Sure, I know what you’re thinking. You read, “Take a cruise”, and you immediately thought it was the Caribbean, or Alaska, or somewhere in Europe maybe. Not really my thing, to be honest, although I could go for Alaska I think. I’m willing to consider the Caribbean sometime though.

No, my goal was a little closer to home. I was thinking maybe just on the Rideau or Ottawa Rivers, maybe something on one of the larger canal areas. Or even a sunset cruise in the Muskokas or over the Liftlocks in Peterborough.

My wife made the decision for me. She wanted to do a Thousand Island Cruise and go by Boldt Castle. Nothing super long, maybe a couple hours or so, rather than the four hour or six hour options. On Mother’s Day, there was an early afternoon 2-hour cruise, and we had takers … In addition to myself, Andrea and Jacob, we also had Dean, Becky, Grace, Ron and Marney along. The whole famn damily, as they say.

We drove down from Ottawa in the morning, had lunch there with everyone (totally forgetting it was of course Mother’s Day and some of the local eateries were a bit pressed for space!), and then boarded our tour. At the last minute, I realized I had forgotten to bring a hat, so I ended up in a tourist store nearby to grab one.

Here is our cruise boat:

For most of the cruise, you are not too far from either shore of the river channel.

The area is full of nice little, modest cottages (hehehe) like this one:

Or this one:

Or even this one:

Along the way we saw some of the local residents:

Posed for some photos…

Reached out and touched the shore…

And were surprised by the colour of the water, although it is still early in the season I suppose and not yet completely fouled.

The highlight of the trip was, of course, Hogwarts. Err, I mean Boldt Castle.

We had a nice cruise, made it back to the marina, wished everyone Happy Mother’s Day, and then headed back home. After sampling the local ice cream, of course.

It was a good day…