1000 Island Cruise – Day 1

Taking a weekend trip for a one day cruise, took just as much planning as a week (or longer) trip. Had we been to the 1000 Islands before it may have been so much easier. As we had purchased a new Garmin GPS unit (our old one was very outdated) we felt this was a good time to try it out. Little did we know what trouble it would give us. First of all, Nat has a golfing buddy who refused to pay the tolls on the 407 ETR  whenever he travels to Quebec and takes the 403 E to the 401 E without any hassles, so Nat wanted to try this route himself.

Setting up the GPS was easy enough, but we were very puzzled when the route chosen was through the United States around Lake Erie  and on up to the 1000 Island International Bridge – the way we did NOT want to go, despite the fact it was going to be quicker and faster. No matter how we tried to change the route the GPS was being very uncooperative. With all things technical that Nat and I get into, we became frustrated. So, after Nat left for his golf game on Friday, I decided to play around with it, along with doing a little research online. I discovered that we could “Plan A Trip” which included stops along our route. I tried it out, but without any stops, just clicking on the Highways we wanted to take. It worked. We were now going via the 403 E to the 401 E and on up to Rockport, Ontario where we were going to stay. We took along the Google Maps printed out for back-up.

It looked like a 4 to 5 hour trip and check-in at the Boathouse Country Inn was 3:00 PM so we were on the road by 9:00 AM. The GPS was doing its job and took us exactly as planned, despite arriving at our final destination she had us turning left instead of right. We’re thinking the GPS was unable to detect the small side road entrance through rod iron gates depicting the name Rockport.

The road trip, itself, was uneventful. Let’s face it, nothing to look at along the 401 E at all. One of the more boring trips I’ve ever been a passenger on. The number of times that my sister, Claudia, took her son back to Queen’s University at Kingston must have been mind-numbing, but she’s such a great traveller I’m sure she was very use to it. She has my admiration! After a short lunch break past Oshawa we were back on the road. Nat and I tried to keep a conversation going or listen to satellite radio (which we have free for 3 months) in order to pass the time and somehow we managed.

Despite the pouring rain and miserable weather, we reached the tiny little village of Rockport, just off the 1000 Island Parkway and sitting along the shores of the St. Lawrence River. We settled into our cute little country inn room with a small balcony that looked out over the docks. Our room consisted of a couple of wicker chairs, the usual TV and small fridge with Queen sized bed covered in a colourful country Quilt. Very cute, very cozy and charming.

Arriving just before 2:30 PM, we had time on our hands but with the lousy rain still pouring down, we got unpacked and organized and then decided to check out the little General Store before going for our supper. The shop contained the usual trinkets, souvenir items, sweat shirts, T-Shirts, mugs and bits of jewellery. Naturally, I found a few items to buy – a lapel pin for  my collection, a hand-made Inuksuk and a couple of key chains.

We headed to the Cornwall Pub for our supper and decided on fish ‘n chips. A bit disappointed, as the menu proclaimed “Fresh Cut Fries” which turned out to be very evident that these french fries had been frozen, as was the fish. The meal wasn’t bad, bad, but just disappointing. We were at least satisfied for the evening and returned to our cozy little room, settled in for the night and hit the hay by 10:00 PM. We were both very road weary.