The final stages of the journey!

Well, these are the last pictures of our trip before ending in Frenchman's Bay in Pickering, Ontario. :(
This is a photo in a pub with the crew of Rambler: Bill and Joan. They were a very nice and sweet couple. I saw them leaving in the early morning for Canada from the anchorage and Joan was putting a sweater on Bill and giving him coffee. It was a wonderful sight to see them so happy and in harmony cruising.



Once we crossed Lake Ontario we anchored at Grenadier Island and the kids swung around and had some fun on the Bosun's chair. Matthew gave us quite an action shot!







Abbey on the lookout for Boldt castle as we have arrived in the 1000 islands- still on the American side at this time.




We stopped at Boldt castle. The story is that over 100 years ago a very rich man who owned the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC had this castle built for his wife. When she died he immediately told everyone to put down their tools and abandon the project. There are hearts everywhere- carved in wood, iron, plaster. He even had them blasting the island itself so it could be heart shaped. This first picture is actually just the boat house!

Tunnels to the power houses which also were built as small castles.

This is the neatest castle- it was for concerts and gatherings, a playhouse with a bowling alley downstairs.

Well, we finally crossed over and checked in at Canada customs!! We're home. And immediately you can always tell the difference that you're not in the US anymore. We found a gorgeous anchorage in the islands and stayed for over 4 days and enjoyed snorkeling in the clear water- we could see the bottom! The water is fresh, no salt and refreshing in the heat, it was wonderful. We put out our anchor and tied the stern to a rock, it worked out quite well.

The 1000 islands bridge that joins Canada to the US.

This is the picture for Kristen and Hans!! We finally did find a boat with the 2 foot dinghy!!! Tonnes of the boaters use blow up rings as their dinghy. This guy had the smallest dinghy we had ever seen!!

Once we left the islands we made our way through the Bay of Quinte and waited on this wall for the weather to make the last jumps to Toronto. This was perfect. We had the whole area to ourselves and the dogs could run free. Very nice.

Abbey awaiting home and all her family and relatives!!!

Knot-E-Buoys- we met them in Florida and now again on Lake Ontario!! They said they had updates and knew we were fine and saw the Bahamas. They went to lovely Key West. What a small world!

We made it!! Docked in Frenchman's Bay and awaiting cleaning, organizing and hauling!! For those of you who know us well you'll notice the significance of Lorcha parked right next to us!!

Well, the trip is over and we have been very busy. We have hauled out most of the junk, just a few lockers to clear out. We vacuumed, cleaned and scrubbed. Plus we bought the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on! Set up an apartment. Seen almost all our relatives. We took Matthew to Canada's Wonderland for his birthday and went on lots of scary roller coasters! Next week we go to our favourite Camp Wabanaki. So as you can see we haven't slowed down enough yet for the impact of the trip ending to affect us yet!! :)

We had a great time, lots of learning experiences. Overall a great sense of accomplishment too. We have ideas for our next adventure but we have lots of time. We have thoroughly enjoyed a huge fridge, great bed, laundry, showers, couch, etc, etc. I appreciate these things more than I ever did before.

We haven't decided yet whether to finish off the blog or to continue on with the adventures of the Snowday family. We may put up Camp pictures and go from there! We'll keep everyone posted.