Staying in the Thousand Islands

Along the St. Lawrence River, with some of the Thousand Islands in the background
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As the waters of the Great Lakes flow out of Lake Ontario, the lowest lake in the chain, and begin their journey to the Atlantic Ocean, they move through the ancient rocks of the Canadian Shield, around bare outcrops covered with trees, moss and bushes, creating more than a thousand islands in the middle of the St. Lawrence  River. A highway runs along the Canadian bank of the river through this area, and the islands, big, small and medium size, create an ever changing scene. Cottages have populated many of the islands, and the sheltered inlets and small bays are perfect for sports fishing, swimming, lazing along in a boat on a bright summer day, or just sitting at the river's edge and watching the world go by. We visited the Glen House Resort, one of many vacation resorts along the river. It is close to river cruising at Ivy Lea, the international bridge to the United States, and atttractions like Boldt Castle and the thousands of smaller but attractive cottages on the islands nearby. Among many atttractions is a bridge built by a local cottager from a large island to a small outcrop of rock ten feet or so away. It happens that the border between Canada and the United States passes between  the island and the rock, making this little bridge the shortest international bridge in the world.

Each of the small islands shown here has a cottage, hiding among the trees.
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We visited unique towns along the shore like Ivy Lea and Rockport.  At Rockport, for example, a small church, built for cottagers and permanent residents, faces the water and a statue, painted white, has been erected beside the church by a local resident in memory of her son, killed in the First World  War. The statue is visible far out in the river like a lighthouse. A casino is near Ivy Lea, at Gananoque, and we lost a little pocket money, but mostly we relaxed by the water, speculated about the other people at the resort and watched the boats on the water, and a funny little dredge that showed up and went to one of the islands nearby to dig out a channel into a boat house. One time my father watched a scene much like this and after sitting in his lawn chair watching the boat traffic and observing the people enjoying themselves, he said, "You know, after a while you begin to feel like royalty, just sitting here." Everyone should feel like that, once in a while. We did.

After a while you begin to feel like royalty