Week 18 & 19: July 11-25
We’re in Canada now, eh? I s’pose yous know we’re loading up on butter tarts and poutine. We’ll also be buying up the cheese curds, don’cha know!
It’s been a busy 2 weeks since the last blog. I’ll just hit the highlights since all the villages and towns are starting to run together and I can’t remember what we did where.
In Oswego, NY we said goodbye to the US and traversed Lake Ontario. The locals said it was a good day to cross since the lake looked ‘flat’. Either they have a different definition of flat, or they get their kicks sending tourists out for an extremely bumpy ride. Derek and I now know why the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ sank. By the way, I was singing that song the whole way! Good news is that I no longer get sea sick. Bad news is that the 2 cats traveling on our friend’s boat, Tango Papa, puked and peed all over their bed in protest to the waves. We were glad to be done with that day. NOT looking forward to Lake Michigan which tends to be even more unforgiving. When we finally crossed into Canada, the Marina had us set to dock right next to shore and Derek hit a stump or something and we decided to stay on a mooring ball instead. We now have a slight vibration so that is added to the “hope it don’t break” list.
The biggest difference on this part of the trip, besides the freakin cold temperatures, are the locks and tie-up walls. We’ve already passed through about 25 locks as the elevation increases. There is always a dam with huge amounts of released water flowing over and causing a wide and very strong current against us. We pull into the lock and grab the ropes hanging down from the walls and hang on. The massive door closes behind us and the lock fills with water. There’s lots of slime on the walls and little attached clams that spit water at us as the water rises! All the Canadian lock attendants are super nice, and apparently this is a coveted job for college students during the summer. Surprisingly, almost all of them have never been on a boat! The locks in the US were machine operated. In Canada, the attendants have to push a big wheel, like a playground merry-go-round, to open and close the doors. The town locals often come and sit by the locks to watch the boats and wave to the Loopers. You know you’re in the boonies when the boaters are the best show in town!
The second difference are the tie-up walls. Instead of marinas with docks, each town has a long concrete wall alongside of the waterway to pull over and tie the boat to. The city provides water and electrical hookups for a minimal fee. Usually there is a city park or downtown area to enjoy. In one village we went to an old fashioned amusement park. We laughed so hard on the Tilt-a-Wheel I almost peed my pants! In the village of Scotia,, NY we watched Pirates of the Caribbean in a theatre that only had one showing room. The towns are very quaint and the people very friendly. Each place we stop it’s like traveling back to the 50’s with privately owned grocers, restaurants and stores. It’s like Mayberry every day! Plus we are enthralled with the different kinds of food. Our fave so far is peameal bacon. It’s extremely hard to describe, so you’ll have to look it up!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peameal_bacon
The Trent-Severn Waterway is supposed to be the most beautiful part of our journey. We just started, so we are excited to see the sites along the way. We will go through 47 locks before we get to the end. The waterway is narrow and winding, like the canals in Holland, and goes through the center of each town. The pace is slow, and the number of boaters are few. Derek has reverted back to his Minnesota accent now that he is back in the nort’ and surrounded by people who say yous, dem, and yah.
Unfortunately, Canadian beer sucks! And they charge $42 per case!!!! Packs of cigarettes are $15. It’s almost enough to make me change my evil ways. Almost. US customs doesn’t have to worry that we will be bringing back too much of either.
Biggest news is a new addition to our family. I have missed our kids and pets so much lately since my ‘nurturing-mama mode’ had no outlet. I love Derek with all my heart, but needed something small and/or furry to cuddle and dote on. Derek is neither small nor furry! Sooo….we did what we said we would never do. We got a pet for the boat. We got a 7-week-old teeny fur ball kitten. Her name is Gypsea. We tried adopting from several SPCA centers in New York, but the myriad of rules and regulations literally made it impossible. You would think we were trying to adopt a child. Just when we were resigned to the fact that a kitty was not to be had, we met a waitress who had a litter ready for new homes. She brought her onboard the following morning, and it’s been true love ever since. She’s adapting well to life on the water, but still is less than happy with the engine noises. Our boat now looks like a pet store with all her little toys. She’s a wiz at the ‘catching fish’ kitty app on the laptop! I am a happy mama once again. Derek is actually smitten as well!
Our final note. In Canada you have to turn off your boat engines at each lock. On the last leg of the trip we went through 13 locks in one day. All that on and off combined with high usage of the bow thruster caused something electrical to fail in the thruster. This means that Derek has lost the ability to finesse the boat to the left or right as we enter the locks or dock at Marinas or walls. He is confident that he can handle everything without the bow thruster, but it will be missed until repaired at some point in the future.
Until the next update, Pass me a Molson or I’ll turf you out of here, hoser!
Peameal bacon - Wikipedia
Peameal bacon (also known as cornmeal bacon) is a type of back bacon made from lean boneless pork loin, trimmed fine, wet cured, and rolled in cornmeal. Development is credited to a Toronto, Ontario, ham and bacon curer, William…
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
We’re in Canada now, eh? I s’pose yous know we’re loading up on butter tarts and poutine. We’ll also be buying up the cheese curds, don’cha know!
