Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

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Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sat Oct 08, 2022 11:50 am

Just got back from a trip to the Thousand Islands in New York, and then into Canada: to Algonquin, and Rideau River Provincial Parks in Ontario. We were going to go on to the Adirondacks this weekend, but the spell of good weather went South (literally) and we decided it was time to head home.

We first camped at Cedar Point State Park NY. There are a lot of state parks in the area, but most were closed this late in the season.

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Can't say we were thrilled with the site. Nothing much between us and our neighbors, and no place to park since there was some sort of concrete disk in our spot. Shelly argued with the neighbor lady about where the dividing line was, since Shelly wanted the truck blocking their view into our trailer. The lady grudgingly backed down. Don't tell her, but we found out later from a ranger that she was technically right. Again though, we really had little choice.

At least the view was nice and the natives friendly. (No leaf changing there at the end of September. From what we saw yesterday, down river in Ogdensville, that has changed dramatically.)

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Our first day there, we drove down to the lighthouse where the St Lawrence River comes out of Lake Ontario, and then on to Sackets Harbor.

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That was a Friday, and we found out there are guided tours of Sackets Harbor State Historical Site on Saturdays this time of year. (I think it's more often in-season.) So we have something to go back for.

On Saturday, we visited the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton

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We took a tour of the house boat in the boat house in the picture, then went on a motorboat ride through the islands. We thought we were going on this boat here

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but it turned out we had to take a littler boat (don't tell the sharks!)

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Oh, the house boat sank, was sold, and then raised and refurbished and used, then eventually donated to the museum. The wife of the last owner was a doll-house furniture collector and some of her collection was in the house boat, much to Shelly's interest. Unfortunately, there wasn't a doll-house sized house boat, in a boat house, in the house boat, in the boat house, because, if there was, I could amuse myself by writing a funny sentence about it!

We did not tour Bolton Castle, take a slow boat tour of the islands, or see the Canadian side, so we have a whole trip waiting for us up there some day.

With the tickets to the Antique Boat Museum, we received tickets to tour the Fredric Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg (a little way down-river) for free. Since we canceled our trip to the Adirondacks, we had some time yesterday and did see that. Both museums are worth the time and admission. I didn't take pictures at the Remington Museum since, from long practice, I learned my indoor pictures aren't that great, and I hate carrying the camera.

Tom
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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sat Oct 08, 2022 12:12 pm

On to Canada!

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We spent three nights in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. Folks had warned us the "60 Corridor" (referring to Provincial Route 60 through the park) was busy, but we didn't find it too bad this time of year. Loved our camping spot in the pines

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And we hit the park at the Fall peak, or at least pretty close

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and--Hey! The lakes are supposed to be no wake zones fella!

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That's better

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It was cold at nights. We normally dispense with camp-fires in our Summer camping, but we had one almost every night on this trip, and enjoyed it

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While sitting around the fire, we found some folks who enjoyed a stale bag of nuts we'd bought last Spring and forgot about

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Our first morning there was so cold we made a point of buying all the warm clothing in the gift shops. Shelly now owns a touque, and I own a red checked flannel shirt that says "Algonquin" (as opposed to the red checked flannel shirts that I wear all winter, but left back in the mountains of New Mexico). Hmm, for some reason our pictures of each other got misplaced.... Oh well.

We toured the logging museum in the park. Lots of outdoor exhibits, and well worth the little hike

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We took a chance heading up this late in the season, but it paid off. We had electricity and have an electric heater in the tear, so we slept comfortably. We slept in each morning, and even at that, the first morning was just at freezing and felt quite cool. Later it warmed to highs around 70, and I regret we didn't rent a canoe and take it out on one of the lakes. When I was growing up in New York, the best camping, in my opinion, was in October, and this reminded me of that.

