Advertisement
Published: August 15th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Old mills
Our view crossing Long Reach waterway Today Ruth and I left for our mini-holiday. She had booked tickets at Gananoque for a one-man play “
Wingfield: Lost and Found”.
About 12:30 we left and the hour or so of driving was all in the rain. The route to Gananoque is along a cut in the Canadian Shield, which gave some lovely views of the harsh rock almost covered in the lush spring vegetation. The town is quaint: trees in the yards, small wooden houses on quiet streets. The
Thousand Islands Playhouse is right on the St Lawrence River; looking out from their veranda we could see a few of the
Thousand Islands through the rain and clouds.
After the play, we drove through the rain to
Kingston . Somewhat confused about our hotel’s address and the street we were actually on, Ruth had to drive around the block about three times until we caught sight of the right sign. We were in the Sheraton Four Points, so a completely modern hotel, and we had a tiny view of the river. Kitty-corner from the hotel was a Keg. The rain had stopped, and after our dinner we wandered around a few blocks, peering in shop windows. A charming variety of little stores and
Lake of Mountain
All lakes are beautiful! arty goods.
Next morning, for breakfast we walked a few blocks to “Peter’s Place” for fried eggs, bacon, real home-style hash browns, toast, strawberry jam and coffee. My favourite road breakfast. Then we walked back a couple of blocks to the farmers’ market on the City Square in front of City Hall. (Later in the day I read a sign that said this was a common way to build public infrastructure from the 1870s.) Ruth bought a few vegetables and a shirt on sale from a cotton-shirt company that was ceasing business. I started chatting with a man whose company makes sixty kinds of jams, jellies and relishes. Of the ones I tried, the very best was the ginger crabapple – strongly flavoured in a delicious way.
Shortly after, we left the hotel to drive to
Prince Edward County , an island about an hour west of Kingston. Rain came and went during the drive, but cleared up for the afternoon just as we arrived at the ferry. On the ferry, a ten-minute ride, a local woman told me about the mills near the dock, once fed by
Lake on the Mountain , 200 feet higher in elevation. She recommended we look at
County Cider Company
Relaxation on a sleepy summer day the view from there.
Which we did. Beautiful views of the narrows where the ferry crosses, and across the road, more beautiful views of the lake. Then we drove in a leisurely fashion along the island road, admiring the lush shrubs and trees and fields. Lupines, chicory and milk weed were in bloom along the road-side ditches. When we noticed a sign for a cider establishment, we turned right as directed and moved along an even smaller country road.
The
cider place was a factory (presumably in the barn – we didn’t see it), a tasting centre and store, and a restaurant. Tasting included a dry cider, a more carbonated cider similar to beer in style but not flavour, a sweeter cider mixed with raspberries and cranberries, and an ice-wine style sweet cider (excellent!). Before making any decisions we turned to the patio restaurant for lunch – burgers with salad and cider under a sun umbrella.
Truly without goals now, we drove through the countryside to
Picton . An old, restored, magnificent house drew my attention. As it is now an hotel and spa, they graciously allowed us to look at a main-floor suite, the restaurant and veranda.
City Hall, Napanee
Traditional Ontario seat of government Perhaps they are used to curious visitors. Moving back to the mainland over a very high bridge (accommodating ship traffic), we drove through
Desoronto , stopped in
Napanee to photograph old buildings, and visited the
Old Babcock Mill in Odessa, even though it was shut and lacked information. Gradually we entered the Kingston area and finally arrived back at the hotel.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0215s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb