High School Reunion 60+ Years Later

We were off to Ontario again! Jim and his high school friends had a mini reunion last year, but after the death of one of their close buddies, they decided they shouldn't wait several years to have another one.

Don't you love the traffic on New Brunswick highways!

For some reason, I must have thought this was pretty significant, because I took two pictures of it. Maybe I was happy that there is a new rest stop area in New Brunswick, where they are few and far between.

Quebec!

After early morning rain, it was a lovely day for travelling with little traffic and  few delays in the construction zones.

Beautiful puffy clouds...

A Jimmy Bar! Our friend, Lorie, had given us these aptly named bars. It was pretty tasty!

Blasting along into Ontario...

I always try to snap a photo of the McRae farm as we zoom by, which is just inside the Ontario border in Bainsville. Jim's grandmother grew up on this farm. Just for the heck of it, I googled McRae Farms and, lo and behold, they have a website. We attended a 100th birthday party for Jim's Aunt Josie at the farm many years ago.

The traffic was building on the opposite side of the highway, but, so far, we hadn't experienced any delays.

We made it to our favourite stop in Cornwall, the Best Western...

And the next morning we were back at the scene of our reunion from last year, the Doran Bay resort in Iroquois.

It was pretty hot and the pool looked inviting!

They are continually doing repairs and upgrading the cabins. While they aren't the fanciest, the location works well for the group, and the cabins are clean with everything we need.

Here is the group together again, minus their dear friend, John Ballachey, who passed away in December 2017.

Tracie was the only one who actually made use of the pool! Well, at least she kept one leg cool. Most of us were trying to stay in the shade.

It is a lovely location...in the distance you can see the Iroquois dam, which helps control the level of Lake Ontario.

There are some aquatic items for the guests' use. The kayak was full of water, but we did see one person paddle boarding.

Lots of wood if you wanted to use the fire pit...

One of the huge ships that goes through the Iroquois lock on its way along the St. Lawrence Seaway...

A Google Earth photo to give you a better idea...

Lots of stories...Les looks like he isn't buying what Jim is selling!

The group and their spouses...I love this photo!

And six friends over 60 years later...friendships like this are rare and special!

The next morning several of the group opted to go to Upper Canada Village, while Jim and I decided to go into Morrisburg to see if we could get tickets to the Upper Canada Playhouse performance that afternoon.

We stopped for lunch at this eclectic cafe...

When we first walked in, I thought we were in an antique shop until I spied the tables at the back of the room.

Cute table decor...

This sign was perfectly in line with the server's personality. She has obviously worked here for years and has an answer for everything. When I asked for a coffee and a glass of water, she growled "There's water in your coffee." Yikes...yes, ma'am! She was a gem. Love the dish rag on the counter...

We noticed these beautiful murals throughout the town...

With a bit of time to kill before the play started, we did something we love to do...we wandered through the cemetery near the theatre.

This tree and headstone are growing old together...

We managed to snag the last two seats for the afternoon's performance.

The Playhouse has been operating for over 30 years in what was formerly a toothbrush and argyle sock factory. That's quite a combination!

A lovely theatre...

It was a fun performance...a bit of a madcap comedy that went completely awry in the second act.

It was starting to rain on our way back to the cabins, but I did manage to jump out and get a photo of this ship. Canada Steamship Lines has been operating since 1845. When I saw how huge the ship is, it really made me want to see one going through the locks. This ship is about 740' long.

And a scene reminiscent of last year's reunion where we spent quite a bit of time in the gazebo avoiding the rain. This is another feature that is so wonderful about this location--there is a place where we can all gather and eat together, and the guys can share many stories. Cheers!

The next morning we headed to the Iroquois lock...

There was an ice cream parlour where the owner informed us that we were out of luck. The next ship going through would be at 6:30 that night. We did capture an osprey flying into the photo...

This was one of the few times I longed for my camera with the zoom capability, instead of just my phone. I think the momma was guarding the nest. If the information on the sign was correct, the chicks would have been about two weeks old now.

From our observation point, the lock looked quite narrow. It is 80' wide and some of the ships are 78' wide. Good navigation required!

No big ships, but this pleasure craft was approaching...

And after about 45 minutes, it received clearance via the loudspeaker to go through.

It's not a quick process as it then must stop partway to check in and probably pay a toll.

With lots of hugs the next morning, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. That was a fun reunion! There is talk of having one next year in Noranda, Quebec where they went to high school.

And now it's on to Kingston for our annual family reunion!