Camping in Kingston, Ontario

We spent a lovely weekend in this lovely place. A little camping, and a little 1000 islands boat cruise.
Twas our first camping trip with our little munster, and it was pretty successful. I would refuse to believe otherwise though, even if it were true.





Nothing is uneventful with a one year old around that's for sure. For starters, SOMEBODY did a twoosy on the tent floor - must have been just so excited to be camping! He'll probably want us to tell that story a lot when he's older - haha. ;)
Friday night was freezing - 8 degrees - at night, but I tell ya, it felt like zero. Needless to say, the little guy slept with us instead of in the playpen. We all wore hoodies and pants to bed (that's trousers for you brits, a tad warmer than the british "pants"). We slept on an air mattress with a fitted sheet, a top sheet, a thick sleeping bag and a woven blanket - not enough! Saturday night was a tad cozier with a few minor adjustments, but ended in rain Sunday morning. I do love being in a tent and hearing the rain come down (trying not to think about the packing up of wet stuff, and what you may have left sitting outside but are way too tired to go and rescue at this point).

Saturday was a beautiful day. We took a 3 hour boat cruise through the 1000 islands which was a really nice way to spend an afternoon, not to mention pretty reasonably priced. We did the cruise from Kingston, but have heard if you take it from Gananoque you get a bit more island and a bit less open lake, so may be worth giving that a shot.






Yes folks, it's true. Best Town Crier IN THE WORLD!
I wonder if this is a paying gig??

And finally, a stop off at the Kingston City Hall...


I just love photographing architectural details. I have many, many pics like these from my travels. There is a lot of creative inspiration to be found in building design.



Checking out a relative (great-great-grandfather) hanging on the wall of the fourth floor. He was the mayor in 1900. A pretty cool feeling seeing this. Apparently the painting weighs over 300 pounds. The ornate frames help with that. I don't believe there are too many people these days who would endure the long motionless hours required to have their portrait done in the way they used to.

We definitely learned a few camping lessons this weekend, and feel much better prepared for our second try next weekend.
Lesson #1 - We cannot start making dinner as late as we used to do. Trying to make dinner, entertain young master, build a fire, clean up cooking mess, and put little one to bed is just not all that reasonable.
Also, we forgot that when we cook a camping feast it often takes a couple hours, and little people just don't like to eat at midnight (Go figure?..) !


Roasted fennel, Sauteed Mushy's, Steak, & Roasted potatoes w/ carrots, onions, garlic cloves, and red pepper. Pretty awesome dinner even if we did have to wait until about 10pm to eat it!

Lesson #2 - Bring sweet little fleecy hat for youngin' always. Temp drops sometimes at night, and nothing maintains warmth like a cosy hat.
Lesson #3 - Do not let baby run naked in tent, unless you don't mind cleaning up a bit of a mess. Our boy takes advantage of his freedom quickly, every time!
Lesson #4 - (And then I'll call it a day on the lessons, as the word lesson is getting me down)
Do not pack the morning you are leaving to go camping, especially when it is the first time in 2 years. Unless of course, you don't mind a hundred different small bags of crap that you panicked about and stuffed in the car. (Classic move by me!)

xo