RPod Adventures 2021 - Parks of the St Lawrence

This past week, two of my sisters, their husbands and I went to McLaren Campground on one of the islands of the St Lawrence Parks Commission.  Our next three camping trips will also be to the St Lawrence Parks staying at a different campground each time. We all arrived at about the same time which was a good thing. I tried to back in but because of a ditch on the other side of the road I had no room to maneuver.  I thought about trying to back in on the off side as that actually was the angle of the camp site pad and I also thought about driving through the camp site behind mine as it was empty but since the others had arrived I let my brother in law back it in. I did manage to get backed into my driveway at home on the first go so maybe I'm getting a little better. 

One of the St Lawrence Parks we've camped in before, Riverside Cedar is right on the St Lawrence so you can watch the freighters go by on the river.  McLaren is on a channel and the island just off shore is Croil Island which belongs to the state of New York. We could only see the freighters through a small gap but the channel was full of kayakers, people on paddle boards and boaters, there were even a few people swimming. 

My campsite with Croil Island, New York visible over the water

We pretty much relaxed the rest of the first day. The next day I took the dogs on a walk around the island and wading by the dock. That evening we were under a severe thunderstorm warning; the park staff even came around to warn us about the weather. We spent the evening in the fifth wheel camper. For awhile it looked like it was really going to storm but the worst of it blew over pretty quickly. I had made a foil packet dinner of shrimp and Mexican corn, that worked out well as I had made the packets in the afternoon and they just had to be cooked on the BBQ. We ate inside while it rained and enjoyed the evening chatting and drinking.

Liam and Teddy glamping

We survived

The next day while one sister and her husband went off cycling, my youngest sister and I went and did a small trail called the Chipmunk Trail. We actually drove the length of the Long Sault Parkway and stopped and walked through a picnic area before doing the trail. We were only going to give the Chipmunk trail a one star because we hadn't even heard a chipmunk, then we saw one eating right by the trail so we gave it a five star rating. He was startled by the dogs a little and moved off of the trail.  Also on the shore line, we found another place where people had built Inuksuks. Liam added another animal to the zoo that he is, when he knocked over one that I was trying to photograph. So now Liam is a gorilla, a goat, a horse and a bull.

See the stone on the rock at front, well that was a really nice Inukshuk like a person with two legs and even arms, but just as I was lining up to get a photo of it and the tall one in the water, Liam came across the front of me and knocked it over.  Oh well, we didn't do it on purpose. 

After getting back I took the dogs swimming by the dock. Teddy likes to wade and doesn't mind swimming. Liam was not a fan, when I got him in the water deep enough so he had to swim, even with the life jacket on he swims like he's trying to get out of the water. I'll have to take them again with someone to help out so I can keep him swimming longer. Beckett swam like that but once he realized he wasn't going to sink he calmed down and kept his feet under the water. 

The next day, I drove over to the Lost Villages Museum. All along this area were a number of small communities that no longer exist, many were lost to flooding caused by seaway expansion. Last year when we camped at Woodlands campground, you couldn't go into the buildings. This year the buildings are open again so you can go inside as long as you wear a mask and socially distance. 

Of course, we also had some campfires at night and enjoyed good food.  But most of all we relaxed and made memories.

Grilled peach with ricotta cheese, lemon honey sauce and mint

Home now but already thinking about the next adventure.