Smiths Falls

Hi Blog! Today is Sunday, September 14, 2014, and we are freezing our butts off up here in Canada. The weatherman is calling it a cold snap, but I think the polar vortex is back! Luckily for us, the rain has let up and the sun is almost ready to make an appearance. Perhaps we'll finally get out of the 40s today. We are hoping for a few warmer days to finish out our visit to Canada. We decided to put off our bike ride to Ottawa for a warmer day. Today we drove over to Smiths Falls to have a look-see.

Smiths Falls is a town in Eastern Ontario famous because the Rideau Canal waterway passes through the town, with four separate locks in three locations and a combined lift of over 50 feet. In order to create a lock system, the Rideau River had to be dammed to create a pond large enough to fill the locks. Here is Kathy peering over at the famous Smith Falls.

The spillway gives the illusion of an infinity pool.

An article in Smith's Gazetteer in 1846 described the town as a "flourishing little village pleasantly situated on the Rideau River and on the Canal, fourteen miles from Perth. It contains about 700 inhabitants. There are fifty dwellings, two grist mills (one with four run of stones), two sawmills, one carding and fulling mill, seven stores, six groceries, one axe factory, six blacksmiths, two wheelwrights, one cabinet maker, one chair-maker, three carpenters, one gunsmith, eleven shoemakers, seven tailors, one tinsmith and two taverns."

In the 1850s the major railway companies were looking to build main trunk lines linking Toronto, Kingston and Montreal. A bascule bridge (commonly referred to as a drawbridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or "leaf," throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. The name comes from the French term for balance scale, which employs the same principle. Bascule bridges are the most common type of movable span because they open quickly and require relatively little energy to operate.

The "Scherzer" rolling lift is a patented refinement by the American engineer William Donald Scherzer. The rolling lift trunnion, raises the span by rolling on a track resembling a rocking chair base. Doesn't it look like a big rocking chair?

We just happened to be walking by one of the original locks, Lock 31, just as a boat and canoe were getting ready to continue their journey downstream toward Ottawa. If you look to the right of the photo, two Parks Canada rangers are turning a hand crank closing the lock gate.

We took a little video of the canoers paddling through the lock.  The water level dropped 8 feet before they could proceed out the gate on the far side.  Here the Parks Canada employee is turning the bridge out of the way so the boat could pass.  The canoers went right under. :)

Further downstream, we got a good look at the old locks No. 28, 29 and 30.  When a new traffic bridge was needed, the old locks were shut down and a new combined lock was created.  Here is a photo of the old locks, through which some water still flows and which someone has decorated with pots and plants:

Instead of three 8-foot locks, there is now just one giant 26-foot lock:

We started to work our way down to the last lock in Smiths Falls, but lunch was calling us, so we went back into town to find one of those pubs they talked about in the newspaper article.

It didn't take long to find Rob Roy's Pub.  It sit right next to the river with a commanding view of the falls.

Luckily, it wasn't that crowded and we were able to score a table with a view of the falls. We could have sat outside on their big roomy deck IF IT WASN"T SO FRIGGIN' COLD! But, who's complaining?  At least the sun finally came out.

Did you know that Canada likes to paint it's highways on Sundays?  On our drive home, we had the pleasure of following a paint truck down a two lane country road for 10 miles.  I think, by the time the paint truck pulled over, we had a 10 mile backup.  The slow going did afford us the opportunity to look around.  Here we found Great White's Uncle - International Blanco.  He's for sale if anyone out there is looking for an RV hauler.  Located on Route 43 in Kemptville, Ontario, Canada. I am sure they with throw in the combine if you ask.

Our trip to Smith Falls was just our introduction to the Rideau Canal.  The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States. The Canadians were not very happy after the War of 1812. I don't know why:  they won! Regardless, they didn't trust the U.S. and wanted to make sure they had a shipping lane to transport goods from Toronto to Montreal just in case we decided to attack again.

The Rideau Canal remains in use today primarily for pleasure boating, with most of its original structures intact, operated by Parks Canada. You can buy a permit to travel through the locks based on the length of your boat. The locks on the system open for navigation in mid-May and close in mid-October. It is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tomorrow, we hope to bike along the canal into downtown Ottawa.  Wish us luck!

Der Diefenbunker!

The Diefenbunker is one of several Emergency Government Headquarters, or nuclear fallout bunkers, built by the Government of Canada at the height of the Cold War in the early 1960's.  The Diefenbunker is the largest one of these.  It was built to hold the key members of Canada's Federal Government.  Known as Canadian Forces Station Carp (or CFS Carp), it is located in the rural farming community of Carp, Ontario, approximately 19 miles west of Ottawa.

