The Great Lakes / Thousand Islands Trail, Ontario

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes spanning the north-eastern portion of the US / Canadian border.  Separately, the lakes are Ontario, Erie, Michigan, Huron and Superior.  Containing a fifth of the Earth's fresh water and with a total surface area of around 94,000 square miles, the word "lake" seems like a rare understatement in North American terms.  It's no wonder some people refer to the Lakes area as the "North Coast".   For all intents and purposes, watching the waters disappear over the horizon with the other side of the basin nowhere to be seen, you may as well be gazing out into the ocean.

You could easily spend a month touring the Lakes, time we unfortunately didn't have, but here's a rundown of the locations that took our interest as we snaked our way back towards the border and worried about how we would smuggle our various restricted foodstuffs and year's supply of alcohol back into the US.

Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands region is an archipelago of nearly two thousand islands in the Saint Lawrence river, emerging from the north-eastern corner of Lake Ontario.  It's a popular sailing and fishing location, evident from the number of marinas that line the 50 mile long shores of the region.

It's also host to some great views and scenery that can be enjoyed without getting your feet wet, fortunate really given our decision to buy a bus instead of a boat.

We stayed the night for free in a viewpoint by the side of the road, choosing not to pay the extortionate campsite fees nearby.  Notice my amazing effort to be inconspicuous by parking under some trees (in my 10m coach with drum n bass blaring and enough antennae sticking out to be able to invite beings from a neighbouring galaxy round for dinner).

Kingston

The next day we followed the Thousand Islands trail to the end of the line at Kingston.  Kingston is an old town, known as the Limestone City because of its architecture.

It's full of stunning 18th and 19th century buildings, including not one but two correctional facilities, where the most heinous of Canada's crimes are punished (which, knowing the friendliness of Canadians, probably consists of not apologising when cutting someone off on the highway and the occasional scuffle at a hockey game).

We took to the town's waterfront trail, enjoyed more coastal vistas and complained more that we should have bought a boat.

We stopped and enjoyed a few beers at a friendly bar with a strange taste in artwork:

I feel like whoever painted this reached a critical point in the creative process where they could either add one more gondola to the picture, or a chubby guy riding a dolphin which happens to be getting stabbed by the spire of some inexplicably submerged church.  The dolphin thing would have been my choice too.

Kingston is also home to the Royal Military College of Canada and Fort Henry.  We stopped short of these locations without knowing they were there, but apparently at Fort Henry the guard staff conduct military demonstrations for the public, which presumably gives soldiers something to do while their country is busy never having any beef with any other countries!