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At the park center
The kids examining animal skulls We left Ottawa today. Sad, it is a nice town. Less sad to leave to hotel. The room was no more than ok, its main advantage was its size. The hotel had no laundry room and no breakfast but the price didn't show that. Maybe I expected too much from a Sheraton hotel.
Anyway, we had breakfast at a Tim Hortons (you can have your sugar with sugar, glucose, syrup, chocolate... you get the idea. Not safe for diabetics). Then we stopped at a grocery store on our way to pick up our car from Gaye & Bob. And to thank them again.
We went on our way South towards the St. Lawrence and the Thousand Islands. We stopped at the St. Lawrence Islands National Park Interpretive Center at Mallorytown Landing. They have a very nice little center there with exhibits from the area. Frogs, snakes, a turtle, skulls and furs of various animals. They also had an insect exhibit from all over the world. Mostly the colorful and impressive butterflies and beetles. Very nice, and we all learned a lot.
The center is right on the river, so we had a walk around, followed a flock of
Canada geese, watched chipmunks scamper around and dipped in the water. Then we went back a bit to a proper beach at Browns Bay Park. Since we paid a small fee for parking access at the center, we used that access to park across the road from the beach. The park is very big, grassy and well kept with lots of picnic tables in the shade. We found a great spot by the water and the kids were wet within seconds while Gilat and I had our lunch.
After a while the kids ate too and we talked with Mum & Dad on Skype. While we had our chat we saw an osprey dive into the water right off the beach and fly off with a fish in its talons. Way cool!
We walked around a little. Gilat found some swallowtails puddling (that's when the butterflies sip salts and minerals from the mud). They let us come very close. Ethan even had one try to suck nourishment from his finger! I, of course, took too many pictures. The kids were in the water again soon after that...
We finally managed to get back to the car and
continued on our way to Gananoque (pronounced, as I learned, Ga-na-
nok-way). We found parking in the center of town and went exploring. We were aiming at the '1000 Islands Kayaking Co' and maybe rent a kayak, but we got there at around 6 pm and it was closed, so we just enjoyed the place. The kids, of course, were in the water in no time.
Eventually we did get to the hotel, did some shopping while the kids ran off to the hotel's pool. I think they'll grow gills after today!
We discovered there were two other Israeli families staying at the hotel, not connected with each other in any way. Pure chance brought three families from Israel (two from Rehovot) to this small Holiday Inn in tiny little Gananoque!
It's a laundry night. And we're packing, or, more precisely
repacking for the West. We're flying to Calgary tomorrow. I plan to sleep on the plane.
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