It has been two years since we last hugged our grandchildren. While we were able to see them however briefly on Skype visits, they did not prepare us for what we encountered on our first face to face meeting. In October 2019 they were children and we interacted with them as such.
Who we found in October 2021 were not children anymore but little adults. Our childish ways were no longer cute as their expectations of how grandparents should act had been raised to a new bar.
Week one resulted in one word replies to our questions, week two, four or five word responses and by the time we departed whole conversations with opinions and ideas that is when they weren’t glued to their cell phones. We have successfully reconnected.
We have now vowed that barring a nuclear war, we will not allow what ever life throws at us to let more than a few months pass between visits. The icing on the cake is that Peterborough is lovely place with lots of things to entertain us and with the kids in school we had plenty of time to explore till we had to pick them up.
We spent a lovely morning in the small town of Port Hope on Lake Ontario to watch 20 kilogram Chinook salmon attempting to climb a fish ladder around a small hydro dam.
It was mesmerizing watching these huge fish make attempt after attempt to reach their spawning beds. It was not a simple leap of faith as some ignored the ladder and tried to make their way up the sluice walls.
A round of disc golf closed out the afternoon.
We spent a Sunday morning cruising the Otonabee River and on into the Trent Severin Waterway. The waterway is a 386 kilometre long canal that connects Lake Ontario all the way to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Started in 1833, the last section of the canal into Georgian Bay was finished in 1920. There are 44 locks, many over a hundred years that allow boats to avoid the rapids and falls along the way.
The waterway served as the super highway for trade and transportation in 19th Century Central Ontario and the early years of the 20th Century. A wider Welland Canal completed in 1932 replaced it as it could handle the larger ships that had begun entering the Great Lakes system. The Trent Severin continues to operate today as a marine park moving pleasure craft around the many lakes of Central Ontario.
The big draw for me was the chance to ride a 117 year old elevator for boats.
This lift lock would lift our boat over 64 feet in the air in about 5 minutes.
At this speed, it would take you over two hours to get to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto.
This was all done hydraulically as they hadn’t invented electricity when it was built. The view from the boat on our return trip was very trippy.
We also shoe horned in a visit to the Canadian Canoe Museum. Can you get any more Canadian? Our planned 30 minute visit grew into 90 minutes so don’t get me started about canoes unless you have 90 minutes.
Between dropping off the grandkids and picking them up from school we made a run out to the Whetung Ojibwa Centre, part souvenir shop/museum on the Curved Lake First Nations Reserve. The Ojibwa (known as Chippewa in the US) are one of the largest populations of Native American peoples. We are always on the look out for a new addition to our aboriginal frog collection. We found nothing of note but we did score some cheap gas for the rental car.
As previously stated, we will not allow life to get in the way of frequent visits with our grandchildren so readers, be prepared for more.
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