July 31, 2008: Smith Falls, Ontario

Our destination for today is Smith Falls. Smith Falls was named after Thomas Smyth who constructed a saw mill on the river in 1786. Smith Falls is approximately the midpoint on the Rideau between Ottawa and Kingston, the bookends of the canal.

We passed by the Upper Nickolson lock again, but this time we saw something new. It was the first ospreys we have seen since leaving NC. There was a huge nest in a tall poll erected by the power company just to accommodate the ospreys. The lock master told us that the ospreys had been trying to build their nest on the power lines so to remedy the situation, they decided to provide the ospreys their own place. He said that the pole and a nest had been there for the past seven years. We saw the baby dappled brown, white headed osprey just learning to fly. It is easy to see why the ospreys love this site because the rapids have to be a great fishing spot.

We stopped in Merrickville, and it was just a short walk from the lock to visit the Sam Jakes Inn. The Inn is an old two story stone building originally built as a private residence. Sam Jakes moved there and opened a department store which at one time was the largest general merchant between Montreal and Chicago. The stone work showed the irregularities of hand cut stone on some of the interior walls, although I think it had been expanded in later years. We ate in the dining room, and as we walked past the Inn Keepers desk, Tom was delighted to see that they had a picture of iced tea out for their guests. We took glasses of the dark, sweet tea with us to the table.

At one of the locks, Kilmarna, we came to after lunch, there was a bridge that crossed the top of the lock. On several occasions, we have seen these cranked open, but this one was different. It sat on a set of rollers and was so perfected counterbalanced that one of the lock men was able to just shove the bridge and it coasted open. It was pretty amazing to watch.

When the canal was cut through Smith Falls, the original lock was actually a three flight lock with a gradual rise. But in 1973 there was a new lock built that is very different than the rest of the lock system. It has the highest rise of any lock on the Rideau, 23 feet, and is operated hydraulically, not by hand cranks like all the others. As the Rideau Canal has now been named a Canadian Heritage site, it will be good that the heritage of the locks will continue to be carefully preserved.

We are now tied up by a beautiful little park with fountains and flower beds. We made a meandering bike ride along the canal to a chocolate lovers dream, a Hershey factory, here. The original plant employed over 500 workers, but now they just have a very small operation making Hershey bars and Reese cups. We did get to see some of the original molds that were used for various milk chocolate bars, saw a huge vat of chocolate being stirred by big stainless steel fans, and of course, got to buy some chocolate kisses out of a hopper. No free samples though.

July 30, 2008: Hurst Marina to Burritt's Rapids (again)

Today was great! We finally finished with all the maintenance work on the boat at Hurst Marina. The fiberglass guy, Jay, did a great job of matching our navy blue and the repair looks like the original. Tom spent the morning scrubbing the boat. I was working and he is really not good at doing nothing. So after lunch and thanking all the guys we had come to know, we cruised out of the marina and honked our horn good bye.

Our destination for tonight was to return to the exact same picnic table where we spent Sunday night attached to the stone wall at Burritt’s Rapids. This particular spot has electricity which is really nice for the luxuries of air conditioning and powering the stove.

I should comment that I got an email today suggested that you do everything possible to reduce electricity usage today due to the extreme heat at RTP. I just thought I would let you know that it was 70 degrees in Burritts Rapids.

Just for fun we took out our bikes and retraced some of our ride from Sunday. We rode by the General Store and got a Morning Glory muffin (that’s carrot and raisons, but I can vouch for the sugar in there too). It was delicious. We also rode by The Lone Wolf Farm and watched a young woman training a brown and white pinto around a hunting track with assorted fences and jumps. We watched for a while and although she rode well and cantered at times, she never actually went over a jump. Either she was nervous or her horse was. We also saw three mares with their foals in a pasture at the Rideau Wood Farm, and it was fun to watch the little ones. We also saw a stockpile of split firewood that will keep the village warm this winter. It was hard to image needing all that for warmth on this beautiful summer's day. Note all the Queen Anne's Lace in the wood yard.

July 29, 2008: Hurst Marina, Manotick, Ontario

Well two days later we are still at Hurst Marina. We are really so fortunate to have found such an excellent Meridian dealership. Today we asked that they double check the location of our special order of navy blue gelcoat, the liquid color that they use to paint the fiberglass. Unfortunately, DHL admitted that the package that was ordered last Thursday overnight is still in Washington, DC. Ummmm... We have a long way to go before September 1^st when we need to be in Lake Michigan for weather reasons. So we are opting for an alternative coloring. Interesting enough, Peter Hurst, the owner of the marina came by to meet us today... I guess when you are in the marina for over a week you get a visit. Peter was very articulate and told us about starting out with a Yamaha motorcycle dealership and how it migrated into a Meridian and Sea Ray premier maintenance marina. He had been to New Bern before with a customer to visit the Hatteras plant so he complimented the local bakery downtown and asked to verify that Pepsi actually originated there. We assured him that it was true. He also told us that he had seen The Next Thirty Years when we were docked in Ottawa. He remembered because he had never seen a Meridian with a blue hull before, so we are notorious!

Anyway it was a very slow day. I actually worked all day and Tom played with the Cummings repairman discussing the fact that we apparently have water in our diesel fuel. Unfortunately, the plastic tub where we stored extra fuel filters we had brought with us for this possibility was cracked and the filters were wet... oh well...

So we decided to brighten up our day we would take the dinghy back to Kelly’s Landing where we ate last week to have a nice dinner on the patio. We motored up to the finger docks and waited until the packed porch freed a table. It was funny to be eating at an establishment that sold snow shovels upstairs. We decided to try something different for dinner and ordered a wonderful dish called a boxty, a potato batter crepe with seafood stuffing in a light cream sauce, at a table overlooking the water.

It was beginning to get dark as we headed back to the marina. Tom cranked up and we headed out as the evening cooled and the sun made the water pick. Suddenly a short way up the Rideau, the whirr of the engine stopped. Unfortunately, there was also smoke, but fortunately we were not up the creek without a paddle! So Tom got out the oars and we proceeded up the canal against the current. Tom and I joked that the main problem with our predicament was that we could not go fast enough to avoid the mosquitoes. After a while we saw a pontoon boat approaching and flagged them down. They immediately placed our voices as not the local crowd. They asked if we had friends on the Rideau and when we answered that we did not, they assured us that we did. The McNally’s lived on the Rideau on River Road and very graciously towed us past their house 20 minutes on to Hurst marina. They were really good Samaritans as it was really getting quite black dark by then and we had no lights on the dinghy. We thanked them profusely and they suggested that if we were still in town tomorrow night that we come for dinner. There are really good people everywhere.

July 28, 2008: Burritts Rapids, back to Hurst Marina

I wanted a picture of the stone mansion that was the original home of Stephen Burritt so Tom got up early and took the short bike ride to take it for me. It is now a private residence in the tiny village, but has an amazing history as the first home built there in 1793 when Burritt came there to build his home and a sawmill on the river long before the canal. Notice the stone work in the curved window over the door.

We cruised back to the Hurst Marina with the hopes of getting everything finished and on our way to Smith’s Mill. We again passed the rustic farm flying the Stars and Stripes. We were disappointed on arriving at the Marina to learn that although the fiberglass work was finished, the special order gelcoat had not come in. So we have another night here.

I should also comment on the plethora of mosquitoes. They are everywhere and hungry. The radio news announcer commented today that there are 3 times the normal population of mosquitoes this summer, a gift of the record setting rain. There are even ads for bug repellent on the TV. Fortunately I have bug repellent, but I might have to start showering in it even before bed.

July 27, 2008 (Sunday): Merrickville to Burritts Rapids (twice)

We were delighted to find the Merrickville United Methodist Church right across the bridge on Lawrence Street, so that is where we went to worship this morning. Luckily we had checked in advance and knew that the service had been moved up to 9:30 am during the summer so we were on time. This stone church construction dates back to 1890 when the congregation outgrew their original small stone church nearby. The curved church pews were crafted out of bead boards and had unique end pieces. The ends were ornate cast iron likely forged in the furnace we saw yesterday in the museum. The wood was a beautiful honey color and I just have to comment that the old folks must have been smaller than we were because the seats were somewhat shallow. In 1909 The Carnegie Foundation helped the church obtain the pipe organ which is still in use. Today the music was from an upright piano played by a church member who was thanked for playing by the minister. Reverend Christine Lowson led the service with a message from Matthew 13: 31-34. Her message was on how we are ministers of the Kingdom of God and she expounded on the mustard seed analogy with a description of how mustard will take over a garden where it is planted, and about how it was used to add flavor to food and also valued as a medicine. The service closed with congregational reading:

Blessing:

Go forth, you yeast of the Kingdom of God and let the hope rise.

Go forth, you pesky mustard ministers and watch the yield of grace grow.

Go forth, you treasures of God’s delight and live in faithfulness.

May Creator, Christ, and Spirit abide with us and hold us in love’s welcoming embrace.

Since church was over so early, we decided to take a bicycle ride before lunch. On our ride headed northeast on highway 2 we discovered so many horse farms you would have thought we were in Kentucky. Many had huge indoor riding rings and acres of corrals and split rail enclosed pastures. The fashionable equines wore their Sunday blankets even in July. All along the way we passed a variety of home architectures. There were normal modern suburban homes, neat farm houses amongst the barns, and some very rustic log cabins. There were also lock houses built of limestone is a very familiar two story house with arching stonework over the door ways. We read that many of these were built by masons who built their own homes close to the river during the canal construction These old houses some times were fenced in by hand laid low stone fences.

When we arrived at Burritts Rapids, we stopped at the General Store, built in 1851, for a fresh banana muffin which we snacked on in the sunshine outside on a picnic table. Across the street was the large stone mansion built in 1793 as Burritts Rapids was founded by Col. Stephen Burritt, who was a British Loyalist from Connecticut, who moved north after the American Revolution. We rode our bikes across the wooden swing bridge over the canal that had to be rotated for us to come through on our boat. When we reached the locks, we stumbled on a community festival which included a children’s fishing tournament and a hot dog roast by the local Rotary Club. It was fun to have a hot dog with them by the locks and I saw three fish caught while we were dining. Back on the River Road we completed the loop cycling back to Merrickville for a 12 mile roundtrip. We cast off around 2:00 pm to head back towards Hurst Marina and wound up waiting an hour and a half to get into the first lock because of a medical emergency on a boat below us in the locks. After descending the first set of three locks, we pulled into a marina to get some water. There was a white headed guy in a powder blue polo shirt and khaki shorts standing on the dock and as soon as I heard him speak I knew he was from the south. Sure ‘nuff, he was from Atlanta and he and a friend from Virginia were in a boat spending the summer in the locks.

What is really fun is that we have taken the boat back to Burritts Rapids tonight and are now docked by the picnic table where we had lunch. Docked next to us is a large touring boat making the run from Kingston to Ottawa. It carries 47 passengers and has been filled on every journey since 1980. We met one of the travelers who was familiar with New Bern, the Trent River, and had had his boat docked at the Sheraton for a while. It is a small world.

July 26, 2008: Merrickville, Ontario

This morning we were up early noticing that the lock doors were open and none of the moored boats we thought were before us were moving. So this morning we progressed through the locks at Burritts Rapids, the upper and lower Nicholsons and the three flight lock at Merricksville. Along the way, we talked to various bystanders in the locks. One was a fisherman who told us he had caught over 300 crappie that year in the locks as well as a couple of 7 pound small mouth bass. We decided that there must be fish in the river because you see fishermen everywhere. Another was a fellow who was familiar with North Carolina and had graduated from Wake Forest. Another was a looper from New Jersey who had already completed the entire loop we are on and was on another adventure.