John Diefenbaker --

-- was Prime Minister at the time the bunkers were created, and the political opposition immediately dubbed them "Diefenbunkers."  Much as with Obamacare, the name stuck and is now the popularly recognized name of this facility.  Sadly, Prime Minister Diefenbaker, who was extremely popular with average Canadians, was primarily responsible for such human rights developments as the granting of the right to vote to First Nations peoples, and the adoption of the Canadian Bill of Rights, may be most immediately remembered for authorizing these bunker facilities, which were extremely controversial and which brought him much negative press.

The Diefenbunker required 32,000 tonnes of concrete and 5,000 tons of steel to construct.  It was designed to withstanding a nuclear blast up to 5 megatons from 1.1 mile away. It had massive blast doors at the surface, as well as extensive air filters to prevent radiation infiltration.  Underground storage was built for food, fuel, fresh water, and other supplies. The bunker was built to accommodate 565 people for up to one month without receiving additional supplies from the outside. It included an emergency broadcast studio for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a vault on the lowest level to hold the gold reserves of the Bank of Canada.

Construction began in 1959 in an abandoned gravel pit and was completed by 1962.  While it was never actually used, plans to move government officials to it were activated during the Cuban Missle Crisis.  The site was owned and operated by the Government of Canada, Department of National Defense until 1994, when it was decommissioned following the reduction in the ICBM threat and the formal joint announcement by then-President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev of the formal end of the Cold War. After the local municipality took control of the facility in 1994, the community took a great interest in the bunker, requesting access to public tours of the facility. The local municipality took control of the facility and a group of local volunteers, recognizing the heritage and tourism value of the Carp Diefenbunker, undertook to open the facility as a cold war museum and conduct public tours. In 1998, it was reopened as a museum and designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Currently, the facility operates as a museum and is open year round for tours.

Here is a photo of the unassuming entrance to the facility, which the public enters through the small double doors on the lower front right corner:

The two large cone-shaped objects are air raid sirens designed to help warn the Canadian public at large of an impending air attack.

The bunker facility, over 100,000 square feet, contains four stories:

Many areas of the bunker have been restored to their original operational condition and are open to the public. The rest of the 358 rooms have been converted to exhibits of the Cold War era.

As we entered the small door at the front of the shed, we saw a large introductory sign, displays about atomic bombs, and a huge corridor leading to the main entrance of the facility:

Here is how the blast tunnel looked as we walked in to the entrance:

Most of the rooms in the facility contained the original furnishings and equipment that stocked the facility.  As one would enter the original bunker during its operation, the person would be required to pass through the radiation detection and detox area.  If someone was carrying too much radiation, they would have to strip, shower and be issued special clothing to protect others in the facility.

If someone fell victim to radiation poisoning, or if anyone in the facility became sick or was injured, there was a state-of-the art medical center, including the following operating room:

Many technical areas remain much as they were.  Here is the Message Control Room --

-- and here the Emergency Radio Room:

On the lowest level, we got to tour the original vault in which would be stored the gold stocks of the Bank of Canada.  This was necessary because, during the Cold War, Canada was still on the Gold Standard and needed to maintain the basis of its currency:

The bank vault stood alone, with four combinations from four different people required in order to gain admittance to it.  On the outside, mirrors were built at each of the four corners of the vault, in the hallway surrounding the vault, so that the bank guards could, with a glance, see everything that occupied the hallway around the vault:



Today, the interior of the vault displays art relating to the Cold War and nuclear holocaust:
 

On the second level below the main entrance lay some of the most sensitive areas of the facility, including the Federal Warning Center, which reminded us of NASA's Mission Control from the era of the 1960's.  This room has since been modified for use as a meeting/education room:

However, the War Cabinet Room is furnished much as it was.  You can imagine the key Federal Government leaders sitting around this table, making the difficult decisions that would be inevitable in the case of a major military disaster:

More graphic yet was the Emergency Government Information Center, which displayed actual maps showing air defenses and vulnerabilities, and listed the initial procedures that would be required in the event an emergency were declared:

The Prime Minister him/herself would live and work in a suite right in this part of the facility.  Here is a view of the PM's office and living quarters:

As with everyone staffing the facility, the Prime Minister would be required, in the event of an emergency requiring evacuation to the bunker, to leave his/her spouse, children and family behind, knowing full well that they would not survive a nuclear attack.  It was rumored that Prime Minister Diefenbaker had informed his chiefs of staff that he would not enter the bunker without his wife.  One wonders what would have happened when - confronted with an absolute limit on occupancy and the crisis in leadership that would arise if the PM himself violated this most stringent of rules - the military guards were instructed to bar the Prime Minister from entering except if he entered alone.  There would be, in effect, an immediate resignation and decision making would devolve to other officials.  Not the best start for a government in crisis.

