Tidbits

Sleepover at Ikea - Maybe this is the only way to get to the $1 early enough…
A ramen bath - Japanese spa with special baths resembling instant noodles. I wanna play!
Old age homes for dogs - 1) Old dogs don’t like to be abandoned at strange places. 2) Playing with young puppies will probably cause the older dogs to die faster due to exhaustion.
A remote-controlled pigeon - Oh the poor thing…
An article on a brilliant method of teaching grade schoolers about bats and rabies. I smell a lawsuit.
Will trade beer for Crumpler bags. Tempted by the beanbag and messenger bags…

1000 Islands for Victoria Weekend

June 03, 2010, 10:33 pm

Had a nice little vacation in the Thousand Islands area over the Victoria long weekend. The 1000 Islands area is a little east of Kingston, with the main tourist area at Gananoque. So first, it was nice to only have to drive 3 hrs to get to our destination for once, and second, it was the perfect weekend to spend near the water, being so hot and sunny. We left Toronto on Saturday morning and came back Monday night.

We arrived in Kingston for lunch, and walked around the downtown area and Queens Campus. Overall nice place to visit once in a while, had some nice places to eat, but not sure about living there long-term.

Sunday, we joined a full-day kayak tour with the 1000 Islands Kayaking Company, which included guides, equipment, and a gourmet lunch. I’ve never been in a kayak before, so I did appreciate the intro. It is a lot more fun than a canoe, faster and so much more maneuverable. The temperature was probably in the 30s that day, but the water was still freezing - cold enough that we risk hyperthermia if we fall in. So alas, no swimming, it was enough to dip my hands in the water and have it numb up in 5 seconds. Kayak is a great way to see the islands, and maybe we will go explore on our own later in the future.

Mike did some research on what to do in the area, and found two castles he wanted to visit. He found a boat cruise that conveniently leaves from Gananoque, where we were staying, and goes to Boldt Castle, with a 2 hour stopover. The story of Boldt Castle is pretty interesting and tragic. It was originally built as a “summer” home for this hotel magnate’s wife, who died before it was completed. So it was pretty abandoned for 70 years before the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired ownership and started restoring it. It was definitely different to start off on the first floor where everything looks incredibly nice, to the upper floors with bare concrete walls and graffiti all over the place.

Oh, and Heart Island, where the castle is located (and which only has the castle) is technically in New York, so we needed our passports to visit. And there was a little custom booth on the island, with serious custom officers. They asked us all sorts of questions, including stuff about our work visas. Back on the Canadian side, they just asked us if we bought anything. Mike replied with “fridge magnet”, and the lady kinda paused before letting us go, as if the fact that we didn’t say “no” caught her by surprise.

But alas, other than boat cruises and chilling, there really isn’t that much else to do in that area. There was this SkyDeck observation tower, but it was too expensive for what it is. Humph, and there was a toll to cross the bridge to get there. Across the border in New York, they have a couple of wineries, but we didn’t get a chance to check them out that weekend. Maybe we will make another weekend trip to visit them, along with the Sandbank area ones.

So yes, it was nice to be able to get away without driving all day.