I got home last night from an overnight stay at Jennifer’s in Kingston. My youngest daughter is living there as she is going to Queen’s University,
Last week I came upon a brilliant idea. Friends and family seem to think because I have the summer off I have endless time to visit and do all sorts of things, The Beachboys’ Endless Summer is certainly not reality no matter how much we dream of it. There are only so many days in the summer and they seem to just fly by. So, while trying to squeeze in all of the household tasks put off during the school year, including visits to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist etc., I treasure each and every day. So…..back to my brilliant idea. My mother is always commenting I need to go up to Owen Sound to visit her for a few days. (3 hours north) Jennifer has been wanting me to go to visit her since I hadn’t even seen her new apartment yet (4 hours west) I am at one end of Lake Ontario and she is at the other end. By brilliant idea was to combine the two visits and even throw in a visit with my niece who lives just outside of Toronto.
Tuesday morning I drove to Milton to my brother’s house. There I met my mother and we threw my niece Tamara into the car and made our way to K-town, Kingston. Three generations on a road trip!
Hours later we arrived at Jenn’s new apartment. It is a basement apartment and just perfect for her as long as she doesn’t have any guests. The kitchen has a frig on one side and a rusty oven on the other side and just enough room to walk in between. That leads to a living room with a tiny couch and book shelf and TV. Jenn’s bedroom is not a bad size as most importantly it contains room for a desk. As her purpose to being in Kingston is to get a university education I was very pleased to see signs of books and other educational paraphernalia……I hope it wasn’t planted just for our visit!!
From there we headed to the LCBO (That’s the liquor store for you non-Ontario readers) It was my mom who suggested that stop. Who knew? We then headed for the Radisson to check in. Then off to Wolfe Island by ferry. Apparently the ferry is free as it is part of the road system to allow residents of Wolfe Island to have access. Isn’t the Canadian government great? It was a 45 minute cruise into Lake Ontario and we saw lots of boats, the Kingston landscape, Fort Henry and the Royal Military College. Once again, compacting lots of sightseeing into one trip. I am nothing but a master of multi-tasking!
Then back to the hotel dining room for the most amazing meal ever!! It was real food, prepared by a real chef. Obviously nothing pre-packaged or put together like fast food. Why is that so rare these days?
We were supposed to take the “Haunted Walk” through the historical streets of Kingston but a down pour of rain started. So we ended up going to bed early.
We work up and did a quick tour of Queen’s University, picked up bread at Pan Chancho Bakery. Who knew a bakery was so famous? I still don’t what it is famous for unless it is the outrageous prices. We then did a mediocre brunch (remember that pre-packaged food I was talking about?)
We said a good-bye to Jen as we dropped her back at her place. Then we drove west along the 401 again until 3 hours later we dropped Tamara back home, my mother to her car and I headed south to Niagara.
A very fast 24-hours. I’m tired.
- Visit with my mother
- Visit with my daughter
- be a good aunt
- do something touristy
3 things checked off my summer to-do list
Now…..I have to get ready for the kitchen counter guy…….kitchen reno..more summer tasks to do.
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