Kingston and Toronto

Paul J took us to CJAI radio station, the very local public radio for Amherst Island.  We were interviewed by the hosts of the "Udder Morning" show.  It was an interesting chat, including discussions of Richard's sculpture, and Sandi's work.  We luckily were not asked about US politics or about the local windmill controversy.

Next we went to the ferry, where we walked on board.  Paul Y,  Richard's old climbing buddy, picked us up, and gave us a little tour of Kingston.  We stopped by Paul's sailboat, which is relatively large and impressive.  We met Paul's wife Dorothy at Le Chien Noir restaurant.  Sandi remembered the dress shop next door where she spent a lot of money; Dorothy knew the shop as well.  Paul is planning on a big sailing trip next summer; Richard may get to go on part of the trip.  Richard missed out on a similar trip a few years ago, due to a health situation.

We went out to see the Rideau Canal, which runs from Kingston to Ottawa.  It was originally built by the British military as part of moving the capital of Canada to Ottawa.   The canal was opened in 1832.   Kingston had been the capital, but was considered too subject to American attack, which never came.  But after the war of 1812 it is easy to see why people were concerned.  The Rideau Canal is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

After that stop, they dropped us off at the train station.  The train was 10 minutes late, but no problem.  We arrived at Toronto Union station.  We had considered taking the subway to our hotel, but decided that luggage on the subway during rush hour was a bad plan.  We took a taxi.  Our hotel was the Madison Manor hotel, in the University of Toronto area.  We ate at the pub next door, and then took a long walk through the very large Chinatown, and around the University.  We were amused that the garbage cans everywhere were made by a company for which that Sandi does work.

On Tuesday, we headed for the Art Gallery of Ontario, where we had tickets to see the Lawren Harris show.  The show was curated by Steve Martin; yes, that Steve Martin.  Harris was one of the Canadian Group of Seven painters.  My favorite Harris paintings were simplified and idealized paintings of mountains.  We bought a print of Mt. Robson, which Richard has climbed.  We saw a lot of fine work from the other members of the Group of Seven, some of which was somewhat similar to that of Harris.

On the way back to our hotel Richard picked up some scrap cardboard to protect the print.  We had a pleasant lunch at Fresh restaurant, and then took the streetcar to the harbor, where we walked to the ferry dock, and took the ferry to Ward Island, one of the Toronto Islands.  Cars are not allowed on the islands, bicycles and carts were used instead.

Overgrown cottage

We were fascinated to see the cottages on the island, wondering exactly how they do their grocery shopping.  There are no stores on the islands.  We walked around the island, and had a pleasant dinner at the cafe. We took the ferry back to Toronto, and then walked back to the streetcar stop.  Sandi ended up with three blisters from all the walking.

Toronto skyline

On Wednesday, we checked out of the hotel, and had a very interesting visit to the Bata Shoe Museum.  It has historic and native American shoes.  The shoes and clothing from the Arctic regions were especially interesting.   We had lunch at Fresh again, and then started our journey to the airport.

Eskimo boot

Richard had what he thought was a clever plan to get to the airport.  We would walk to the nearby subway stop, change trains to the airport train, and do the whole thing for less than $10 per person.  We took the elevator to the subway line, and got on the subway, only to find that the subway train was going out of service, so we needed to get off and get on the next train.   When we arrived at the correct subway stop, we had to take two elevators to get to ground level, where we discovered that we needed to walk two blocks on city sidewalks to the airport train station.  Recall that we had six bags, at least one of which was quite heavy.  We ended up taking three elevator rides at the train station, mostly due to bad signage.  The UP train to the airport is actually quite nice.  We finally got to the airport, where we we had to get on another train to go to the correct terminal.  At the end of that train ride we had to take two more elevators to customs.  Sandi sailed through customs with her Nexus card, while Richard spent ten minutes in the regular line.    Our grand total of trains taken was four, while we took eight elevator rides.  Total time, about 1 hour 45 minutes, but became a joke in terms of how complex the trip became.  Going forward, Sandi will use this story whenever I try to get cheap on transportation.  ;-)

Our trip home was on Delta, through Detroit.

Ontario Canada

I flew to Toronto Wednesday via Minneapolis.  Sandi was already there working.  The traffic leaving Toronto was stop and go.   I met Sandi at the Frederick Inn B&B in Kitchener Ontario. We had dinner at Arabesque, a middle eastern restaurant where Sandi knows the owners.

Thursday I dropped Sandi at work, and paddled the Grand River.  The Grand was low, no rapids.  In places you could not tell that you were not in the wilderness. We had a pleasant dinner at  Borealis restaurant; we sat on the patio and ate local food in old schoolhouse.

