We had several single locks at Lower Nicholsons, Upper Nicholsons, and Clowes. Around 11 AM we locked through 3 locks at Merrickville, then tied up to the dock on the upper side of the locks and ventured into town for lunch and a few grocery items. We were told by a lockmaster yesterday to head to Bob's Chips and wear our stretchy pants. Last night, we looked at the menu and saw all kinds of delicious specialty poutine that we wanted to try. Bob's Chips is a permanent food truck with outdoor seating.
When we got up to the window to order, Ben decided we should pick 2 to start with and go from there. They were out of the pulled pork, so we got a My Wife's Pregnant and a Bacon Mac and Cheese with Balsamic Reduction. When they called out our name for the order, we immediately decided that 2 would be plenty. They were each in a takeout container that was overflowing with a mound of food. We dug in and both were so delicious. I wasn't expecting to also have the gravy at the bottom, like a typical poutine, but it was tasty! Ben, Bear, and Moose liked the Pregnant one best. Roo and I liked the Mac and Cheese one best. Neither one was completely finished, so we combined both into one box and took it back with us to the boat for leftovers.
The boys decided to try and get a haircut while we were in a town on a Saturday, so they walked to the barber shop while the girls went shopping. The first store we entered sold Merrickville cookies, so we decided to buy them. We got a pride rainbow cookie, cookies n creme cookie, and a Coffee Crisp cookie (one of our favorite Canadian candies). These things were the size of a hockey puck! Giant and thick. The cashier was sure to tell us to try the local sweets: cookies, fudge, and caramels.
We continued along the road and got a call from the boys saying the barber shop was closed (What?! On a Saturday?! Okay...), so they were going to try another one, closer to the grocery store we were going to meet. We met up with them when they found out that one was closed too, and made our way to the market, but stopped to get some Merrickville fudge first. (This was a 1 lb purchase of various fudge flavors that I dont remember because I don't like fudge).
Our intention was to buy some milk, toothpicks, bagels, and sausage patties at the market. We left with a 75$CAN purchase that included 1 L of milk, 4 six-packs of bagels, toothpicks, and a whole bunch of Canadian candy. Oops.
We peeked into Jac's Boutique and then went to Pickle & Myrrh to get caramels. There were several flavors and an assortment bag, so we picked the assortment and called it good. Roo was really nervous about us having bought so much sugar, but we assured her we wouldn't eat it all today.
We headed back to the Cartermaran, untied, and pushed off to travel more of the Rideau Canal. We had more locks at Kilmarnock (1), Edmonds (1), Old Slys (2), and stopped for the night at the wall at the top of Smiths Falls Combined Lock (1). (11 locks today.) Trip total: 54 locks.
Since we ended our day around 5, we had time to play. There was a playground, fountains, walking path, and historical information in our area, and we used them all! A little area close to the boat was roped off for swimming in the Smiths Falls Basin. It was not a beach area. It just had 6 step ladders along the inside edge for people to get in and swim around or to the small floating dock out by the boundary.
The kids were convinced that they would swim in it because they were so hot (high of 68 today). They changed into swimsuits and we walked over, only to dip their toes in and allow everyone to make excuses as to why they were not getting in (too deep, unknown depth, crayfish on wall, mom won't let me swim to floating dock, not zero-entry). After about 5 minutes, everyone decided they'd rather do something else, so we moved on.
Bear and Moose went crayfishing. Moose noticed tiny lobsters (crayfish) on the wall we were tied up to, and that entertained the kids for several hours. It was fun to have them busy and getting along for so long. Roo and I went to the playground. Ben and I got the kids in the boat and he and I went on a lap around the lake and read about the Rideau Canal history.
We settled in for the night to watch game 4 of the Stanley Cup (Go, Panthers!) and turned it off after the 2nd period when it was 6-0 Oilers. Guess we will watch game 5 on Tuesday.
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