Gramma Camp – Week 33.4

Wednesday, Grampa did his morning walk at Last Duel Park. There, he saw a muskrat in the water. That was the highlight!

Momma made charts for progress. It's been working really well. We even remembered French Horn practice, as well as the virtual lesson on Monday.

After two girls did breakfast and teeth, we had a discussion about our daily outing. What about something different? I remembered going to a nice spot, truthfully a boat launch. The trick was to figure out where it was. JB narrowed it down to Toledo, and then on from there. 

I found it! Eloida Lake Boat Ramp – we took off south to escape the bikes on our road. 

We hedged our bets, it could be busy, so we had an alternate plan. There is a beach at Bellamy Park. It's a place for camping, and it would be hard to tell if it'd be busy. The photos show it is tiny. They do have day passes for the beach.

They were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors in the back seat, 11:50.

We passed the sheep farm, as well as wheat and corn growing. Summer is unfolding as it should

Of course, in farming country, you need equipment. This one is wider than the one highway lane. I said that there was a 9-vehicle convoy and was promptly corrected!!! Accuracy is important. I explained that there were three vehicles behind us...

When I see these big homes, I quite enjoy them, especially since I don't have to clean them!

There was road work, the county is replacing all of the culverts, and it looks like they are widening the road, as well. A johnny-on-the-spot sits in the middle of nowhere!

There was a fox running behind the car, and into the ditch. We turned around here, since the navigator did a poor job of letting the driver know where to turn!

When they pass cows, they yell out 'horses!' ????

And there, after a half hour drive, Lake Eloida.

Happily, the boat launch was very quiet, as was the lake.

We had one visitor. A man who used to live in Ottawa, and moved to Athens. We chatted, and played with the dog, as well as visiting with the man. The terrier was happy to play in the water with the girls. They found a water logged tennis ball, and we threw it for him. 

Doggie's owner told us about a nice beach on Charleston Lake. Maybe next time!

Eventually, the doggie went on his way. The girls had not had lunch, but we'd brought water, and some Scoops and salsa. That was a nice snackie.

The lake is fairly shallow, as is the way from here to there. Our GPS didn't know where it is. I found another spelling of Eloida, Loyada!

There aren't a lot of homes around the lake, the far side is mostly bog. They are fairly large homes, for the most part, and many have pools!

Toledo is working on the highway, more ditch work. 

I love these windows, happy I don't have to clean them.

We headed home for showers and lunch. Grampa had a nap. We'd been on the road for nearly two hours, it was 2:15. By now, rather than a large lunch, which would delay dinner, I'd warmed up soup for Josephine while she showered. It's strange planning meals when they sleep in until 9:30 or 10, and we are up at 6 a.m. I took off to the local farm market, but they were out of beans and other snackie things. I brought home strawberries.

I began watching the robins, again. I noticed a pair of flickers dive bombing the robins in the lilac bush. It was really strange! They don't compete for food, but perhaps there is a flicker nest about.

I tucked Isabelle in at 9 p.m., Jos at 9:30. 

Anniversary trip Part 3 – the resort

It was a long day. We arrived at the resort for 1:30, had lunch [Happy anniversary to us!],  went for a drive [Ivy Lea], returned to try for our room. No luck.
It's huge: two pools, lots of rooms!


As well as a outdoor pool, there is an indoor one. 

We went walkies...

We walked around a bit more.


We kept trying to get into room. I'm wondering if they are simply refusing to let us in until 4 p.m., as it says on their website? I know that many places are having trouble finding staff. I don't know. We plunked ourselves down on the lawn.

I was ready for a cocktail on the deck, but the bar didn't open until 4 p.m., either. sigh.

Then we sat by the water. A bit of a surprise. My cell phone provider sent me a text warning me of roaming rates. Now, as far as I know, Gananoque is on the Canadian side of the border! I switched her up to airplane mode! Crikey, there is a learning curve for smart phones!

Back to the office, to see if our room was ready. Finally, yes. We'd been here since 1:30! It was only an hour's drive from home.





We were finally in just after 4 p.m.


Now, I am of average height for a woman. I'm 5' 4", last I checked. I have trouble with sinks. You try to lean over to wash your face, and it's tough to reach. I've now lost some weight, but that's a moot point.



A lovely view of the water.


First order of business, a swim in the outdoor pool. The kids were happy and jumping in. I was trying to avoid getting my hair wet! The pool was busy. There were a couple of clumps of long, blonde hair in the side of the pool. Ugh.

Pre-dinner drinks! JB was wearing the shirt he wore when we were married 17 years ago! (I outgrew my dress!) We had our drinks on the pub deck, and watched the boats go by. I was wearing the dress I wore for Jesse & Stacie's wedding.

Shipman's Dining Room

They named the dining room after the original owners of the property. The property consisted
of a grant of a mile of property. The Shipmans, a UEL family, created a farm out of forest.
By 1875, visitors on vacation from the US, 14.5 km across the river were coming for the fishing in the Thousand Islands. With development, the farms turned into vacation spots. Famous names owned the land: Seagrams, Wisers, Vanderbilts, Rubensteins, Bensons and Pullmans were regular summer visitors. (It freezes in winter!) The bootleggers, rum runners and cigarette boats reigned.
With the Great Depression, many properties were either neglected or demolished to avoid taxes.
The Seal family has been running the place since 1963. The original farmhouse was destroyed in a fire, but the rebuild is lovely.

Into the dining room for our dinner at 5:30. It was lovely and quiet.


Dinner was pretty good.


It was fun watching the people and boats. People come for dinner from all around.


There was a big family that arrived for dinner. They all arrived on a boat, with one dude coming on his own on the jetski. He took off early! (I love people watching!)


This family was having a blast fishing off of the dock!


This pair made me curious!
kayaks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Anniversary trip

Happy anniversary to us! Part 1

Ivy Lea – Anniversary trip part 2