Canada Part 2

Canada- Fiddlers on the Trent

On Thursday, we drove to Frankford for the 8th annual Fiddlers on the Trent Festival. The festival runs through Saturday. It’s held at the Frankford Tourist Park Campground which is a peninsula made by the Trent River and the Trent-Severn Canal. We were the only non-Canadians here. People were so friendly; frequently they just stopped by to say hello. The music was mostly country western and bluegrass with a mix of French Canadian(Acadian) mixed in. Each day there were a variety of performances plus jam sessions of the amateur performers. We talked to several people attending the festival. A number of them travel from musical event to musical event all summer long.
On Saturday, there was a “musical flotilla of boats and canoes down the Trent”. After the boats landed, a bag piper lead a parade back to the campground.
There is a public library in Frankford. On Friday Gopher and I walked into town to check the e-mail. We learned Uncle Charlie Vaughn had passed had away.
We watched the canal locks in action on Saturday. Very interesting process locking a boat down the river. The locks are manually operated by Parks Canada staff.
The Lazy Daze drew a lot of attention. No one had ever seen one before nor had they seen an RV that wasn’t mostly plain white fiberglass.
Time and again, people came up to say hello to us and welcome us to Ontario. What a friendly group. One couple invited to go to Ottawa with them and they would give us a guided tour of the Canadian Capitol city.
This is our third trip to Canada and it won’t be our last.
On Sunday morning we left for Michigan about 8am.

Canada Part 1

Ontario, Canada
On Thursday, June 10 we entered Canada at Niagara Falls. The customs agent asked where we lived, where we were going, how long we were going to be in Canada, do we have any weapons, alcohol or tobacco. In five minutes we were on out way. As soon as you leave the border crossing there is a toll booth. It cost us $15 to enter Canada. We stopped at a welcome center and picked up lots of good information. Had lunch at a little town park then continued on to St. Jacobs. We parked downtown on the Conestoga River. I took Gopher for a walk then Carol & I walked through the cute downtown area. Stopped in an amazing bakery. Since we both have weight goals, we’re getting better about such things. We each had one small pastry. After that we drove to a nice city park for the afternoon. Gopher was able to run free for a while. Stopped at the Canadian grocery store; Sobey’s. Tonight we’re “camping” in the parking lot near the bid Amish Market. Be interested to see how it compares with the Green Dragon
Saturday: Another gray day. No sunshine at all. I was up by 7:00. By 8 or so, we were at the market. This place is just huge. Bigger then the Green Dragon with a very nice selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. Bought some blueberries, sweet potatoes, Florida grown corn , zucchini, portabella mushrooms, sausage, pea coated ham, salmon and a spiced pork chop. We’re all ready to grill. The weather cooperated. It didn’t start raining until we had made two trips to the market. A local fellow was admiring the camper. He told me his Mennonite ancestors walked here from Lancaster, PA over 200 years ago. He directed me about a nice place to camp, for free, right on the Conestoga River walking trail. In early afternoon we left the market and spent the rest of the day there. Gopher & I went for a few walks and played ball. Later, I took the IPod and Gopher & I walked to downtown St. Jacobs. There was free WiFi along the main street. We sat on a park bench and checked our e-mail. The IPod is really nice when traveling out of the States. Heard about Oliver falling into the cactus. That evening Carol & I had dinner at the Stone Crock Restaurant in St. Jacobs. Tomorrow it’s off to a festival in Guelph. Hopefully with some sunshine.

Sunday. Gray with a misty rain. We went to the Guelph Multicultural Festival. A very enjoyable day in spite of the weather. A women I met while walking Gopher said the weather was not at all typical. Generally Spring is warm and sunny. Oh well, we put on our rain jackets and off we go. The festival was really interesting. There were German & Scottish dancers, different types of musical entertainment, foods from around the world, craft vendors, etc. For lunch Carol had Chinese dumplings & noodles and I had a gyro. In the park, there was a carrousel built in 1919. In early afternoon we went to the campground in the Guelph Conservation area. Mostly we had the place to ourselves. In Ontario, there are a lot of local Conservation Areas that tend to be around lakes & rivers. There are campgrounds, bike paths, walking trails, etc.

Monday; Drove into Guelph for the day. The plan was to visit the big Catholic cathedral but there was a funeral getting ready to start. Since neither of us were dressed appropriately, we continued on. Found a nearby city park. The park had a free Wi-Fi system!!. I got caught up on e-mail. Later we went to the Rockwood Conservation Area Campground but were disappointed with the facility so decided to continue on. Had lunch at a small city park. One of our campground books had a listing for a City of Toronto campground; Glen Rouge Campground at Rouge Park. A very nice campground. Only $30 for a site with “hydro” and water service. “Hydro” is Canadian for electricity.

Tuesday: A beautiful & sunny day. We headed out heading East with no particular plan in mind. I saw a small bakery along the side of the road. Turns out it was the living room of a private house. Amazing!! I bought a selection of goodies. Later we drove to Cobourg and stopped by the library to check e-mail and have lunch. Ate a sensible lunch followed by pastries. As we drove through town, we came across a city campground right on Lake Ontario. They had a lakefront site available for tonight and tomorrow. We’ve had some great and unique campsites over the years but this one is tough to beat. Right on a paved multi-use trail, on the Lake and in the heart of the downtown area. The best of everything we like.

