Lovely cruise down the Ottawa River

Gerry, Claire, Julie and Marie-Anne 

We had a lovely day today, despite the cold front and the lousy weather. My Brother Gerry, his wife Claire, my Niece Julie and her son Alex come from Rockland.

Julie, Marie-Anne, Danny, Jim and I after the ceremony 

 My Sister Marie-Anne and her hubby Danny from Arnprior and my brother Al from Ottawa all came to join us today for a trip down the 8 step locks of the Rideau and a cruise into the Ottawa river. It was cold and we all ended up wearing our jackets and gloves and some of us hats even, as we faced the 12C temperature. It warmed up a bit in the afternoon but quickly cooled down again. 

Gerry Al Dan and Jim 

Despite it, we enjoyed each other's company and some good food. 

The view of Parliment Hill from the River is quite nice. 

Gerry, Dan Marie-Anne, Al, Alex and Julie 

It warmed up enough for the Gang to spend some time sitting on the bow, enjoying the outdoors. I am still in awe of the fact that Friday we were swimming in a pool and today we were wearing hats ad coats. Alas we cannot control Mother Nature. 

Lock personnel saying good by as we exited last lock 

The lock Personal were all incredibly friendly and They all posed for a picture as we were exiting the last lock. 

A toast to the bride and groom...again

Jim and I did get a surprise  vows renewal ceremony. It is our 30th Wedding anniversary tomorrow and my wonderful siblings...and I pretty sure my sister-in-law Natalie had more than a little hand in this; decided that we were due to renew our vows. So they set up a ceremony, veil, corsage, wedding flowers and bubbles. I cannot remember all the vows but I do remember the one where Jim needed to accept the fact that I am always right! 

We laughed a whole bunch and my brother Gerry videotaped the whole thing. I can't wait to see the video because every time I looked at him he was laughing so hard the camera was bouncing up and down. Pretty sure I'll need some Gravol to watch it! 

Alex driving the boat 

Our great nephew Alex drove the boat for a while and he did a fine job, well once he got that huge grin off his face and concentrated on the job. Opps, I made a mistake, that huge grin never came off his face! 

Alex playing with his I pad under the sunscreen 

But once the task of driving was done, he had some important work to do on his I-Pad. I got the computer sun screen out for him and we did not see that lovely grin for a while. He was hard at work. 

We are back at the dock now, all of us tuckered out from the day on the water and the locks which we did both ways. It was nice to have the extra help to lock through. Now it's an early night as Jim and I are off to visit Carole and Michel in Montreal tomorrow and then a nice dinner out to celebrate our anniversary. 

I cannot leave you all without wishing Jim's Sister Dianna a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Hope you had a wonderful day. 

Good night all. 

Sight Seeing in Ottawa May 29, 2015

We are docked right at the Rideau Centre on one side and the Art Centre on the other side. Ottawa 

is such a beautiful city, with all its parks and water front. Jim and I decided to go on a sightseeing walk in the early am. We had as a mission, to get to 1235 Wellington St. because Skipper Bob's book said that there was a map store within walking distance.  

Well we started walking and walking and walking, but alas it was not until we got to the above address that we realized that this place was not within walking distance, for in fact we were at 1235 Wellington East and this store was at 1235 Wellington West. At least twice the distance away. So we changed our minds and walked back. Fortunately Wellington St is the street where all the capital 

buildings are, so we got to check them all out. 

We returned back to the boat in time for lunch and had a quick meal, then back out for a bike ride. The bike trails along the canal are stunning. I would even say, more beautiful than the trails in Dunedin. 

There is a bridge here, much like the one in Europe where lovers attache a lock and throw the key into the canal. There are hundreds of locks on there! I was not sure of the story behind it so I asked my brother. Oddly enough last night they had a story on the news regarding the bridge in Europe which had all its railing collapsed under the weight of the locks.

 So a 10k bike ride and back to the boat for me. It was hot as Haiti here, so I drank lots of water and a cool shower than we prepped for an evening at Al an Natalie's and we had a lovely dinner and a beautiful evening swim.  Natalie unfortunately had previous plans for the evening, but that not prevent her from playing the hostess until the minute she had to leave.

Left to right, Danny, Al, Emilie, Jim, Marie-Anne and Mateo

So for Saturday, we're expecting some heavy showers in the afternoon, which means a cruise is out of the order. Jim and I will get our chores done and then go back to Al and Nat's for the evening. Tomorrow we are expecting 12 people for a Sunday afternoon cruise. I can hardly wait.

Better get going on the chores. Have a great day everyone. 

