#Schummer14: Day 7 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ Toronto to Thousand Islands

After dropping our friends Charlie & Kim off at the airport to fly home to New York just before lunch, we left Toronto to head toward Montreal. It would have been an easy trip to drive the whole route that afternoon, but we decided to stop along the way at the Thousands Islands (or 1000 Islands) area and spend one night outside of Canada’s two largest cities.

We could have explored this area a lot more than we did (observation tower, hiking, etc.) but we were pretty wiped out after a lot of walking and constant activity in Toronto. So we opted for a peaceful boat tour of the Thousand Islands from Rockport, Ontario, and then settled into our hotel fairly early.

For about 30 minutes, we were back in the U.S.A. The 1000 Islands are actually 1,864 islands that span both the U.S. (New York) and Canada (Ontario). They are in the St. Lawrence River where it flows into the northeast corner of Lake Ontario.

We saw islands with huge mansions and one with a castle (Boldt Castle), and we saw tiny islands where the entire surface area was taken up by a modest home. To be officially considered an island in the Thousand Islands, it has to stay above water 365 days a year and support a living tree.

And about the name … yes, Thousand Island the dressing has a connection to this area. Legend has it that an operator of luxurious hotels in New York in the early 1900s, George Boldt (who built the castle), vacationed in the 1000 Islands. On one of his trips, he asked his chef to whip up a dressing with ingredients they had on hand. Boldt liked it so well he started to serve it at the restaurants as 1000 Islands dressing and it became a thing.

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#Schummer14 – Lee & MeLinda Schnyder are turning their home in Wichita, Kan., over to a friend and taking a month-long road trip. They’ll travel from Kansas to Ontario and Quebec, Canada; then through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The trip home will include stops in Ohio and Missouri. Beyond the blog, you can follow #Schummer14 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.