In small part because we’ve been getting late starts on short travel days and in large part because up here the sun seemingly comes up in the morning only minutes after it sets the evening before, we haven’t seen many sunrises recently. This morning, however, we wanted to get across Rice Lake before the wind and the crazy weekenders arrived so we caught a good one.
Rice Lake—supposedly named such because it was a rice paddy until someone who valued water travel more than food installed the Hastings Dam and flooded the railroad—was the end of the Trent River for us, although the river actually starts there. The lake is dotted with islands that have a couple of houses but no roads. Margaret Island is a good example.
Margaret Islanders presumably have no need to worry about crime or having fun. During our crossing we encountered dudes out fishing but no railroad tracks.
Just past Rice Lake we turned north on the Otonabee River, which is unlike anything we’ve seen so far.
The swamps and the buildings along the shoreline reminded us both of Louisiana, but without alligators.
And without voodoo queens. And—fortunately for all of the wonderful citizens of Canada—without Ed Orgeron. (To celebrate the northern bayou, we later had dinner with Brent and Karen at a Cajun restaurant called Hot Belly Mama’s.)
Along the way, Dana photographed a mother loon with her cubs or puppies or whatever baby loons are called.
The Canadian dollar sports a loon and thus is called—rather logically—a loonie. That’s what they also should call the babies but probably don’t. She later spotted a Belted Kingfisher. Basically she is trying for a Big Year, made semi-famous in the grossly-underrated movie of the same name starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Jack Black. You can’t go wrong with a movie starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Jack Black so we can’t figure out why it wasn’t a hit.
When we reached Peterborough we docked up next to a boat that takes tourists up and down the lift lock, which is TSW Lock 21.
Before we get there on Monday, we have the city to explore. Tomorrow promises a visit to RibFest, which is the reason we were waitlisted for dock space. The Peterborougheans have access to a Costco, two Walmarts, and similar places typical of an advanced civilization, so some provisioning also is in order.
A bunch of boats left the marina and crossed the river to hear the blues band, which is playing long past our bedtime. Despite strict open container laws, these folks will not be in any condition to get back safely, particularly in the dark. Hopefully anyone coming near us has plenty of liability insurance.