Home coming in Ottawa 45◦25'.428N 75◦41'.542W

We made it!

It was so exciting to make it to the Ottawa region today. We were held up in Hogsback due to lunch hour traffic. The bridge just before the lock has restriction for opening. They will not open between the hours of 12:30 to 1:15pm, We arrived at 12:15 and thought we had plenty of time, but as the lock master explained, he was having some issues with the valves and thought it best to wait after the heavy lunch hour traffic before locking us through. No biggy, we took the 1hr break and rested a bit. We made it through Dow's lake around 2:30 and were greeted by my brother Gerry waving just as we were coming down the last stretch of canal. It sure was nice.

The Rideau Canal in this area is absolutely magnificent. We crossed a few people in canoes. There was one particular canoe with two girls who obviously had never done this before. Despite our approach, they kept drifting towards the middle of the canal. Jim honked the horn and they were still oblivious to our large presence. Finally he called them on the loud hailer and said "excuse me" They looked up in freight and finally moved over, but it was definitely not the most graceful rowing  I've ever seen.

Gerry got into his car and came down to the upper end of the lock walls to give us a hug. He ended up staying the whole evening.  My sister Marie-Anne and brother in law Danny joined us after work, my brother Al and his two munchkins Émilie and Mateo were next, quickly followed by his wife Natalie. It was a veritable home coming.  We had a lovely visit accompanied by Pizza and wine...what could be better. 

Émilie really enjoyed the bunk beds in the v-bearth, she bounced from one bed to the next with glee.

So now we are making plans for the weekend. Looks like Saturday will be a rainy day, so we will hold the cruise for Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow we catch up on our chores while the other folks go to work and Saturday we will likely go vegetate at Al's for the day. This is such a treat!

I will keep you all posted, but for now, it is sleepy time. Good night all. 

Another Glorious day on the Rideau 44◦58'.965N 075◦47'.161W

We have had another glorious day today, although we certainly earned our keep. From lock 29A to lock 17. Man I'm tired just writing about it.  The wind picked up a bit as we arrived to Burritt's rapids and we struggled quite a bit to get ourselves tied up securely for the night. Merrickville was also a treat, but mostly because the locks were malfunctioning. We made it through and that's all that matters. This is a very cute little town, so we are likely to stop there when we come back this way.

Our day was filled with locks and nature. Starting with our little family of geese. Finally got a shot of the little fellows.

Then in Merrickville we saw a turtle on the ledge of one of the lock doors. I was completely afraid for this little guy. The current was trying to push this little guy off and it finally succeeded. When the turtle fell off the ledge, landed on his back and then flipped himself over, I thought for sure he was injured, so I pointed him out to the lock guy so he could maybe retrieve him. He just kind of laughed at me and said, "Don't worry about him ma'am. These little turtles do this all the time. He'll be fine"

Ok, OK so I'm a softy...don't hold that against me.

Anyway now we are tied up at the Burritts Rapids lower wall and we have no lock in sight for the next 26 miles. That's 3 hrs away in boat time. We are right beside a polo field, so we spent our evening watching a man and his horse practice for what I assume is their next match.

This is a lovely place, but unfortunately the actual docks are not yet completed, which means we had to tie up to a floating dock, tied to shore by a smallish chain. There are no cleats on the dock, just some metal braces with holes in them. Just right to saw through our lines. We ended up having to cut some pieces of hoses so we could protect our lines. All in a day's work!

We now can get an early start tomorrow am and should make it to our next lock by opening time, around 10am. This would place us in Ottawa somewhere in early afternoon. Who hoo!

Time for me to say good night now, since Jim will have us up and going again by 7am.

Night all.

Our sunset tonight

May 26, 2015 Smith Falls 44◦53'.807N 076◦01'.315W

What a glorious day, it was absolutely beautiful out, with temperatures of 30◦C, That's in the 90'F for my American friends. We went through both lower and Upper Rideau Lake and both lakes made me wish we had a lot more time to explore them, they are just so beautiful. 

We went through one lock, where the channel is so narrow that you have to honk your horn before you enter, to warn the lockmaster that you are coming. It just so happened that this is the only lock we came to where we met another boat. Go figure! We made it through OK, because the house boat coming out of the lock, actually tied up to the lock wall instead of coming into that narrow channel. Thank god!

Anyway, we are now in Smith Falls at lock 29A. 

We are tied up on the upper side of the lock, which places us right down town, surrounded by these beautiful parks. 

It's really well done.

