Great Loop

July 26 First, a smile to start off this posting. The Thousand Islands both failed to meet my expectations and far exceeded them.  I guess this is to say that my expectations were all wrong.  So what did I expect then?  I thought I would be in a rural aquatic area accessible only by boat and largely untouched by man.  What I found was just the opposite.  Whereas there were at least a thousand islands (I believe Terri read somewhere that there are actually 1800), most of them were completely built out with some homes occupying 90+% of the available land.  Homes were big and small. And yes they were islands so boats were the primary form of access, but there were large towns and small cities all around so amenities were never far off. Clayton NY In the last post I mentioned we were stopping in Clayton.  This turned out to be a wonderful town with great food and a cool wooden boat museum. The area's history is one of wealth and at the turn of the 1900s this was a playground for the ri

July 21 The Rideau I thought I would open this post with a smile..... The water temperature could not have been more perfect. The Rideau Canal is the tail of two rivers.  The upper portion was highlighted by magnificent homes with luxurious lawns and big boats.  The lower portion remained largely undeveloped yielding endless vistas that reflect what settlers saw hundreds of years ago. The pictures really don't do it justice.  It was beautiful for days on end. We did stop at multiple towns staying on the lock walls.  Each town had it's charm and color.  For example, Merrickville had the "Canada's Best Gelato" (and it just might have been at that) with a live band for your eating pleasure. In Westport, I got my first "butter tart".  So what is a butter tart? Glad you asked; From Wiki: A  butter tart  ( French :  tarte au beurre ) is a type of small  pastry  tart highly regarded in  Canadian cuisine . The sweet tart consists of a filling of  butter ,  sugar