Our summer vacation 2009: Peterborough lift lock

Once we got to the locks leading to the Peterborough lock we found that they were hand-crank locks. Interesting that there were younger people working them. On the way back Jonah and I asked if we could get out and crank them. The women at the Sawer lock let us do that to open the lock. We had a race; Jonah won. :(We reached our final destination at the Peterborough lift lock on Wednesday. This is the world's highest hydraulic lift lock using gravity and no other source of power. You can read more about the lock here.
We started out on the high side; these pictures were taken on the way down. For all but the picture of Sarah, I was on the top of the boat.
I also took a video.
After we docked just on the other side of the lift lock, we got out and walked into the city of Peterborough. We walked to what would be the left side of the picture 2 images above. There is actually a road that goes through the lock at the level of the window you see in the lock wall. If you look hard you can see the road on the left side between the trees. This next picture was taken once we climbed the hill to the road. Keep in mind when you look at this picture that there is water up there! The lift lock reminds me of two gigantic bathtubs full of water and we were the little play boat in the water.
One last video of the lift lock taken from the ground. It's a pretty incredible work of engineering.

Our summer vacation 2009: Lovesick lock

Our last night on the boat was spent at Lovesick lock.The above plaque reads:
The legend of Lovesick Lake There once was a romantic young Indian who was hopelessly smitten by the beautiful Irish lass Katharine O'Donahue. Rejected, the heart-broken Richard Fawn vowed to languish the rest of his days in solitude. With the plaintive wail of the loon echoing in the morning mist, the forlorn native paddled to a nearby island. Here he pined away for days until his anxious friends discovered him, pathetic and near exhaustion, and prevailed upon him to return home.

Our houseboat docked at Lovesick.
There were a few things different about Lovesick lock compared to the other locks we went through. Lovesick lock was right next to the dam. Also, Lovesick was in between two islands; the wardens must canoe to work.We were able to walk across the dam. On top there was a motor-driven crane that uses timbers to raise and lower the dam. Richard and Jonah were totally in their element checking it out and figuring out how it worked. Isn't it the way it goes - as we were pulling away the next day the warden of the lock was firing it up! I saw the look in Jonah's and Richard's eyes...they SO wanted to stop pulling away and watch but we thought we were under a time constraint so they relinquished their engineering interests.We went for a walk on the other side of the dam. There was a lot of poison ivy so Hannah and I opted to head back to the boat to read but I did get this picture before we turned around. The three of them ended up seeing a mink so I was bummed I didn't continue on.Here we are - lovestruck at Lovesick.The two teenage girls were trying to relay a story to the rest of us while we were playing games and...I don't know, you tell me. I can barely understand them for all their girlie screaming.

A night shot of the red stop light at Lovesick reflecting off the water.

Our summer vacation 2009: Model A Acres B&B

We had to turn the boat in on Friday with a plan to continue our journey to Niagra-On-The-Lake to take in a play, one of many offerings of the Shaw Festival. We had tickets for the Saturday performance of 'Sundays at the Park with George' but thought we would break up the drive by spending Friday night at a bed and breakfast along the way. I found one online called Model A Acres which turned out to be absolutely perfect.The owners, Luverne and Ian Baron, are perfect in their role as hosts being everything you hope to expect: friendly, inviting, accommodating.We had a wonderful stay. The room Richard and I stayed in was cleverly decorated with a headboard made from genuine Model A car parts with working headlights.Hannah and Sarah shared a bed in the room they call 'the loft' located right at the top of the stairs leading directly outside.Jonah, as always, had to sleep on the sofa bed in that room and claimed that it was quite comfortable.The bathroom was really cute, decorated in the 'old car' theme also with a mirror made from the grill of a car.The spacious grounds displayed Ian's passion for models of old cars and old planes. Ian built all the cars and planes you see here; he's been building since he was 12 years old. These photos should give you a feel for the grounds.


This one is actually a running car where as all the other cars above are just shells. Ian told us that the weekend previous to our arrival he had been, of all places, in Birmingham, MI, for the popular Woodward Dream Cruise. So he was just a mile-and-a-half away from where we live.A couple added bonuses to this B&B were the swimming pool and the trampoline. The girls and Richard enjoyed the pool and all the kids had fun bouncing and flipping on the trampoline. Richard commented that it was the cleanest pool he had ever been in.I caught Jonah mid-flip. This was the only time I've ever seen Richard get a bit nervous for his children during a physical activity.Thanks, Luverne and Ian, for a peaceful and relaxing stay. I would recommend Model A to anyone traveling to your area.
Oh! I forgot the second 'B' of B&B. The breakfast was wonderful starting with an abundance of fruit, yogurts of choice, homemade waffles, and bacon...yum! It was delicious and Luverne made a point of taking special orders.

Summer vacation 2009: Niagra-On-The-Lake

After leaving Model A on Saturday morning we headed to our final destination, Niagra-On-The-Lake, Ontario.
There are a lot of cute shops in the downtown area and Hannah couldn't resist going a little 'monkey.' Hannah's oldest sister, Courtney, has called her Monkey as a nickname since Hannah was quite young so this picture was taken for Courtney.We walked around the quaint town and spent a little time at a park next to the water.
I like all three of these pictures of the girls and had a hard time deciding which one to include. We were going to be in the car on the way home on Sunday which happened to be Sarah's 16th birthday so we made a point of celebrating during Saturday night's dinner at Kelsey's Pub.Jonah's last evening of being legal age.In all the restaurants in Ontario that we were in they give the choice of a smaller glass of wine or a larger glass. Pretty cool, I think.It was a fine vacation; now it's time to pack up our feet and head home.