Our Delayed Anniversary Extravaganz

Here We Go

Where we were going is shown on the fin of the helicopter.

Yesterday, we drove down to the St Lawrence River for a helicopter tour on the 1000 islands. It was a gift from Shauna for our 50th wedding anniversary. Note: we have been married for 56.5 years. I will explain in a moment.

Of course, our phones were busy snapping pics, but I will just show you a few photos. We were shooting through glass, so they are what they are.

There really are a 1000 islands, over 1800 in point of fact. There can be very small, of course.

reflections on the left

The islands are part of a geological feature called The Frontenac Axis. This is just something that I know from my geographical background. It was not mentioned by our pilot who did give us the typical tourist spiel — which was very nice, actually.

The Thousand Islands – Frontenac Arch region or the Frontenac Axis is an exposed strip of Precambrian rock in Canada and the United States that links the Canadian Shield from Algonquin Park with the Adirondack Mountain region in New York, an extension of the Laurentian Mountains of Québec. The Algonquin to Adirondacks region, which includes the Frontenac Axis or Arch, is a critical linkage for biodiversity and resilience, and one with important conservation potential. The axis separates the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the Great Lakes Lowlands. It has many distinctive plant and animal species. It is one of four ecoregions of the Mixedwood Plains.

The bedrock is mostly gneiss, granite, and marble, more than a billion years old. The Frontenac terrain is the youngest of the Ontario portions of the arch, dated at 1.2 billion years old. These rocks were once part of a large mountain chain of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia. (Wikipedia)

More islands below and, I think, the Canadian part of the bridge (or bridges) between the two countries. We spent some time in American space on the tour. Miraculously, it's a normal and acceptable thing in the region.

Our tour featured a fly by the two castles: Boldt and Singer. There are stories, of course, including the origin of 1000 islands dressing, and it really was invented here in one of the castles — Singer, I believe.

We crossed the 401 highway several times. It traverses all of southern Ontario from Windsor in the west to the eastern edge of Ontario and even beyond into Montreal although it is not known as the 401 there. It's not very busy here but it becomes up to 18 lanes wide in Toronto.

Highway 401 in Toronto is one of the busiest highways in North America, with a 2019 average daily traffic (AADT) of about 360,000 vehicles. The busiest section, between Renforth Drive and Highway 427, saw an average of over 450,000 vehicles per day in 2019, exceeding 500,000 on some days. The highway is vital for connecting cities like Toronto and Montreal and plays a crucial role in regional and national transportation for commuters and freight. (Google)

my shoes, the 401 and some autumn colour

Now, I shall explain, in brief terms, how it is that we are cashing in on a 50th anniversary gift, more than 6 years later.

It began as a very generous hot air balloon ride gift from Shauna. Over the intervening years, there have been at least 2 reservations that were cancelled at the last minute by the balloon pilot due to unfavourable weather condition. The conditions were not bad really, but they have to be very careful with balloons. There was COVID. There were surgeries. There was general aging and concomitant accessibility issues.

We were able to divert the funds from balloons to the helicopter rides, sponsored by the same company. Due to location, both the journey to the 1000 islands and the helicopter itself was more accessible for us, and we finally got the deal done yesterday.

Now you know the rest of the story.