The tour was sobering.  It was made more meaningful by an audio guide on iPhones, which we could play on our own timing as we walked at our own pace through the facility.  We think that the only other tour we took that was as dramatic and informative as this was our tour of Alcatraz in San Francisco.

After the tour, we drove over to Alice's Village Cafe in the village of Carp, not far from the bunker museum:

The museum docent recommended it for its delicious sandwiches, and she was right.  We shared a great spinach panini and carrot-ginger soup.  By this time, it was raining pretty hard outside, and you can see from the photo below that we were happy we were warm and dry inside the restaurant:

Our tummies and brains thus filled, we drove back to the RV campground, eager to kick up our cold feet in warm mukluks in front of the fireplace and catch up on blogging, e-mails, news, etc.

Upper Canada Village

Hi Blog! Today is Friday, September 12, 2014. Back in Brighton, we asked our neighbors from the Ottawa area what should we see when we got to their neck of the woods.  They suggested the Upper Canada Village. As soon as we got into our campground, we looked it up in the tourist brochures. We learned that Upper Canada Village is a heritage park in the village of Riverside near Morrisburg, Ontario, which depicts a 19th-century village in Upper Canada.

Upper Canada??? I didn't know there was more than one Canada.  Is that like North and South Dakota? North and South Carolina? We had no idea, so we had to look that up, too.  You see, Upper Canada existed from December 26, 1791 to February 10, 1841 and generally comprised present-day Southern Ontario. The "upper" prefix in the name reflects its geographic position being closer to the headwaters of the Saint Lawrence River than that of Lower Canada/or present-day Quebec to the northeast.

Construction of Upper Canada Village began in 1958 as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project, which required the permanent flooding of ten communities in the area, known as The Lost Villages. Upper Canada Village was a part of the project's heritage preservation plan. Many of the buildings in Upper Canada Village were transported directly from the villages to be flooded.

We begin our journey back in time aboard a stage coach.

We arrive on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River in 1866. Here a local farmer is taking his plow to the blacksmith to have a broken part mended.



Upper Canada Village tries to depict life in a rural English Canadian village. There are 55 historical buildings, including several working mills (woollen mill, grist-mill and sawmill) and trades buildings (blacksmith, tinsmith, cabinetmaker, cooper, bakery, cheese-maker). Here is a look across a small bay to the town's church.

Farming is demonstrated through the growing, harvesting and processing of heritage vegetables and livestock. Here is the most modern house in the village.  It dates back to the 1850s.

We could have filled the entire blog with pictures of all the cute baby horses, sheep and cows, but you've all seen plenty of cute baby animals on Facebook. However, we just couldn't resist snapping a few photos when this guy began hamming it up!

All of the items you see in this photo were made in the village.  The tin smith made all the pots and mugs, the carpenter made the tables and chair, and the blacksmith makes all the iron work.  The village even has a shoemaker.  Everything is made as it would have been in 1866 following patterns and materials used at that time.

The cheesemakers make cheddar cheese just like they did back in the day.  Well, almost:  they are required by law to use pasteurized milk. However, everything else is just like it was done back in 1866. Samples are for sale in the gift shop. (Yes, we did bring some home with us - yum.)

Next we visited with a local spinster. She was busy spinning her yarn.  She had a really cool display on how the villagers dyed their wool using local plants and minerals.  She also had a few of the exotic minerals that only the rich folk could afford.

We thought Dave's sister, Leslie, would think this quilting table was cool.  As the village women work on the quilt, they can roll it out and roll it back again.

We had a lovely chat with the cabinet maker.  He's one of three woodcrafters making period pieces for the different properties.

Remember that farmer who needed his plow repaired, well by the time we got to visiting the blacksmith, he was busy forging the replacement parts.

Every village needs a general store and post office.



The tin smith was busy filling orders for coffee pots, tankards, dustpans and candle snuffers.

One of the more unique buildings was the Masonic Lodge.  Here is a peek inside, complete with three chairs for the masters.

Next stop:  broom maker.  I am sure the school kids were disappointed when they learned that these brooms can't fly.

We enjoyed chatting with the artisans working in the village. We took dozens of photos, but sometime a picture just doesn't tell the whole story.  Here is a small video of the lumber mill in operation.

Right next door to the lumber mill was the flour mill.:

After learning how whole wheat flour is turned into while flour, we went next door to learn how wool is processed.  Check out the woolen mill carding machines.  After the wool is spun, it is turned into blankets. You, too, could buy one of the blankets made at this mill for only $300.00. Hey, we are all for supporting the artisans who work here, but that is a little to steep for our pockets.