It’s been a busy 2 weeks since the last blog. I’ll just hit the highlights since all the villages and towns are starting to run together and I can’t remember what we did where.
In Oswego, NY we said goodbye to the US and traversed Lake Ontario. The locals said it was a good day to cross since the lake looked ‘flat’. Either they have a different definition of flat, or they get their kicks sending tourists out for an extremely bumpy ride. Derek and I now know why the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ sank. By the way, I was singing that song the whole way! Good news is that I no longer get sea sick. Bad news is that the 2 cats traveling on our friend’s boat, Tango Papa, puked and peed all over their bed in protest to the waves. We were glad to be done with that day. NOT looking forward to Lake Michigan which tends to be even more unforgiving. When we finally crossed into Canada, the Marina had us set to dock right next to shore and Derek hit a stump or something and we decided to stay on a mooring ball instead. We now have a slight vibration so that is added to the “hope it don’t break” list.
The biggest difference on this part of the trip, besides the freakin cold temperatures, are the locks and tie-up walls. We’ve already passed through about 25 locks as the elevation increases. There is always a dam with huge amounts of released water flowing over and causing a wide and very strong current against us. We pull into the lock and grab the ropes hanging down from the walls and hang on. The massive door closes behind us and the lock fills with water. There’s lots of slime on the walls and little attached clams that spit water at us as the water rises! All the Canadian lock attendants are super nice, and apparently this is a coveted job for college students during the summer. Surprisingly, almost all of them have never been on a boat! The locks in the US were machine operated. In Canada, the attendants have to push a big wheel, like a playground merry-go-round, to open and close the doors. The town locals often come and sit by the locks to watch the boats and wave to the Loopers. You know you’re in the boonies when the boaters are the best show in town!
The second difference are the tie-up walls. Instead of marinas with docks, each town has a long concrete wall alongside of the waterway to pull over and tie the boat to. The city provides water and electrical hookups for a minimal fee. Usually there is a city park or downtown area to enjoy. In one village we went to an old fashioned amusement park. We laughed so hard on the Tilt-a-Wheel I almost peed my pants! In the village of Scotia,, NY we watched Pirates of the Caribbean in a theatre that only had one showing room. The towns are very quaint and the people very friendly. Each place we stop it’s like traveling back to the 50’s with privately owned grocers, restaurants and stores. It’s like Mayberry every day! Plus we are enthralled with the different kinds of food. Our fave so far is peameal bacon. It’s extremely hard to describe, so you’ll have to look it up!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peameal_bacon
The Trent-Severn Waterway is supposed to be the most beautiful part of our journey. We just started, so we are excited to see the sites along the way. We will go through 47 locks before we get to the end. The waterway is narrow and winding, like the canals in Holland, and goes through the center of each town. The pace is slow, and the number of boaters are few. Derek has reverted back to his Minnesota accent now that he is back in the nort’ and surrounded by people who say yous, dem, and yah.
Unfortunately, Canadian beer sucks! And they charge $42 per case!!!! Packs of cigarettes are $15. It’s almost enough to make me change my evil ways. Almost. US customs doesn’t have to worry that we will be bringing back too much of either.
Biggest news is a new addition to our family. I have missed our kids and pets so much lately since my ‘nurturing-mama mode’ had no outlet. I love Derek with all my heart, but needed something small and/or furry to cuddle and dote on. Derek is neither small nor furry! Sooo….we did what we said we would never do. We got a pet for the boat. We got a 7-week-old teeny fur ball kitten. Her name is Gypsea. We tried adopting from several SPCA centers in New York, but the myriad of rules and regulations literally made it impossible. You would think we were trying to adopt a child. Just when we were resigned to the fact that a kitty was not to be had, we met a waitress who had a litter ready for new homes. She brought her onboard the following morning, and it’s been true love ever since. She’s adapting well to life on the water, but still is less than happy with the engine noises. Our boat now looks like a pet store with all her little toys. She’s a wiz at the ‘catching fish’ kitty app on the laptop! I am a happy mama once again. Derek is actually smitten as well!
Our final note. In Canada you have to turn off your boat engines at each lock. On the last leg of the trip we went through 13 locks in one day. All that on and off combined with high usage of the bow thruster caused something electrical to fail in the thruster. This means that Derek has lost the ability to finesse the boat to the left or right as we enter the locks or dock at Marinas or walls. He is confident that he can handle everything without the bow thruster, but it will be missed until repaired at some point in the future.
Until the next update, Pass me a Molson or I’ll turf you out of here, hoser!
Peameal bacon - Wikipedia
Peameal bacon (also known as cornmeal bacon) is a type of back bacon made from lean boneless pork loin, trimmed fine, wet cured, and rolled in cornmeal. Development is credited to a Toronto, Ontario, ham and bacon curer, William…
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG