Day #350 – Kingston, Ontario

Last night we went to a great little Italian restaurant named Frankie Pesto’s.  It used to be the old train station.  Great food and atmosphere.

As soon as you walk off of the docks

you are in beautiful downtown Kingston’s Confederation Park.

Today at noon there was a concert in the park.

The streets are lined with restaurants,  pubs and shops.

After a few morning chores we went on the trolley tour around the city.  Kingston was the original capitol of Canada and they are very proud of their history.  They are named “Limestone City” as the city is built on limestone and therefore many of their buildings are made of it as well.

The tour took us past the Royal Military College of Canada.

We continued further up the hill and toured Fort Henry.  It was built to protect the area during the War of 1812.  It was actually never actually fired upon.  It overlooks the beautiful harbor named Navy Bay where we are docked.

Our tour took us through the campus of Queen’s University.  Beautiful campus located right in Kingston.

Their churches

parks

and homes

all show the great heritage and pride of the people of Kingston.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays they have a market behind City Hall.

In the winter they freeze this area over for a skating rink.

Our friend Charlotte Snider, on Foreign Exchange, told us about a couple of special shops to visit in the area and we took her advice.  First stop was Cooke’s where she said her father worked as a teenager.

We also took her recommendation and stopped at Pan Chancho Bakery…yum.  Thanks Charlotte, both great stops.

We will be sorry to leave as we have enjoyed every minute here.

Day #349 – Kingston, Ontario

We made it!  We left Oswego at 7:00 and headed due north.

The water flattened out and we had a beautiful ride across Lake Ontario arriving at 12:30 (57 miles).  There was very little boat traffic today and the trip was uneventful.  As we approached Kingston we could see all of these wind turbines in the distance on Wolfe Island.

This is a sight we had never seen…a marina located next to a penitentiary.  It opened in 1835 as the “Provincial Penitentiary of the Province of Upper Canada,” it is one of the oldest prisons in continuous use in the world. It is often referred to as “Alcatraz North”.  It is right on their waterfront.

Having boated for many years, we have now officially boated in four of the five Great Lakes…Lake Superior remains.  Canada is the third country we have been in on the trip and we have traveled a total of 6068 miles to date.

We will stay in Kingston tomorrow to explore the area and see all that it has to offer.

Day #336 – Kingston, NY

It was kind of a quite day on our adventure.  We were actually all ready for a “kick-back” day as we have been on the run pretty hard for the past week or so.  We returned the rental car, did a little cleaning and cooking and decided what to try to do on another rainy day.

The excitement was overwhelming as Salvage Crew arrived again.

They had to change slips at the marina as it is filling up for the holiday weekend.  It is beginning to come alive and their little restaurant at the marina opened for business, even though it was raining.

This little boat was here for a few days and I thought it was cute and told the Captain as much.  He replied, “Thanks, want to trade boats?”  Needless to say, I declined.  It was built in 1997 and is made of plywood covered in fiberglass.

After all of our chores were done, Patti and I watched “Sex in the City…The Movie” on their aft deck.  It was a great chick flick and a wonderful way to spend a lazy, rainy day.  By the time the movie was over, the sun had come out and it was a beautiful summer day.

We will be moving to Catskill, NY tomorrow.

Day #334 – Kingston, NY

We were out on the water at 7:00 this morning after a peaceful night in Tarrytown.  This lighthouse sits in the Hudson River just outside the marina.

Today we traveled up the Hudson to Kingston, 64 miles.

The water was especially calm in the morning as we passed under one of several bridges.

West Point Military Academy sits on the western shore of the Hudson.  It was built on a hillside and is lovely.

The hills are green and striking.  It reminds me in places of Canada and Michigan.

If you look in the bottom right corner of the photo below you will be a commercial building which gives you a perspective as to how large some of these hills are.

It is fairly remote in places, but you pass many small towns all clustered around their waterfront.  Below is Newburgh, NY.

This is the main building of the Culinary Institute of America.  It sits high on a hill overlooking the Hudson River.

The Middle Hudson Lighthouse…

and the Rondout Creek Lighthouse. I never knew there were so many styles of lighthouses.

Our destination is Rondout Yacht Basin in Kingston.

Today is our lucky day, look who’s right behind us.

About 10 minutes after we got tied up the rain and lightning began.  Glad to be at the dock and secure after a beautiful day on the water.  Timing is everything.