North Country Vacation

  We splurged for two nights in an International Youth Hostel in Cape Vincent where the St. Lawrence River begins flowing from Lake Ontario.  It was a great place to stay, we just had to be patient with the person running it who made for a more interesting if not challenging stay for us.

  We hadn’t seen any freighters on Lake Ontario up to this point, but saw a few while there, including these two that looked like they were crashing into the foghorn building.

  I took a ferry to Wolfe Island, caught a ride across it in a pickup, almost lost my license and credit cards in the truck, then took another ferry to Kingston, Ontario to visit a friend who I worked with and lived next to us in Ithaca for a few years.  Julie arranged a huge welcome for me; thousands lined the docks as I arrived.  We then had a small gathering on the third-floor deck of their apartment overlooking the Kingston Yacht Club with Henry and their kids and some other friends visiting from Ithaca.  Membership at the Yacht Club came with the apartment so we went for a swim there off the dock and had food and drinks in the restaurant.

  
  Back in the States, Gail did some laundry, visited a brewpub and the DEC Fisheries Lab.  She also got to take part in making a shrimp feast at the hostel when a fellow guest provided 10 lbs. of shrimp for all staying there as well as some strangers he met in town and invited.  There were pirates in attendance.  I got back just in time to eat the potatoes, corn on the cob and salad and visit with a Spanish couple just like another famous seafood dinner from our past.

  The second morning started out with some dramatic light, but by the time we left it was all sun and winds at our backs.