One Lady came by to chat and she said this was called little Ottawa and I can see why. As soon as we got tied up and all secured, Jim and I hopped on our bikes and went for a ride around the outskirts of town. It was a very nice ride and we hope to get another ride in tomorrow morning since the locks do not open until 10am.

 We are right on track with our plan of being in Ottawa on Thursday evening, which is very exciting. I am hoping to catch up with my Ottawa sibling, Gerald, Marie-Anne and Alain and of course all their wonderful spouses. So I get to do the count down again, 2 more sleeps to go.

And I guess it's time to go, good night all. 

 Children swimming in Smith Falls Basin 

May 25, 2015 There's some beautiful scenery on the Rideau. 044◦33'.756N 076◦17'.482

We're on one of the most historical and beautiful canals in the entire world. We set out on the Rideau at the 10am opening. This is considered their off season and the locks only open from 10am to 4pm. It makes it difficult to get some mileage done, but the scenery is so beautiful, we don't mind being here longer than anticipated. Oh and our friends the May flies have disappeared, so double bonus. 

It is awfully cool to see these locks being operated by hand, the same way they have been for over 100 years, but when we saw them actually using man power to swing the swing bridge, I must admit I was rather shocked. I sure hope they keep all those wheels well lubricated.

I took this shot from the top of the third lock in a flight of 4. It's kind of freaky to see how high we have gone.

I cannot tell you how many little baby geese we saw today, all so cute and cuddly, but I could not for the life of me get a picture of any of them. 

We have seen some really tight corners though, but my captain always gets us where we need to go.

We have also seen some wide open spaces, but the lake is so shallow, that the buoys look like a runway

The area we are in is really secluded, so not much sightseeing tonight. So secluded that we actually had no cell service at all, which is why I am posting this blog one day late.  Tomorrow we hope to make it to Smith Falls so we can go do some sightseeing.

Good night all 

Only in Canada Eh! 44◦13'.636N 076◦28'.744W

We made it. It was a bit of a rough ride across the lake, because as usual, the waves were hitting us on the beam. We weaved a bit here and there to try and get a more comfortable ride, but alas, we still managed to get a drawer pull out...despite being secured!

Nothing broken though, so all is well that ends well. We pulled into Kingston's Flora McDonald Confederation Basin Marina around 2pm. It felt like a real home coming, we were greeted by thousands. All coming out to the boat, some even came to meet us about a mile out on the lake. We felt privileged really...well until we hosed them all off the boat.  

These things are like shad flies, only a bit smaller. The bugs, we were told, are called May flies. I have never seen so many bugs, since I have left North Bay that is. They do have one benefit over the shad flies of my adolescence; they do not have that overpowering smell of fish. I really hope they don't follow us up the Rideau. 

The customs officer advised us that we could not leave the boat until 2:45pm if no customs agent showed up, then we were cleared to go on. So after the required time, Jim and I took off for a little walk in downtown Kingston. Our third stop was at Time Horton's and man that coffee was really good. We also stopped at the farmer's market on the way back to the boat. I found a lovely gift for our son. Can't wait to give it to him. Sorry bud, I'm keeping it a secret until we get home!

We are now back at the boat and planning on taking off at the more reasonable hour of 8am tomorrow. We hope to make it to lock 37 so 12 locks or so to go through. 3 more days and we will be in Ottawa. I am so excited.

For now however it is time to bid you good night.

1 mile from lake Ontario 43◦27'.215N 076◦30'.412W

Mother nature was nice to us today and Lake Oneida was calm enough to cross. We had just a small chop to contend with and nothing more. Once we got across, we stopped for our Last fuel stop in the US and 1 hour later we were back into the locks. Oswego Canal is much prettier then the Erie Canal.








This is a shot of the waterfalls created by the dam. This time on the Oswego Canal.













We made it through lock 7 and decided to stop before Lock 8 in order to tie up and spend the night. Unfortunately the wall we tied up to is directly under a bridge. Hopefully there is not too much traffic on this Holiday weekend! As the title says we are just one mile from Lake Ontario, obviously the US side of it, but we should be in Kingston by 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon. It will be nice to be on Canadian Soil once again. We met some new loopers today, named Patty and Ray and his brother Paul. We will be crossing to Kingston as a group tomorrow. There is always strength in numbers!

So this is a short blog, otherwise. Not much action on these Canals. Life will get much more interesting when we get across the Lake, I'm sure. Since Jim had us up and running at 5:30am today, I am exhausted and we are both going to turn in early...heck maybe even before the sun sets!  

