Kingston vacationAug 1, 2009
|
|
Wolfe Island Ferry
Canada's Military academy
Little Moe goes to sea
Friday 7/31 Easy morning, slept in some. In the afternoon we went to Wolfe Island for lunch. This involves taking a ferry [free] but there is usually too many cars wanting to travel back to Kingston, so we parked downtown and boarded the ferry as pedestrians. Canada has their “West Point, Annapolis, & Colorado Springs” all rolled in to one and it is right on the river in Kingston where the boat passes. There are some forts from the War of 1812 that saw action [Canada spanked us on that battle] and other historical stuff. Lots to see.
After a great lunch, we walked a ways to see one of the new wind turbines. On the island the big change from our last visit is the wind farm with 86 wind turbines, each 250 feet tall. Really changes the skyline here. Each rotor supplies enough power for 875 households. There is a large submarine cable connecting this installation to the grid on the mainland.
Back home Clark builds the martinis and Bev creates a marvelous dinner – Steak Oscar. I never had this before so it was a treat.
Saturday 8/01 Bev cooks an enormous breakfast with fruit, eggs, slab bacon, beans. We are used to a packet of instant oatmeal and a cup of coffee. We can get used to this but our clothes are getting tight. The adventure for the day is a drive to Peterborough, ON [about 2 hours west] to see the Lift Locks. I had never heard of this - it was simply amazing. They built this boat lock system in 1904 out of plain concrete – no re-bar and it still looks great today and is still working every day. See the pics.
Think 2 large bath tubs with a door on each end. Each tub sits on a piston sunk in to the ground, and the pistons are connected with a large water pipe and a valve [the pistons and pipes are a closed system and have no connection to the canal] . They open the doors, float the boats in, close the doors, and then open the valve. The upper level was dug one foot deeper than the lower so it holds more water [heavier] so the top tub goes down, forcing the water in its piston in to the other piston and lifting the lower tub to the top. Then the piston valve is closed holding everything in place, the water is equaled in the new “top” tub [that extra foot], and the doors are opened, out go the boats. You’d think something this massive would creep up and down. Wrong! When they open the valve, it moves a few feet slowly, then whoosh, it really goes! Too cool! This thing is entirely hydraulic, there is no pump or motor moving the water or tubs. There were some creative minds back in 1904.
That evening, Bev makes stuffed chicken with spinach and feta cheese. Man, Moe and I just love feta so we’re in heaven. We are going to miss this pampering. Thanks guy for a great three days.
