August 13: Gananoque

Yesterday's rains continued all day and most of the night. It just was not a nice day - we were very happy to be in and tied up with power.

The small electric heater helped take the chill out of the boat but I'm trying to figure out how it can be this cold. It's mid-August after all!

Today the sun was back even though the air was still cool. High today was to be in the mid-60's.

Time to explore Gananoque!

Need a mansion? This one is for sale - cheap I would think as it is clearly in a state of disrepair. Some of the other homes of this size are very well kept - others not so much.

The original post office (built in 1888) gives an idea of the amazing architecture of the area. It is no longer being used as the post office though. Neat building.

There were some nice public areas including this metal sculpture garden in the city park. Steve had a couple of favorites - the tree (at left) and the blue herons (right).

One of the best museums we've seen for a while was there also.

It was really well done and gave a nice history of the region of the 1000 Islands.

Apparently it was the playground of the rich in the late 1800's with "cottages" that were second homes for the summer. These homes were described as "opulent"! Several (Singer and Boldt) were literally castles.

Tourists came by train and then steamboat to the islands - it is now referred to as the Golden Era of the Thousand Islands. The decline started near the onset of WW 1 although there were a number of other factors as well. There is an interesting article on the history of the region. Click here to read it.

By this afternoon the clouds were back. And the wind as well. Except for this morning, the winds have been blowing most of the time.

We'll leave tomorrow. Winds are still supposed to be in the 15 mph range but from the west. We are headed east so with the winds at our back, it shouldn't be bad.

The revised predicted high even went from 57 to 62 degrees! Someone didn't get the message that this is still August!!



Choice of movies for tonight: The Crawling Eye.

Very old sci-fi movie (1958) that is one of Steve's favorites! You too can experience this movie on Amazon Prime streaming video :-)

I'm almost beginning to like this movie .....