 4 locks. We still have 6 lock stops that include 13 locks to reach the city of Kingston.   Since we are enjoying ourselves where ever we end up, why do we care about getting through the locks and arriving in Kingston, Ontario? Because we have friends from Vancouver flying into Toronto this coming Tuesday, and we want to pick them up at the airport and bring them to the boat. That requires us being at least somewhere near Kingston, the end of the canal, where we can rent a car and leave our boat for a day.  Some solution will be found, somehow…?

Our plan was to anchor out tonight in a bay recommended to us by a boater at Len’s Cove Marina, but an engine problem changed that. After going through the first lock Dirk noticed that the water temperature was high and the oil pressure was low on the port engine, so he turned it off and went below to work on it while I continued to pilot at 3 mph up through a beautiful lake with many little islands and some granite cliffs.

The indicators seemed improved after he removed seaweed from the “sea strainer”, but not fully, and so when we came to the lock in Newboro with an open spot with electrical power, we were happy to stop here for the night. Dirk worked further to clean out the sea strainer and he “back flushed the inlet”, and we are hopeful that has resolved the issue.

Newboro is a very small town but we saw two major landmark businesses when we walked 10 minutes to the center of town. It is home to the Kilborn’s store, an usual store that has “everything”. There are beautiful clothes and shoes, kitchen supplies, furniture and rugs, children’s gifts, Dutch Indonesian supplies, gormet foods, etc. All looking very high-end in a lovely setting, and in about 20+ different rooms spread over a large antique building. Quite a surprise in a small town but people come from all over to shop there. And they have good ice cream too.

On the way back to the boat I stopped at the Sterling Inn that dates back to the mid-1800’s. I was struck by the amazing floral display everywhere I looked outside, and the antique yet warm inside of the inn.

There was a group of retired people tenting at the locks near our boat and we chatted awhile. They were from the Rochester NY area and one women was originally from East Syracuse, the town next to my home town of DeWitt, NY. Small world, eh? (I’m in Canada).

 

July 26, Wednesday, Portland Ontario

The locks we must pass to be on our way were closed today again(!), but the day turned out well. Early in the day I walked to the small town of Portland to get Canadian stamps for postcards I’ve wanting to mail for a while and was surprised that the stamps for a postcard to the US are $1.20 each!

We learned that we’d have to move our boat to a different slip since they hadn’t planned for us another day, and during the move we saw that our home-area neighbor Joe Holmes came by again. He watched the fun of us docking into a tight space and then he drove us to his boathouse in Elgin so we could finally see his island.

What a wonderful place to spend time camping and swimming and boating! He showed us around and we hiked up and down the island. It measures only an acre from the air, but seems larger due to the elevations. Joe also took us in his motor boat to an island with a huge eagle nest at the top of a pine tree where we saw, at a distance, a young eagle and one of its parents in separate trees. We later ate in another favorite town in the area, Westport, and Joe dropped us back at our boat.

 

 

July 25, Tuesday, Edmunds Lock to Portland ON.

This morning we were first told we’d need to stay at the Edmunds Lock for another day at least. Sigh! I took a walk and there is nothing but farm land nearby, but we’d be ok.

Later the lock master made some calls and now we were allowed to travel about 25 miles south, but still not as far as our friend Joe’s island. Will we ever get there?

The double locks at Old Slys were lovely, but when we got there we were told the low bridge wasn’t working so we’d have to wait until it was fixed! Fortunately the engineer arrived soon after, it was fixed and off we went to Smith Falls.

The first Smith Falls lock combined 3 previous locks and raised our boats about 30 feet. I liked the big Canada 150 sign on the lock office.

The pathway out of Smith Falls was narrow for a while. And then we came to beautiful Rideau Lake. Open, deep, clear waters. What a great trip down the lake.

We headed to a marina in Portland, Ontario as it is time to get fuel and a pump-out and we decided to stay the night. We are also appreciating  wifi and electricity for a change. Len’s Cove Marina also has rental cabins and there are families that have been coming here for 50 years! Our boat neighbors, Ann and Martin, invited us to join them for a BBQ diner including steak – Dirk was delighted and I loved the roasted veggies and potatoes.

We may have to wait another day before heading south depending on the waters… we’ll see what tomorrow brings but as usual, today worked out fine.

July 24, Monday Merrickville to Edmunds Lock near Smith Falls

Yesterday’s rain was predicted to last all day, but it stopped a little before noon. After about a half hour we decided to take a chance and get moving again, and try to get to Smith Falls which was about 6-8 miles and 5 locks away. We had errands to run there and were hoping to get them done at the end of a day of travel.