When we arrived in Merrickville, we were delighted to find a place along the dam where there was “hydro”, the Canadian idiom for electricity. Across the street from our mooring spot, we discovered the “ruins” of Merrickville, which included the stone walls of the original “industrial complex”. There was a relief diagram of the area on a platform describing how the buildings stood in 1860 although some of them dated back to the 1840’s. The museum included the foundry for making things of iron; we later saw an old cast iron stove that reminded me of the one in my Grandmother’s kitchen. It had Merrickville, Ont molded into the apron. There was also a flour and grist mill, a saw mill and a woolen mill very similar to the setting at Manotick except here the buildings were mostly in ruin. Also these buildings were located on an island so that water power was available on both sides of the land.

This is also the location of the largest military stone block house on the Rideau. It was built in 1832 by Col John By (the father of the canal system) to defend the canal from the Americans. It was built to house 50 militia men but was never actually used for military purposes. It became the lockmasters quarters, and now houses a canal museum. Several of the rooms in the upstairs are furnished as though a family was living there in the 19^th century including a kitchen with a huge hearth. The square spiral staircase in the center of the building was built spiraling to the right ascending. This would give a soldier defending the second floor with a sword the advantage over an enemy coming up the stairs. The axe carved beams and the old dark plank floors gave a rich sense of a genuine look back in time. The museum was full of fascinating gadgets from those early days including a butter churn operated by a dog running on a treadmill, a baby stroller, and a machine for making rope. They had also reconstructed a one room log school house inside the block house museum including the old writing slate and a pair of old ice skates hanging on the log wall. As you sat there you could image the voices of children coming in from skating down the canal to get to school.

There are lots of little arty and craft shops along Lawrence street. There was an antique shop in an old stone house built in 1830. We also found one that sold WORMS – did I tell you fishing is big here? At the Country Bumpkins Gift shop we found a small wash tub, with “Cold Drinks” engraved on the side, that we decided would be a great shoe holder for the boat, so now we have a souvenir from Merrickville. There is a restaurant here called Dickens’ Gad’s Hill Place, decorated in everything “Charles Dickens”. The menus were inserted into books that resembled a library setting and it was filled with literary references. There was even a picture of Dickens’ third son taken in 1874 as a Canadian Mounty. They had great food and the prime rib came with a Yorkshire pudding.

As we have traveled south, we are closer to the NY state line, and we discovered that our antenna brought in the CBS evening news on our TV tonight.

July 25, 2008: Burritts Rapids, Ontario

During the day of Hurst skilled workmen crawling all over the boat, Tom and I took a bike ride into Osgoode, Ontario. We had to ride on the highway with no shoulder on the five mile round trip, but saw a beautiful field of wheat along the way. We went to the Foodland grocery store. Since I still have basil and mozzarella from the Ottawa market, we needed more tomatoes. I also decided to make Fettuccini Alfredo for the first time and needed the ingredients (heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and of course the fettuccini).

Since we are having some fiberglass work done which is going to take over the weekend, but we wanted to make the most of our time here. After our dinner of Fettuccini Afredo (which turned out pretty well), we headed out to explore with the plan on returning to Hurst marina on Monday. Our next lock is about two hours away, but there is lots of day light after 6:30. We cruised past acres of tall standing corn and some interesting cattle barns along the way. One of them was constructed of huge timbers and surrounded by dark red cattle with white faces. Before it got dark, we reached Burritts Rapids at the fork in the river where the lock begins the bypass of the rapids. Unfortunately, all the dock space was already occupied, so we are anchoring out for the night.

July 24, 2008: Hurst Marina

Last night we walked up to the restaurant behind the marina for dinner. The pub was called the Swan on the Rideau, and was built in an English Tudor style. Even though it was built in the 1960s, they claimed that the timbers used were over 100 years old. They had given us coupons for free dessert, so we had to take advantage of the hot chocolate brownie with ice cream and whipped cream.

It rained most of the day at Hurst Marina, but we did make a brief trip to the pool and hot tub which was the highlight of the day.