Here is a view of the canal that was created to power the mill district.

As we walked the streets of Upper Canada Village, we found ourselves comparing it to both Plymouth Plantation and Colonial Williamsburg. We came away feeling that the folks that work here are more than just reenactors. They truly love their crafts and like to share their skills, experience and knowledge.  It was definitely worth the trip.

Eddie & George Wake Up in Iroquois, Ontario

They're out rounding up breakfast...

Great White and Grape Red

Our plan today was to go wine tasting in Prince Edward County.  The region, located on the north shore of Lake Ontario, west of the Thousand Islands, has been the scene for a burgeoning artisanal wine industry - predominantly Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, but a number of other grapes that are amenable to this short growing season.  The wineries in Prince Edward County have joined forces to construct their own group web site, which features pages on each of the wineries.

We had spotted a number of wineries when we drove over to Sandbanks Provincial Park earlier this week, and then kayaking yesterday.  We checked them out on Yelp! and TripAdvisor and picked the four we were most interested in.

Today was going to be a great wine day.

Not.  Well, not entirely.

David took the opportunity this morning, before tonight's rains, to clean the truck windshield and check all the truck and trailer tire pressures before we move to Cardinal, Ontario tomorrow. In the process, we found that an inside dually tire was en"tire"ly flat!  Hmmm...change of plans.  Little did we know that this was merely Change of Plans #1. This could not be deferred, because when we move to Cardinal tomorrow, the extra trailer weight on the one tire could cause a catastrophic blowout.

We found a truck tire service center on our way to the wineries, called, and made an appointment.  We pulled into the service center and, true to their word, they took us right away.  But as we backed into the bay, they noticed we had a drip under our new radiator:  "You've got a transmission fluid leak."

Change of Plans #2.  We don't want a transmission breakdown on the road to Cardinal.

Luckily, the service center also had a truck repair facility.  So, after we had our tire repaired (nail in the tire - patched - $69), we moved it over to the repair bay, to find that, when our radiator was replaced a month or so ago, the Freightliner service people had reattached the transmission fluid line incorrectly, leading to a slow leak.   The proper connection was made only $298 later.

Still, we got to have a decent lunch at the truck stop while we waited, and we were back on the road by about 2:00 pm - enough time to salvage visits to three wineries.

The first winery we visited was the one we wanted to see most - it had the highest ratings on Yelp!.  Stanners Vineyard is a small volume winery that uses grapes from its own vineyards (about half of the grapes) and grapes from the Niagara region of Ontario.  Their Pinot Noir is very unusual - more French in nature than most North American Pinot Noirs. And their Cabernet Franc was quite tasty. So we bought a bottle of each.

One of the interesting features of Ontario vineyards is that, due to the long, cold winters, they must bury their vinestock in order to protect it from the subzero temperatures.  As a result, the vines are trained downward and the fruit is all borne on the lower 2 or 3 feet of the vines.  Here's a photo of their vineyard, with the winery in the background.  If you look closely, you'll see the fruit low on the vines, below the netting.  They expect to harvest in about two weeks - near the end of September:

We most liked the fact that the owner hosted us and handled the wine tasting, and spent an extended time chatting with us about wine-making generally as well as the challenges faced by vineyards and wineries in this region.

After Stanners, it was on to Hillier Creek Estates Winery:

This facility was much flashier than Stanners and appeared more retail oriented, but, in truth, we found the wine thin and uninspiring, and we weren't very impressed with the summary way the employee handled the wine tasting.  Still, the vineyard was impressive, and Great White had a lot of fun gazing out over the ripening grapes:

Our last stop was Harwood Estate Vineyards, which is a smaller operation like Stanners.  It rightfully boasts that its entire operation is powered by solar energy (well, that is, except for heating the wine tasting room in the winter, which is handled readily by a huge wood-burning stove in the back of the quonset hut that serves as the tasting room).  No flash - jest the facts, ma'am - but the wine was really good.   We picked out an "Admiral's Blend" wine that is a very tasty blend of Pinot Noir grapes and very rare St. Laurent grapes (originating in Austria and most plentifully grown in the Czech Republic), a Merlot, and, last but not least, a very tasty "Marquesa," which is an 18% ABV port-style wine from the Marquette grape.  Harwood has a very large vineyard, as we saw from the long driveway:

After all was said and done, we drove home with six very tasty bottles of great red wine, and rest a little easier that Great White won't give us any more "whine" tomorrow.

Eddie and George (Finally!) Wake Up in Brighton

What can we say?  The boys were sleepyheads.  All that travelling back and forth to Toronto, and it took them all this time to be able to get up early enough to go on a coffee walk with us.  But what a beautiful neighborhood they saw.