Arctic Songbird Adventures

It was a great day of cruising and we went through many locks. We decided to take a side trip up the Tay Canal to Perth and it was wonderful. The canal is very narrow, shallow, and winds through swamps and forests. We saw a few birds and one turtle. The lock attendant told us there were lots of water snakes but they were harmless. We didn't see anything slithering but suspect it might not be a fun place to anchor overnight! The town of Perth was voted the number one prettiest town in Ontario, according to several residents. We thought it was beautiful and loved the park, with the stream running through. There are some beautiful churches and government buildings dating to the 1800's. We are the only boat at the dock so hopefully it will be a quiet night.

Two days of sun, rain, and thunderstorms while cruising the beautiful Rideau Canal, but we have survived the less than perfect weather. We departed Ottawa late in the day after waiting for Mark and Lynn to arrive since we hadn't seen them since Chambly. We figured we might not meet up with them again so we visited awhile and then said our good byes.  We had only been cruising about 30 minutes when we came into a lake filled with kids kayaking and canoeing.  As we were turning back into the canal I noticed two boys flip over in their canoe. I immediately maneuvered the boat alongside and pulled them aboard. Thankfully they were wearing life jackets as they were already getting tired. We wrestled the canoe across the cockpit of our boat and dumped the water out. Within 10 minutes they were back to paddling and we were on our way to the first lock of the day.  We ended up staying atat the fourth lock of the day and had tasty quesadillas for dinner. Tuesday brought some inten...