07 AUG 2010

We finished a coffee with Paula and headed into Toronto to see the CN Towers. Of course since today is Saturday, we expected a relatively light traffic flow – relatively being the operative word. This time we prepared ourselves with a good idea of the roads we would be taking and found that the GPS agreed with us, so easy drive. NOT!!!!

There seems to be some type of rule at play right now, if we plan to go somewhere, there has to be be at least a couple of construction zones to detour around – with no help to figure out how. This time we had the entire QEW (yep you read it right the entire QEW) shut down so all in-bound traffic was diverted to Lakeshore Blvd so it was slowwwww going. Needless to say we also had planned our arrival to the CN Tower via QEW so we were a little concerned but found out way no problem.

Parking again – yep we got to pay 20 dollars to park the car for the day. Turns out that the Blue Jays have a game today and parking is going to be a challenge so we lucked out in finding one at all. The tower, now that is a beautiful sight. We joined the other few thousand tourists and got to the viewing platform. It was Wes’ first time here and he really did enjoy the views, and the height.

I was thrilled to learn that I could watch the baseball game from here looking directly down into the Sky Dome. I took a picture to send to my son so he could appreciate the view we got of the game. I think tickets to the game might be cheaper than paying for the tower visit.. but....

The see through floor was fun as well as the panoramic views. We spent time trying to figure out where downtown Toronto was but finally had to admit we really did not know. It would have been fun to have someone there who knew Toronto well and could point out different places.

Then we went to the Sky Pod which is another 34 floors above the viewing level. To achieve this we had to wait in a lineup for an hour to get up to the pod. Again wow but lots of people in a narrow walk so was a bit more crowded. We returned to earth having enjoying being in the tallest tower in the world (until 2007 when it lost its title). I do not have all the stats for the tower but it is well worth visiting and using googling for detailed information.

We hit the road again having spend until early afternoon in the CN Tower area. Time to think about where to travel to and we both agreed that a campsite in Kingston would be great. We looked things up and found one called Rideau Acres on the outskirts of Kingston. Well the park is full, and looks very well maintained. Looks can be deceiving!!! We got a wonderful tent site right beside the river.

The sites are spacious but there is no vegetation to provide a sense of privacy. We noted that we had no picnic table at our site, but there a site over a couple of spots had 3. So we went over and asked if we could have a table – no problem but we had to carry it back. Ok, not serious. Then we went to the bathroom – a porti potti – to discover it was GROSS, disgusting and the tank was virtually full. YUCK. So we checked out the permanent facility about a ½ a km away in the park to discover it not much better. OK, we will manage.

We are finished dinner to relax. Fortunately I like country music since a group across the way from us felt the need to play the country radio at a volume to share with everyone. I mean it was loud. Next the camp fires were started and so we were ensured to be free of mosquitoes with the amount of smoke floating around us. The good news is that by 11 the music was shut off and the fires started to die down. We had a good sleep so not all lost. I would NOT NOT NOT recommend this campsite to anyone and that is the first time I have ever felt that strongly.

Enough negative, I am going to end on a positive note. The sunset was great over the water.