Cranberry Bog; Beau's Brewery; Fall has arrived; Montreal

For a long time I've wanted to see a Cranberry Bog.  Today was the day!  And Oh what a visit it was!  The highlight of the day!  Only our GPS system could help us find this treasure buried deep in the country about 2 hours northeast of Kingston.  Lana and Google Chrome were instrumental in finding the Upper Canada Cranberries operation.  Their website suggested calling before visiting... so we called the day before to confirm they would be open on Sunday.  Mr. Slater answered the phone and said he had agreed to take his workers shopping at Walmart at 11am... so was hopeful we could come early.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see a Cranberry Bog... we set the alarm for 6:15am... and packed the Enclave for the trip to Montreal.

First stop... Mr. Slater's Cranberry Bog.  The bog was located down a long, bumpy gravel road.  Several times we considered turning around and skipping this stop... but finally saw signs of back country life...  a little house trailer, several old sheds, rusted machinery, and a porta-potty.

As we drove onto the property we saw someone in the trailer looking out the window... it was Mr. Slater.  He was quick to come out and welcome us... asking if we were the ones who called yesterday to confirm they were open.  We said we were.  Mr. Slater said he and his six Mexican workers hand picked some cranberries just for us.  He suggested Lana and I come into the "store" to make desired purchases and then head out to the bogs to see the berries.

 Mr. Slater and his crew not only had fresh berries for us, but also had Slate's Cranberry Sauce, Slate's Cranberry Chutney, Slate's Cranberry Jam and Slate's Cranberry Juice.  Needless to say we purchased multiple items.




Mr. Slater was so pleased to host our visit... and we enjoyed getting to know him.  Unfortunately, he had a Komatsu excavator and a Case backhoe loader on the property.  I asked him why he didn't have a Caterpillar.  In response, he said Cat's fuel economy was bad.  I dropped the subject.

Every day brings more vibrant colors.  Today was the best yet!  We both praised God for the beauty of his creation!

While eating at Chez Piggy in Kingston I ordered a beer from a small, family run local brewery.  It was very good... so we decided to make a stop on our way to Montreal.  Beau's Brewery is located in VanKleet Hill.  After tasting a few beer samples we headed out for lunch at Niko's cafe... the only restaurant open for lunch in little VanKleet Hill.  It became apparent very quickly that the locals don't get many visitors from out of town.  They were all very friendly, but kept looking at us while eating lunch and talking very quietly.

We arrived in Old Montreal mid afternoon.  Did laundry and watched American Football!  More in a couple days!