St. Lawrence Seaway

On Sunday morning we left the Fish Creek Pond campground in a moderate rain. It never stopped raining until we got to our campground; Kring Point State Park in Redwood, NY near Alexandria Bay. We have a site directly on the St. Lawrence Seaway. For $36/night I should hope so. It's gray and cold. 54*. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.
About 6:30 tonight, a large ship passed by out campsite. A grain hauler I think.
Monday started out real nice. A bright & sunny day. We took a walk around the campground and out to a nearby island. During the day, three more freighters passed by. By late morning the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. Carol was sitting outside in her lined pants and winter coat. She gets cold very quickly; another stroke related issue I think.
On Tuesday,a nice sunny day, we continued on. Stopped at Wal-Mart then at the Lakeside Beach State Park just west of Rochester for the next two days. The campground is divided into two sections; one where dogs are allowed and another where they are not. There is actually no beach in the Lakeside Beach Campground. It's mostly a small cliff with rocks at the base of the cliff. A very pretty campground but the name is deceptive. The plan for Wednesday was to visit some of the local villages but it turned out to be yet another, gray and rainy day.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll visit the villages on our way to Niagara Falls.

Fish Creek Pond Campground

Fish Creek Pond Campground is a State of New York facility. I stayed here six years ago when Gopher & I drove up to Burlington for a Lazy Daze rally. Carol was still teaching and flew to Burlington.
There are 355 campsites in the park. Almost all are on either Square Pond or Fish Creek Pond. There is wildlife everywhere. We watched a turtle dig a hole and lay eggs, saw hummingbirds, ducks, geese,loons and the usual chipmunks. The ducks and chipmunks, as expected, have learned campers are a great source of food. They have no fear of people. Except for the chipmunks, Gopher doesn't bother the animals at all. Bugs. This place does have it's share of biting bugs. Black flies during the day; mosquitoes at night. Lots of bug spray.
Our initial plan was to stay here tonight and Thursday but we liked it so much, Gopher & I walked to the office and extended our stay for Friday and Saturday night as well. This site, 143, was reserved for Friday/Saturday so we took 144. Another wonderful site.
Thursday: Grey & gloomy. Rained most of last night.
Friday & Saturday. Friday was a nice, sunny day. We took some walks around the campground. Saturday it rained, on and off, all day.
On Sunday we left for the St. Lawrence Seaway area. we would certainy come back to Fish Creek Pond.

Leaving Burlington

On Tuesday, June 1st we left the campground in the rain. Did laundry and grocery shopping. Carol wanted more of those great cookies from the market place so we stopped by on the way out of town. Really stocked up. We were looking for a park to stop at for lunch. The City of Burlington had a nice one nearby. When we got there, it turns out there is a $10/day parking fee for non-residents. Said no thank you and continued to another park under the control of the city of South Burlington; no parking fee. Turns out it was an off-leash dog park. Gopher enjoyed a run in the rain. She's an all weather dog. Being wet and muddy doesn't phase her in the least. We have a "dog towel" we keep just for times like this.
Our "camping" plan for the night is the parking lot of Pete's Rv Center in Williston. The toilet doesn't hold water so I made an appointment to have it repaired first thimg tomorrow. They allow overnight parking for appointments. We found a nice park not far from Pete's. It was just jammed with kids practicing soccer, La Cross & T-Ball. We stayed there until about 7 then went to Pete's parking lot for the night.
All in all, a very enjoyable day.
On Wednesday the toilet was repaired. We were on the road by 9:30am. Took the ferry from Kent,VT to Essex, NY. The ferry we were on is the oldest operating ferry in America. Built in 1913. On the way to our campground near Saranac Lake, Ny we drove through Lake Placid; the home of the 1928 and 1980 Winter Olympics. We saw the ski jump. Never realized just how high they were; that thing was huge.
We arrived at the Fish Creek Pond Campground about 2:00. I found a web site devoted to this campground. The author had spent considerable time coming up with a list oof the very best campsites of the 355 total. We got the very best site for Wednesday & Thursday. The site is directly on the lake and is just huge. It has an unobstructed view of the wide part of the lake and White Face Mountain on the other side. We can't recall a prettier campsite. Some were as nice; but none better. I don't think there are a dozen campers in the entire campground right now. Gopher is enjoying her freedom.