Off we went in weather that looked ok at first. We enjoyed waiting for a river cruise boat at the Kilmarnock lock. The Kawartha Voyageur  river cruise boat is built with a bow that can be raised so the boat fits in the shorter length of the Rideau locks . We’re told they have 35 cabins and the tour lasts 5 days and the passengers we talked with gave it a thumbs up.

The sky grew increasingly darker, until it began to rain in earnest. We had our serious rain gear on, so our clothes weren’t wet, but we were being sprayed by rain and our guides and ipad were getting wet. We stopped for the next lock and decided to stay there until the rain let up, but were soon told that we needed to remain there for the night due to the high water in the canal. Well, that’s the bad news.

But the good news is we talked to our friend from home, Joe Holmes, and he was shopping in Smith Falls, about 10 minutes away. He came and got us at the lock (a challenge to find in the middle of nowhere) and helped us with our errands in town! Joe owns a small island further south on the Rideau Canal that he enjoys in the summer and we have been planning to visit him there, but it seems increasingly hard to get to the island with these rains holding us up!

 

July 23 and 24, Sunday and Monday – Merrickville, Ontario

This blog is for yesterday and today, even though it is only morning, because nothing will be happening today due to constant rain and thunderstorms.  We are staying put and inside until it lets up enough for a walk and, since it is predicted to last all day, no traveling for us today. I’m disappointed, but that’s weather for you!

Yesterday we continued to cruise south, up stream, on the Rideau Canal, including 7 more locks in 3 different towns. There’s always a lot to see on the way since the waterway isn’t very wide, and we have a few friends who might be excited by the seaplanes we saw docked at homes along the way.

We decided to stop and look around Merrickville, having heard it was a star attraction along the Rideau, and it turned out to be quaint and lovely. There are flowers everywhere, maybe as a result of the monthly garden contest. While waiting for  our turn to start up the three locks in Merrickville we looked through an historic block house  with a small museum inside. If the rain lets up I might go back there today.

 

We went back to the boat  preparing to go on to the next lock, but were told that a space had opened up where we could stay the night. It was 4pm and raining, Dirk was ready to call it a day, so here we are, a good place to be in a storm.

After docking I noticed an interesting store across the street, which turns out to be an iron works shop and one of the few (I’m told) that does fine cast metal signs and other iron work signs such as are made in England. The owners have an fascinating past – among other items, she was a talk show host and he was an assistant to a Senator in the Canadian Parliament. Now they are active in Merrickville government as well as running this successful metal sign and sculpture business called Village Metalsmiths – http://www.alloyfoundry.com.

We ate in the boat and then walked to the home-made ice cream store – it had just closed! So we bought a pint of Haagen-Dazs (caramel cone explosion) and split it (I’m off my non-dairy diet for special occasions) and it was really great!

 

 

 

 

July 22, Saturday – Ottawa to near Long Island Locks on the Rideau

We are heading south on the Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston Ontario, a 4-5 day journey. Starting today there are 41 locks to go through. We traversed 8 locks today with one set being three in a row. Each one takes time and energy, but is always interesting. There are usually tourists watching and asking questions and also fellow boaters for swapping stories. (I’ve included enough lock photos in previous posts so no more until something spectacular appears).

The Rideau Canal is suburban looking so far, with long bike paths, beaches and nice homes and a few cafes where we’d wave to the customers. We had a number bridges to wait for along the way.

We are anchored out in a neighborhood area. It was pretty busy with boats speeding by in the early evening, and now we hear a band across the river, but is peaceful otherwise.  Three para-gliders came by – and one guy loved flying low.

That’s it for today!

July 21, Friday – Ottawa

Dirk enjoys airplane museums large and small, and so after I thoroughly enjoyed the mosaic plants exhibit we headed to the Canadian Aeronautic Museum via a Uber ride. I was immediately interested in the goings on there, because two mechanic monsters were being prepped for parades planned for next weekend, and we got to see them being tried out. The monster robotic spider required 12 people in climbing gear to be raised about 100 feet in the air and repel down a rope to land on the massive mechanical spider, take seats and make the legs move!

A huge dragon will also walk the streets of Ottawa.  I learned that most of it’s exterior was carved wood, both for  effect and because it is lighter weight. I did get to see the dragon move a little and blink its eyes. Note the two people on the dragon working the controls.

