Thursday 24th June - Off to Upper Canada Village and Gananoque

Up early again - the body is just about holding together - to check out of the Hyatt and catch the bus at 0745hrs for the home hosting two day trip to Kingston and the Thousand Islands.We had Paul as our host on the bus and he gave a very detailed and knowledgeable overview of some historical aspects of this part of Canada and ran through what we were to expect from the two days. First stop was Upper Canada Village, which is very much like St Fagans, where representative examples of actual buildings illustrating early life in Canada have been relocated into something like a theme park. They have done it very well and the staff on hand, in period costume, were really helpful. Everything worked, including the sawmill, the restaurant, the cabinet maker, the bakery etc etc. When we left Montreal is was pouring with rain which promptly stopped when we arrived and started again as we left Upper Canada Village.

Onwards to Kingston after lunch, but we were dropped off early at Gananoque to be taken by our host Dorothy to her home on Howe Island. We were two of six guests staying with Dorothy and Bruce Higgs. Two others were from Vancouver, one was from Florida and the remaining one was from San Salvador. It was a full house, but we all seemed to get on well together. Dorothy's sister Mary was also on hand, staying with a neighbour, to help out. Bruce was hosting the second bus and arrived later. The Higgs live in an idyllic spot, right by the river with a landing stage and a speedboat to play with. Mind you, for four months of the year the river is frozen solid. We settled in and had dinner after which we were taken out in the speedboat to have a look around. I casually asked Bruce about the boat and he said it had a petrol V8 engine of 5.5lt, which he demonstrated as we returned in the twighlight at speeds between 25 and 30 knots. A great way to round off  fantastic day.