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We journeyed to Charleston Lake in Ontario to visit the Brownlies in early August. John and Joan picked us up at the dock and delivered us to Buck Island for several days of fun and great company. Joan provide excellent cuisine with John handling the grill. The water was warm and relaxing.
From Charleston Lake, we drove down the 401 (the Canadian equivalent of the I95 going through the city) to Newcastle for an overnight stay with the Brownlies at their home away from Charleston Lake.
We had a superb dinner in Newcastle - pizza with all the trimmings!
From Newcastle, we drove on the 401, the Queen Elizabeth Way, et al, through Toronto and headed for Niagara-on-the-Lake, a charming little city beautifully restored, which was the home of the George Bernard Shaw Festival.
After checking into the Prince of Wales Hotel (a fantastic structure - at a fantastic price), we attended the performance of Kurt Weill's "Happy End". The show was well-done and had memorable moments. The plot about gangsters in Chicago (written by Bertrol Becht, who probably never was in Chicago - and was a devout Communist in 1929 when the show was first produced) was dated but the cast gave an excellent performance. Of course, I loved the Weill score.
Thje following day we went to the main festival theatre to see Shaw's "Major Barbara". It too was a first-class production. Prior to the show, John drove us up to Niagara Falls.
It was interesting to trace the Niagara River from its mouth at Lake Ontario back upstream to the whirlpool where the river made a 90 degree plus turn back to the falls themselves. The American falls displayed the high rock pile at the base that had broken off from the lip of the falls. The Canadian side, by far the most dramatic, appears to be slowly eroding; one day it will probably reach Lake Erie (but none of us will be around to worry about it).
Following the three act performance of "Major Barbara", we said our good-byes to the Brownlies and crossed back into New York State.
We arrived in Webster to visit Marge on Thursday night (8/11). We had a pleasant day on Friday revisiting old family history and getting updated on what was happening with the Bakers. Marge took us to Todd's place of business, Pioneer Print & Copy Center, where we had a chance to see what he and Carol had accomplished.
Friday night Marge had Ashley and Kristen over (with their boy friends) along with Todd and Carol for a cook out and very pleasant family get-together. Scott and Cathy were away, camping in Vermont!
Saturday, we said our good-byes and headed home. It was a great trip but we were glad to be home after driving over 1,000 miles.
A slide show of the trip is available at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmI1 .
