North America 2022 : Friday September 9 Day 11 A Drive to Kingston

If we could have our time again we probably would have done things differently with this Canadian trip. My guess is that we would have flown directly from Chicago to Quebec City, heading as far east as we were likely to go, and then heading steadily westward until we met our cruise at the end of the trip. But this was all thrown out by: 1, my initial desire to see the town of Middlemiss in Ontario; and 2. our inability to easily cross from Detroit to Windsor. If we had dropped all of that at the start, before we had made other bookings along the way, things might have been a bit more straightforward.

As they stood we were now being forced to backtrack past Toronto, heading east. Our next major destination was the Thousand Island area of Ontario.

So, up early, packed and down to breakfast before saying goodbye to Niagara-on-the Lake and heading back towards Toronto. We had been recommended to drop into the wine area of Vineland along the way but decided to skip it, firstly due to timing and secondly because we had a long drive ahead and I didn’t want my faculties diminished in any way.

On most long trips of this kind there are days when you have to spend most of it just moving from one location to another. This was the first of those days this time round.

Robyn had decided to stay overnight in Kingston as it was close to the embarkation port for a cruise she wanted us to take the next day – Gananoque – but nowhere near as expansive for a night’s accommodation.

We made it into Kingston in the early afternoon in time to check-in and wander down to the town’s tourist information office. There we bought tickets on the town’s tour bus and spent a pleasant hour being driven around the naval college and the getting a view of the old houses and the university.

Robyn had us booked into a B&B which she said reminded her of the Adams Family house. I wasn’t so sure.

Dinner was at a local pub. By that time I was starting to realise that Canadian pubs have a standard menu, five or six dishes (fish and chips, burgers, salads, etc) with minor variations from place to place. It was starting to get a bit monotonous.

Day 3 driving map: