Our next stop was the Thousand Islands Tower. I had hoped to be able to do this on the way in, but it had been too late by the time we were going past. It just meant that we had to pay the bridge toll again, but no biggie in the scheme of things. The tower is on one of the middle islands, and is technically still on the Canadian side, so at least we didn't have to leave the country lol!
The tower has seen better days. It was celebrating its 50th anniversary at the time, and didn't look like it had had any money spent on it for at least 30 years! It was great value, and I would have quite happily paid a bit more if it meant that it could get a bit of a makeover. Still, everything worked, and it's definitely the best way to get a bird's eye view of the area.
There were 3 levels at the top. The lift took us to the first level, which was enclosed with glass, and had a guide wandering around who spent quite a while with us, chatting about the history of the area and pointing things out. Eventually we climbed the stairs to the next level, which was also enclosed with glass, then to the top level, which was open air. Unfortunately the top level was kind of overrun with flying bugs not unlike hornets, so even though the view was magical from there, we headed back downstairs pretty quickly!
This is the border crossing. It was here that we learned that the actual border is over the river. They just put the formalities on the island for the sake of logistics.
We could just make out Boldt Castle. We were actually told all about another castle in the area, which you can actually rent out for the night!
When we were finished with the viewing platform, we had a browse around the shop, and were amused to find 'Australian style licorice'! I had no idea Australia had its own style of licorice lol! We both felt like an ice-cream, but unfortunately that part of the shop was closed (not sure if it was just because it was a bit late, or perhaps because it was slightly out of season, or maybe because it was a week day). The ladies in the shop were very friendly and helpful, and recommended a nice walk we could do on the way back into town.
The walk turned out to be just up the road from our accommodation, and was lovely! There were plenty of other options, but we weren't really prepared for serious hiking, so we just stuck with one of the shorter routes. It started as a nice little meandering path through the forest. There was a fair bit of wildlife around, but everything was very active and it was hard to get a good photo in the dark light of the forest.
There was a bit of a climb towards the end, to get to the hilltop.
At the top of the hill, the forest opened out onto a little rocky outcrop with lovely views. We spent a good few minutes climbing around up there exploring before settling down to take in the views for a while.
We could just make out our little cabin accommodation and the jetty there.
We were a bit too early for real autumn colour, but this far north, some of the trees were definitely starting to turn.
After our little hike, we headed back into Gan to try out pizza night at the little café from this morning.
The pizza was delicious, and it was a lovely spot to sit and eat on such a perfect evening. It actually turned out to be rather popular, and we were glad to have gotten there early. By the time we started eating, they were turning people away.
After our delicious dinner, we headed back to the cabin to finish the day with some drinks and snacks overlooking the river.
Although it had been such a perfect warm sunny day, it got cold quite quickly once the sun went down, and the bugs came out in force. We retreated back to our cabin and called it a night.