Friday Sandi stopped by the company she has been working for, for a meeting.  I drove to the Toronto airport; the traffic was somewhat better. We took the Up train from the airport to Union Station in Toronto. The station is undergoing remodeling, so it took a bit to find a restaurant.  We had lunch at the  Grab and Go at Union Station. We took the train to Kingston, about three 3 hours. Paul J picked us up, and we took the ferry to Amherst Island, population 400.  Paul has a waterfront home facing Lake Ontario.  (Later on in the trip we will visit Paul Y.)

Saturday we went to the island's farmers market, where we met locals. The Amhearst island mens society was there, selling thrift store items. We visited the island museum, where we bought a booklet on the island's drystone walls.  We drove to the East end of island, and learned about the windmill controversy, which has split the island. I took a nap while Paul J and Sandi talked work.  Sandi and I took a walk in the afternoon and looked at cows. Life is slower on the island.  We had dinner at Paul's, on the deck.

Saturday night the wind blew, so we woke up Sunday to larger waves.  We went to the Anglican church, as the catholic church is not in use.  The service was almost the same as the Catholic mass.  It was raining hard when we left the church.

In the afternoon we took a drive to the west end of the island, and visited Topsy Farms, where Sandi bottle fed lambs, and Richard fed them dry food.  Sandi plans to order some yarn from them, and perhaps doing some consulting for them, getting paid in yarn.  ;-)

One of the drystone walls.

We had a nice dinner on the deck, with an impressive sunset.  Tomorrow we will see Richard's friend, Paul Y. in Kingston, and then take the train to Toronto

Paddling the Yampa River

We had a permit for the Yampa River for July 22nd.  Like everyone else, I drove to Deerlodge campground on the 21st.   Shortly after I arrived, Jim and John from Idaho appeared, completing our team of seven.  The balance of the team was Roger, Steve, Sonia, and Don.

Driving through Steamboat on the way to Dinosaur National Monument brought up a lot of memories, of the many times that Marianne and I drove to Steamboat to ski, to visit Teresa, or just to be tourists. 

On the 22nd, we got on the water by 9, which was surprisingly early.  Our group was consistently on the water between 8:30 and 9 ever day, pretty impressive.  Our first camp was at Ponderosa.

The water was low, 500 cfs at launch, and the 23rd was the day where we scraped our way down the river, hitting many rocks.  We camped at Big Joe, and smelled smoke near dusk.

We saw bighorn sheep almost every day, as well as a bald eagle and an otter on the first day.

 

Having fun at Signature Cave.

On the 24th, we did not scrape as much.  We hiked up to Signature cave, and to Mather's cave (alcove), where we saw indian grain bins.  We camped at Laddie Park 1.

Grain bins at Mather's Cave

On the 25th, we got to the infamous rapid, Warm Springs.  With the low water, it looked like a minefield of rocks.  Jim ran it well, but I flipped at the top of the rapid and swam it.  After that, no one would run it, so Jim ran most of the boats down.  Much of the gear was portaged around the rapid.  The Yampa emptied into the Green River below Warm Springs; you could see the two colors of the two rivers at the confluence.  The Green was flowing about 2000 cfs, so the difference in flow was dramatic.

Richard

Jim

We stopped at Echo Park for water, and to visit Whispering Cave.  Well before we reached the cave entrance, we could feel a stream of cold air.  We could see quite a way up the crack above the entrance.  We concluded that this was a kind of reverse chimney, where the hot air entered at the top, and cooled as it went down.  On our way back to the boats, a nice couple in an RV gave us a chilled bottle of wine, a spontaneous and generous gift!

Up until the Green River, we had not seen another human being.

We were pinned down by high winds for 30 minutes, but the wind died down, and we were able to continue to Seacliff camp.

On the 26th, we paddled to Jones Hole, and hiked up the creek to Ely Falls.  Someone would sit at the top of the falls, blocking the water, and then get up and release a surge of very cold water.  Lots of fun.    We continued down the river through bumpy rollers, with a fast current.  We camped at Island Park.

John at the entrance to Split Mountain canyon

The 27th was our last day, through Split Mountain.  These were fun rolling rapids, which did not cause us any trouble.    Before long, we arrived at the takeout, where we took a photo and then headed for home.

Overall, this was a very nice trip.   This was a trip mostly for the scenery, with lots of flat water.  Since the Yampa was low, there was not a lot of current in most places.  It would be fun to do it again at higher water.

Roger and Steve

Sonia and Don

Thanks to Sonia for some of the photos, and thanks to all for a great trip.