Thousand Island from Gananoque

Thousand Islands is a group of 1864 islands off the St Lawrence River and is a shared national park between the US and Canada. You can explore the National Park via a cruise out of Gananoque, which is what we did. However, it was raining the day we arrived in Gananque, so we had to wait until 4:30pm to take our 3 hr boat cruise around the thousand islands. (We wanted to take the 5 hr cruise that drops off at the famous Boldt Castle to hike for 2 hrs but they don’t offer that on the week days, only weekends.) To kill time until our boat cruise, we had lunch at Stonewater Pub, and then took a nap at the hotel.

Fish Tacos for lunch at Stonewater Pub. Yummy! The batter is nice and light and the garnishes complimented the fish well. We sat in the upstairs patio which is cute, and bright compared to downstairs which is more dark

Shrimp po boy at Stonewater Pub. Also delicious 

Then about a hour before the cruise we walked from our hotel to the boat dock and played some Pokémon until it was time to board the ship.

Once on the boat, there’s a narration in English and French over the loud speakers. It was not a bad 3hr tour for $48 per person, although the hubby thought that the boat cruise at Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands was much better. But it’s hard to compare. Florida waters are much warmer and there were dolphins and pelicans abound when cruising around the ten thousand islands. Here in Canada/US’s Thousand Islands, it’s really cold. Even at the end of May, people had on down jackets and gloves and most still couldn’t stay on the top deck for more than an hour. So there’s no wildlife other than gulls to be seen on this tour.

From the boat you will cruise by lots of islands. There are large islands and really small islands that fit exactly 1 house. To count as an island, it has to have at least 1 tree and have 1 square foot of land above water all year.

Boldt Castle: The historic summer home was built by George Boldt for his wife, Louise, between 1900 and 1904. Unfortunately Louise became sick and died. George was heartbroken at her passing, and stopped building the castle. After George passed away, the castle fell into further disrepair. Eventually in 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority took ownership and operates Boldt Castle as a non profit organization.

Boldt Castle

Right before we got close to the famous Boldt Castle, they told us about the history of thousand island dressing. They said that George Boldt’s chef came up with the dressing and he liked it so much, he requested it be put on the menu at his Waldorf Astoria Hotel. There are actually many stories of who invented thousand island dressing, but whatever the origins, all the stories point toward this dressing as the traditional sauce used in the Thousand Island region.

After the cruise, we walked into town and ate dinner at a cute Czech restaurant called Maple Leaf. Everything was delicious and a perfect way to end the day.

Pork Schnitzel, salad, pickles, and spaetzle (bits of pasta)

Apple strudel 

The next morning, we took a stroll along Gananoque River park, and the checked out of the hotel and headed towards Niagra Falls. 

Metal art sculpture at the park 

Awwwww cutie chicks!