Tom
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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby Capebuild » Sat Oct 08, 2022 1:01 pm

Great travels, Tom and Shelly! You are seeing some great colorful foliage as are we..... only some different species of foliage :)

The boat museum looks cool..... and I was interested in your comment about Remington. There was a bunch of his work in Cody,WY at the Cody Museum which was really great to see. I was surprised to learn he spent much of his time in the New York area and I always thought of him as a "western artist". I was also surprised to see a number of his paintings. I really only knew his sculpture and his paintings are great.

John
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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby QueticoBill » Sat Oct 08, 2022 4:51 pm

You were about a half mile from my house in Clayton. Tibbets point (lighthouse) is a favorite of ours. Glad you enjoyed our little corner of the world.
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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sun Oct 09, 2022 8:49 am

QueticoBill wrote:You were about a half mile from my house in Clayton. Tibbets point (lighthouse) is a favorite of ours. Glad you enjoyed our little corner of the world.


Thank you Bill!

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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sun Oct 09, 2022 8:57 am

Capebuild wrote:Great travels, Tom and Shelly! You are seeing some great colorful foliage as are we..... only some different species of foliage :)

The boat museum looks cool..... and I was interested in your comment about Remington. There was a bunch of his work in Cody,WY at the Cody Museum which was really great to see. I was surprised to learn he spent much of his time in the New York area and I always thought of him as a "western artist". I was also surprised to see a number of his paintings. I really only knew his sculpture and his paintings are great.

John


Yes, I probably had heard about his Ogdensburg connections at some point but it never registered until we heard of the museum a week ago. I really like his paintings and that museum had many of the region, as well as western paintings and sculptures.

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Rideau River Provincial Park, ON

Postby Tom&Shelly » Sun Oct 09, 2022 9:22 am

Originally we picked Rideau River as a way-point to break up the drive from Algonquin PP to the Adirondacks. Turns out to be a wonderful campsite with sites almost on the river

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We may use this park again someday when we visit Ottawa. This time, we went to see Fort Wellington, which was built and used by the British to defend the St Lawrence and region against an American invasion during and after the War of 1812. I jokingly asked Parks Canada if I could have a military veterans discount even though I was in the wrong side, and they let me in for free! So we will plan to visit some more national parks in Canada.

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This was an earthen walled star fort. The earth was designed to dissipate the force of enemy cannon balls from ships' artillery. The star allows defenders to fire on infantry who make it to the walls. It reminds me of Fort Ontario, which we (the US) used during the same war to defend against the British on Lake Ontario.

This hulk was raised some years ago from the river, and is believed to be a war vessel from the period.

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The view through the gun slits in one of the redoubts wasn't so nice, but the view from the wall was pretty good

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I suppose if folks were shooting back at me, I'd prefer the redoubt though.

We also went to the site of the "Battle of the Windmill" where some Canadians (and possibly Americans) came across the river from Ogdensburg in 1838 to attempt to "liberate" Canada from the King. The Canadians didn't go for it, captured the miscreants handily, and later made the Windmill into a light house.

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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby RJ Howell » Mon Oct 10, 2022 5:02 pm

Very interesting post! I happen to be in Sherbrooke right now and working out another route to my daughters place in western NY. I'm planning on driving along the St Lawrence to the crossing at Thousand Islands (Hill Island?) and down into NY.

his will be our first time along here and shame it's a couple days after NY closed the CG's on Hill Island (crossing point). As we do this again,we will explore deeper and stay in Thousand Islands region. Love to hear all you have to offer around here!

Safe Travels!

P.S. Now that Canada has relieved Covid restrictions we're so excited to get back and explore this wonderful region again!
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Re: Thousand Islands NY, Algonquin ON, and Rideau River ON

Postby rjgimp » Tue Oct 11, 2022 1:16 am

Tom&Shelly wrote:Unfortunately, there wasn't a doll-house sized house boat, in a boat house, in the house boat, in the boat house, because, if there was, I could amuse myself by writing a funny sentence about it!

Tom


Unfortunate, indeed! :roll:
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just as soon as the steering committee gets around to scheduling one!
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