Before I turn in though, I need to send out a couple of birthday wishes.
First and foremost to My FAVORITE Sister in Law Claire. I'm sorry I missed it yesterday. I thought of you all day, but when I wrote the blog, it completely slipped my mind. BONNE FETE my bell.
Secondly, a big shout out to Liz on her B-day. Happy Birthday partner, Hope you had a wonderful one! I will see you both really soon. 

Good night all.

Staying put in Sylvan Beach NY 43◦11'.690N 075◦43'.779W

Yipee we have pictures again!

Our day started out cool but calm as anything this am
Once again the canal was mirror like and gorgeous.

Once we got to Lock 22 however, the wind picked up quite a bit and by the time we got to the mouth of Oneida Lake we were greeted with some significant wave action.









It did not take Jim and I long to decided to stay put, after all, we have absolutely no need to expose ourselves to this bouncing waves at this point.

The wind is so bad that we actually had to take out the storm lines. the white one is 1 inch in diameter and "strong like bull". We also tied our smaller 3/4 inch lines to a bollard because we were worried that the cleats on the cement wall would be pulled out.






After dinner we went for a walk along the path, but the waves were crashing over the side walk, so we chose a different route.

Some people however, are crazy enough to be wadding in this water, waist deep, all in the name of fishing. Too each his own!

It's supposed to drop to the freezing mark tonight and we are really wondering what we were thinking when we left the sunny south to head back this way! Either way, tomorrow at some ungodly hour, we will set off to cross this little lake before the wind starts to pick up again.











We should be in Oswego tomorrow night and hopefully crossing Lake Ontario on the 24th. As long as the weather gods give us calm waters.

So good night to all. Hope y'all enjoy the long weekend. 

PS. I have updated the blogs from May 19th to now.

What a difference a day makes - Lock #19 43◦04'.485 N 075◦06'.888 W

It was a very uneventful day. The water was flat today, like a mirror really.

It is quite a difference from yesterday when we were seeing white caps on this narrow river.
We ended up having dinner at Dan's back yard BBQ with 12 other boaters last night and two of them, named Hal and Don followed us all day today . We arrived at lock 19 at around 5pm and we had Hal and Don join us for dinner. We had a lovely day, and tomorrow we get to do it all over again... lock after lock after lock. Although tomorrow we do get to cross a lake so that will change the scenery a bit.

In any event, today was rivers and locks so you are not missing much in terms of pictures.

A few flood gates to see along the way as well. They are a really interesting feat of engineering.

We passed a marina today named S-John's and just as we drove by, we got a call on the radio telling us their fuel was on sale for 2.90/gal. We chose not to stop since we waned to top up in Brewerton at an AGLCA sponsored Marina called Winter harbor. They have been very good to us in the past and certainly good to loopers in general, so we opted to give them our business. Hopefully we make it there tomorrow, weather permitting. If it gets windy again tomorrow we may not cross lake Oneida until the weather settles. 

Well that's about all I have for tonight, so I bid you all Bon soire

Amsterdam, NY Riverlink Park 42◦56.003N 074◦11.497W Saying Goodbye to Steph (sad day)

The day started off being very windy and VERY Cold. Today is the day we had to say goodbye to our daughter Steph who has been visiting with us for the past 7 days. We left the Waterford Visitor Center and pulled into our first lock of the day within 2 minutes.









It was nice having an extra hand on board as Mimi took the bow line and Steph took the stern line and all I had to do was drive. We locked up pulled out of the lock and ½ mile later we pulled into the next lock but this one was a sad one because once we reached the top Steph jumped off with her bags and we waved goodbye as we pulled out of the lock and she headed for her car.

As the day progressed the temperature didn't get any better but the winds got a lot worse and it was making locking through very difficult. I had thought we were on a nice calm canal system now but the currents reminded me of the Mississippi and the winds reminded me of the Bahamas and I hope that tomorrow brings us calm winds and smooth waters.

 So after being beaten up through the 9 locks we gave up and pulled over for the night. The lock wall had a barge tied up to it so we continued a little farther up river to the Riverlink Park Marina which we stayed at the last time through but it was closed back then. 



This little marina which consists of a 600ft long wall with power and water is under new management and doesn't officially open until tomorrow but the owner Dan is a very friendly guy with excellent customer service skills and welcomed us with open arms. After talking with Dan for awhile we found out that the restaurant officially opens tomorrow but they are going to come out to the few boats that are here with menus and cook us whatever we want and even bring it out to the boat for us. Now that is customer service!! We hadn't planned on eating out tonight but when you get this kind of offer you just go with it.

 I am not much for a lot of words so I will sign off for today and Mimi will be back to blogging tomorrow.