Our Great Canadian Road Trip: 1000 Islands

Day 2 of our Great Canadian Road Trip was the Thousand Islands, in Ontario, Canada!  And yes, it is in fact where the 1000 island dressing was born, along with eggs benedict and the concept of room service!! According to Wikipedia, "The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles (80 km) downstream from Kingston, Ontario."

I had seen pictures of this beautiful landscape, and we knew this area and the Boldt Castle was on our list of things to see when visiting Canada!  Our drive from North New York State to the quaint town of Gananoque in the Thousand Isle region was about 4 hours, and just like our little boys do in their cute yet mischievous ways, they took turns napping and crying in the car!  When number 1 snoozed, number 2 was wide awake making demands and hollering at us to keep him entertained.  Then they took turns, and unfortunately, the littlest decided not to nap AT ALL.  The first stop in our Gananoque destination was lunch and boarding an hour long boat cruise:

On the cruise, we were almost trampled by Asian tourists and their crazed cameras.  However, we did enjoy seeing the awesome vacation homes that dotted the coastline and little islands.  Some of these mansions were even on their own islands, and had intricate boat garages in the water, as you can see in the photos!

Next up, was the famous Boldt Castle.  It reminded me a lot of California's Hearst Castle, except it was on its own island.  We didn't take the tour though, we learned from our Hearst Castle experience, and kept on cruising! The Boldt Castle is the same as many of these US-Canadian extravagant mansion/castle stories...... man professing his love to his woman by building her a castle! The fascinating story goes something like this....
George Boldt (original owner of the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC, and who also invented room service) built the Boldt castle for his wife as a testament of his love. He was planning to present it to her on Valentine's Day but she suddenly and tragically died. Construction of the castle was suspended, and Boldt abandoned it... It sat vacant for 73 years at the mercy of rain, wind, snow, and vandals until 1977 when the Thousand Island Bridge Authority acquired it. It now serves as a unfinished monument of a love story cut short.

After the cruise, Jax finally decided he couldn't hang in there anymore, threw the towel in, and konked out! We checked into a charming historic Inn, the Gananoque Inn, and explored the town by foot.

Taj's highlight from this stop was the Splash water park!  

That, and joining Daddy at happy hour at the hotel bar!  Cheers to my boys!

After a scrumptious breakfast at the hotel the next morning (and a sleepless night for Mommy, who shared the bed with Taj this time), the Grover foursome hit the road once again..... as Taji best described it..... "We saw the forest, waterfalls, took a boat, visited a castle, and now on to The City!!!" (and to see his buddy Mia, of course!) It sounds like an adventure out of a Dora story, doesn't it? :)