Arthur threw Trude a birthday party and invited us to join them for a ride on a wooden boat called “The Zipper” from the Antique Boat Museum. We had a terrific time and in between talking to the other guests I was busy trying to get some photos of the river. So much for the image stabilization on my camera, out of all the photos that I took only a handful were really clean images. Was it the camera, the rocking and speed of the boat, the cocktails or hurried fashion I shot the pictures – we will never know. These photos should give you a small glimpse of the river life!

The houses range from quaint to rambling.

But most are right on the water.

Or in this case, above the water.

Boat houses are great for the boats and for those who get to live above them.

They are also very picturesque! People on the river indulge their river whims by building all sorts of things.

Some folks just have a covered dock.

Some have bridges from their larger island to their small island.

They build small little buildings on the water.

Or large stone gazebos. Everyone on the river tries to get as close to the water as they can.

Even this Blue Heron wants to be near the water but clearly can not read that he is on a private dock!

The St. Lawrence river is a major seaway and so although you have all these fabulous houses on the river it is always interesting to see them juxtaposed next to a large tanker ship like the one shown above. Where the river is narrow these ships come within a few hundred feet of the river bank or the islands. The kids always shout out “Big ship, big ship” when one goes by. Sometimes you can hear the rumbling of the engines as they pass. They are really huge and as you can see in the photo, personal watercraft are dwarfed by these ships.

It was a great trip and we thank you Arthur and Trude for including us. Happy Birthday!