While I was watching monsters and shopping in the museum store, Dirk had a tour of  a large building full of airplanes not displayed in the main museum. We then looked through the main museum together. I enjoyed this particular airplane museum because it provided excellent overviews of how and when the planes were used (versus just aeronautical data). This put the people factor into the exhibits, making the museum interesting for me too.

After  leaving the museum as it closed for the day, we enjoyed a great meal at an Indonesian/Malaysian restaurant nearby. We got back in time for another grand performance on the Ottawa Parliament lawns this time also including American Marine and German naval bands, as well as a large bagpipe band and the Canadian Honor Guard band. Wow!

And finally, good night and good bye to the Parliament and Ottawa.

July 21, Friday, Ottawa

This is a wonderful city and we are in a great place to experience it, right in the heart of the historical and old town shopping areas. I started the day by heading to the Weston Hotel only about 2 blocks away to finish yesterday’s blog and charge up the laptop since we still didn’t have electricity.

I checked in with Dirk after an hour and he was working on replacing the boat 30 amp socket. (Turns out we needed a new socket, not a panel after all.)  By the time I returned with breakfast he was done – we have electricity again! I was reviewing a traveling guide on the sundeck and heard marching music behind me. And there was the Canadian marching band and regiment, heading for the morning color guard at Parliament! Dirk decided to march with them up to Parliament!

After he returned we walked back down to the locks and the Ottawa river to take a water taxi across the river to Gatineau on the Quebec side – great way to travel.

I wanted  to see the fascinating Mosaicultures in the Jacques-Cartier Park, “the biggest horticultural event in Canada”. Mosaiculture is a spectacular horticultural technique that combines 3 art forms: sculpture for the structure, paint for the palette of colors, and horticulture as the means of creating living and changing artworks with plants. The surface of each of the 40 “arrangements” was a combination of plants, flowers and mosses to provide the texture and color.  Many sculpture-arrangements were themed around the Canadian Providences and were focused on fantasy and nature. Some of my favorites follow.

Anne of Green Gables and the train she came in on…

Lobster Fisherman and Royal Canadian Mounted Police

First Nation Drumming and Chinese contribution to the exhibit:

And Mother Earth, surrounded by her creatures…

Well, needless to say I was enthralled and impressed with the skill needed to even create any one of the smallest of these green statues/mosaicultures.

The day isn’t over;  we then went to the Canadian Air Museum, had a great Indonesian dinner and went back to Parliament for more marching bands.  But more on that in the next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 20, Thursday- Ottawa! Big day…

After chatting with Terry and Pat the previous night we had a lot of ideas of what we wanted to see in Ottawa and that took priority this morning. After we moved the boat to a better and hopefully quieter spot, I headed to the tourist office where free Parliament tour tickets are available. I waited in line about an hour and Dirk saved me a seat in the bleachers across the way on the Parliament lawn  so we could watch the changing of the guard at 10am.

We walked around a bit and enjoyed a street musician playing a sax and beating a drum at same time. When he stamped one foot the bass drum would sound! We walked 10 minutes back to boat and met more loopers in the canal (nice) and then went for the Parliament tour.

The centennial flame above is on Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in Confederation Square.

The tour of Parliament was fascinating and breathtaking with the architecture, art and views from the Peace Tower – the tall center of the Parliament.  We started in the area of the House…

We then moved along beautiful corridors to the amazing library. We were told that areas of the original Parliament building had much of the same internal design as the Library. The entire original building burned down in 1916 except for the Library which was heroically preserved thanks quick thinking and it’s steel doors.

The Library..

The next area to visit was the Senate – in Canada the members of the Senate are appointed, not elected, by the way.

The official tour was completed and we were welcome to take the elevator up the Peace Tower for great views of the Ottawa area. Our boat is not quite visible but is in the canal after the bridge in one of the photos!

One more room to mention, the Remembrance Room, where the fallen of all Canadian wars and conflicts are honored on walls and in separate volumes. The room began with WWI and the entrance also honors the animals that served in the wars.

We next walked to the Ottawa City Hall where Dirk applied for his small but worthwhile Canadian Pension, and we also saw the Firemen’s Circle of Honor and a crazy dinner option called the Sky Lounge. For $230/person you too can sit at a table, strapped in and hauled up  100 feet or so in the air and served drinks and dinner. They have 4 servings a night for up to about 20 people! (Better not drink too much – there’s no loo up there!)

We ended the day talking with boat neighbors from Canada (in the boat in front of ours)  that gave us great advice on where to visit on south of here on the Rideau Canal and further along the way. It was a typical boaters hello that can easily turn into an hour or more of great stories. Very enjoyable.