Smith Falls Ontario Canada

Smith Falls:  We stayed 2 nights in Smith Falls.  It was heavenly to stay put for 2 full days.  Our first day we explored the bike routes provided in the tourist brochure.   We aborted our tour before completing the 2nd route provided for 2 reasons.  First, it was over 90 degrees and second, the routes took us through city streets that appeared to have little to offer in terms of things to look at.  We did see some older architecture houses and a great located convenience store where we bought and rapidly consumed bottles of water. 

We walked our bikes down the main street, Beckwith, while checking out the surroundings.  I knew we were in the classy part of town when we passed in this order: a pawn shop, a thrift shop, and to top it off a tattoo parlor. Unfortunately, I am not certain there was a better part of town.  Walking the opposite direction from downtown, we found an Independent Grocery Store, a Canadian Tire (like Kmart), a Walmart, McDonald's and DQ. 

The second day we visited the Rideau Canal Welcome Center with numerous exhibits showing the origins and operations of locks.  I received a slight scold and 10 minute explanation as to why it had been inappropriate for me to refer to their center as a "museum".  We started the tour with a video on the basement floor level explaining the history of the canal and then were told to go to the  fourth floor and work our way back down to the ground floor.  We were told where to find the elevator, but the captain insisted that walking up the 5 flights to the top would be good exercise, so of course, we walked.  At the very top of the mill used for the non-museum there was an observatory looking out over Smith Falls so we could get our bearings and check the maps on the walls for interesting sights. 

The most amazing part of the non-museum was the hand-embroidered panels (27 of them) done by a proud Canadian woman over a 4-year period. I have done quite a bit of embroidery in my day, and I had 2 observations.  First, I could not sew the words of the panels in a straight line as she had done and second I could not have finished one of them in 4 years.  Truly amazing exhibit showing the culture of the Canadian Provinces and her love of the country.

Our last day in Smith Falls, other than the non-museum tour, was to laze around the boat and do some reading and some swimming off the back of the boat.  All told it was a great two days of exploration and relaxation.  We have a couple of stops coming up as we work our way to Ottawa where I have no idea if we will find WiFi or not.  I'll post as WiFi availability allows.

 Smith Falls Photos