Burlington, VT

We drove into Burlington on Thursday, the 27th. Stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up Carol's prescriptions. What a convenient way to deal with the medications. I order them on-line and simply chose a store to where I want to pick them up.
After that I went grocery shopping at Hanafords. We stopped at a deli/bakery on the way to the campground got some great salads, cookies & pastries.
After arriving at the campground about 1:00, we took a short walk then sat on the beach. The weather is just perfect. Warm & sunny.
Saturday was a cool & cloudy day. About 9am we decided to head downtown anyway. It's about 1.5 miles from the campground. On Saturday there is a Green Market. We bought some bread & rolls then had a spring roll & egg roll. Carol got a few pieces of Lake Champlain Chocolate. Picked up a few items at the Market. There are statues of dairy cows throughout the downtown area. On top of one of the buildings is a sculpture of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz movie. Just as we got back to the campground, about 12:30, it started to rain.
Sunday: Cool & cloudy. There was a marathon in town today so the multi-use trail was closed for the morning. We all walked down to the beach for a while. Besides that, stayed warm & dry and read our books. Gopher & I took several walks around the park.
Monday, Memorial Day. The weather is much nicer. Mostly sunny. There is smoke in the air from a large forest fire in Quebec. We walked downtown in the morning then I took Gopher for a long swim & a walk on the beach. By noon time, the campground was about emptied out. Most are going back to work in the morning. Not us!!
Birds kept coming around our site. I put bread and oatmeal out to feed them. There were two different groups. In both cases, the mother bird was feeding the young. One we identified as either the House or Lincoln Sparrow. The other group only showed up momentarily. See the pictures.
Tuesday: Run errands day. Did the laundry

Little River SP, Vermont

On Tuesday we drove to the Little River State Park near Waterbury,Vt. The campground was nearly empty. We got site 51; probably the best site in the entire place. We had an expansive view of the reservoir. On Wednesday we just relaxed after a long day of driving around Boston.

Cape Cod

After the Lazy Daze Rally, we headed off to visit with Art & Peggy Neves in Chatham, MA, on Cape Cod. On the way, we drove through Newport, RI for a glimpse of the mansions we read about in the Gods of Newport book. Can't see a whole lot from the street but you can see just how huge some of these "cottages" are. Reminded us a lot of Palm Beach.
We stayed at the Roland C. Nickerson State Park in Brewster. Had a site directly on Flax Pond. Gopher enjoyed lots of good swimming. She really enjoys swimming after a stick. On Sunday night we went to Art & Peggy's for a really good lasagna dinner with brownies & ice cream for dessert. Not much help considering we're both trying to lose a few pounds. :-) The diet starts tomorrow. Except that on Monday (tomorrow) we shared a lobster roll and a fried clam sandwich for lunch followed by a ice cream cone at Cobie's. Diet starts in earnest on Tuesday. After driving around the Cape for a while, we did the laundry then headed back to the campground.
If was very enjoyable catching up with things with Art & Peggy. We're glad we made the trip to the Cape.

Rhode Island

Left Peter & Pats about 10am. Drove to the Burlingame State Park near Charlestown, RI. At first we were assigned a site in the woods. After lunch we drove around the campground looking for something a little more scenic. Site #112 which is directly on Watchaug Pond was available. What a great find. Carol was able to sit outside and enjoy the lake view. Gopher went swimming right off out campsite.
On Tuesday, we decided to go to the site of the Lazy Daze rally; Fishermen's Memorial State Park near Narragansett/Galilee. Went grocery shopping at a Stop 'n Shop, filled up with gas at $2.97/gallon and got an overdue haircut. After taking care of the chores, we had lunch at a seafood shack; Iggy's. Carol had one of her favorites, whole belly clams. I had a lobster roll. We shared a cup of clam chowder and doughboys. Doughboys are simply fried dough rolled in sugar. Mom-Mom used to make them was Carol was a child. The lunch was just wonderful except all that grease didn't sit well with Carols system, but she agreed it was worth it anyway.
There are three other Lazy Daze here, including our friends Joe & Clara. By tomorrow, about 30 rigs are expected.
The weather is just dismal. Cold & rainy. I walked Gopher now & then and used the dog towel on her each time. A good day for a cup of hot tea and a book. At least we're not having to drive on a day like this.
By Wednesday the weather began to improve. By Thursday it was a nice sunny spring day. On Wednesday we had a hot dog cookout. We brought chili and sauerkraut. Thursday was the meet & greet then a campfire. During the afternoon, Linda had arranged for a paramedic to give a CPR class. Very worthwhile.
We really enjoy these rallies. We've made so many friends with the Northeast Lazy Daze Club.
On Friday night everyone went out for dinner. Carol didn't want to go, so we ate here. Saturday was the pot luck supper. We made brownies.
On Sunday, we left the campground headed for Cape Cod.

Peter & Pat's, May 15 & 16

We left the Green Dragon Market on Saturday about 7am. The traffic on I-78 and I-287 across the Tapan Zee Bridge was fairly light as we hoped it would be. We arrived at Peter's around 1pm. That night we had dinner with Peter & Pat. On Sunday, there was a lobster boil plus bar-b-que chicken & the sausage we brought from the Green Dragon. We also brought a sho-fly pie, a lemon custard & blueberry pie. Tommy, Mim & their daughter Katie, Timmy & Barbara plus their daughter Jill & her husband Matt, and Chris & Nicole as well as Nicole's daughter Hanna & son ?? were there. Regrettably, we're here so seldom it's hard to remember names & who goes with who. We had the most wonderful time.