Bartlett Point

Today we bade Canada farewell as we crossed the border into the United States. Gretchen kindly made us eggs on toast for breakfast, which is much better than what we’ve been eating lately! Before heading off, G & D offered to take us to the Collingwood waterfront before we continued on our way.

Since coming here, driving has been awkward as we sometimes lose directions due to the map roaming dropping out. There’s also so many speeding drivers! Today involved a lot of driving, so our first stop involved just getting petrol and eating at the diner next door. Before going into eat, I panicked when I couldn’t find my phone anywhere - the last thing you want to lose on holidays after your passport! The service station owner called my phone and Ted managed to find it trapped down between the seats. Phew!

The diner was called St. John’s which seemed to have been struggling a bit lately. When the blackboard only listed three meat meals, we considered moving on but fortunately, the waitress had full menus. I did have to ask what “peameal” was though. As we continued through Canada, I noticed that several flags were at half mast. We realised why when the internet reported that the Queen had passed away. It was interesting to see that the Canadians still felt an affection for her.

Before reaching the border crossing, we tried to stop and see the 1000 Islands tower hoping to take the elevator to the top but unfortunately it’s only open on the weekends. Next time! The border crossing was fortunately very easy, mainly because there were only two rows of three cars each.

When we arrived at our accommodation, the receptionist Jolene kept apologising for giving us the “Fisherman’s Cottage” which was a bit run down but was otherwise spacious. It was given the name as it’s where the local fishermen usually stay. She also recommended we book a cruise of the Thousand Islands promptly as they sell out quickly. We managed to get a cruise for tomorrow morning before we depart.

We were pleasantly surprised when we went to explore nearby Clayton and thought it was beautiful. The town had a whole selection of restaurants and cafes lining the waterfront, with Adirondack chairs to enjoy the view. We parked the car and walked around for about half an hour before realising we hadn’t put any money in the parking meter! We didn’t get booked though.

After collecting some items from the supermarket we headed back so Ted could watch the tennis and relax before tomorrow.Read more