With time and money in short supply these days, one can still enjoy a change of scenery from the Finger Lakes on a weekend trip to Kingston, Ontario Canada. The travel time from Rochester, NY is about 5 hours if you take interstate 90 to Syracuse, then 81 to the 1000 Islands Bridge to Canada and then the QE2 to Kingston. Add another hour to your travel time and one can take the ferries across the St. Lawrence River by taking route 12 at Watertown to Cape Vincent, NY.
Crossing the St. Lawrence River at Cape Vincent, NY is fun and a really relaxing way to go. Since Jeanette hates to travel by car, I always tell her that we are going on two cruises to Kingston. First, you drive your car onto a ferry at Cape Vincent which takes you to Wolfs Island, the largest of the thousand islands. It’s a short 10 minute trip. Wolfs island is Canadian so be prepared to show your passport when you arrive.
The last time we took the ferries across to Kingston, I was surprised to see all of the wind generators built on Wolfs Island. There are some 80 generators located there and they are of the same size as the generators located near North Cohocton in the Finger Lakes and supply a major portion of the electricity to the city of Kingston. After crossing Wolfs Island in your car, you take the Kingston Ferry from Wolfs Island to Kingston which is operated by the city of Kingston and costs nothing. It’s a wonderful half hour cruise of the St. Lawrence River area and a great way to see the city of Kingston from the St. Lawrence River.
There’s lots to do in Kingston, but the first place to go to is the park along the harbor and sign up for the trolley ride which takes you all around the city. It’s a narrated tour so you will learn all about the historic buildings, the colleges, and the military heritage which is Kingston. At the end of the day, we stay in Cananoque which is just 30 minutes down river from Kingston. But that’s a whole other story.