Rideau Acres Campsite REVIEW

While in Kingston we stayed at Rideau Acres Campground. You can see their map for better directions on their website above but it is located on Cunningham Rd off of Hwy 15, only 1 mile North of exit 623 on the 401. 

Value 2.5/5
For us we prefer to have less and pay less when we are just passing through or have other things in the area to do. We paid $45 per night to camp here. It is a Passport America site however they do not allow discounts in the July and Aug. At 1/2 price this rating would be higher as the park did have lots to offer but we are not typival RV park people so paying $45 per night just about kills us!

Site Quality 4/5
Our site was level, full hook ups, mature trees, small fire pit and a picnic table available. There were many year round trailers here which were all taken care of nicely and not used to just store stuff as we have seen in other year round places.

Facility Fun 4/5
With swimming, mini golf, banquet hall, playground, volleyball nets and lots of different boat rentals available the park had a lot to offer. We were just using it as a place to sleep while visiting relatives so it was pricey for us but if you want a vacation place, Rideau Acres would be a good destination. There is also a campstore and I think laundry facilities too.

Natural Surroundings 4/5
Beautiful mature tree, grassy lawns and nicely landscaped, lake access and pond on property made it a very beautiful place to stay.

Bathrooms ???
They have them and have hot showers available I believe for free however we were busy with family that I forgot to check them out. I didn't see bathrooms by the pool but they might have been on the other side of the building???

Staff 3/5
The staff at the store was pleasant enough when I went in to ask about Wifi and campfire wood ($8a bundle). The staff at the entrance gate all 3 times I went there seemed a bit frazzled. Each time I went she was occupied on the phone and it would ring again while there so I guess the place gets quite busy. She could maybe use some help at the registration booth during busy times. She was friendly enough she just seemed flustered a bit.

Location 4/5
At less the 10 minutes from Kingston it's location worked well for us. Kingston apparently has lots to do but to be honest we were just there to visit family and didn't venture into Kingston at all.

Overall 3/5
For a weekly getaway for locals this place is great. My uncle used to have a seasonal trailer here for years and found it a great way to get away, yet be close enough to home that he could run to work if he needed at the spur of the moment. There is lots to do and it had a community feel to it for the seasonal residents who all know eachother. It was too expensive for us for a 2 night stop over ($90) to visit family (they had no room to park our 56') and look at some nearby acreage. Also the wifi was a problem for us. The park does offer wifi but you have to go up to the little room off of the store to use it. It does not extend to the campsites. Personally for $45 a night I think wifi should reach to each site. The other thing that bugged us is visitors to the park have to pay a $5 entrance fee.

Our site E8 from the edge of the next site. Nice grass area for the
girls and nicely shaded with mature trees.

Looking into our site, lots of trees around

Looking down the road. Nightly spots to the left and year round trailers on the right

Some of the other sites in the campground

This is the banquet hall and the pool is right behind it where the bike is parked :)

This is the store and the building closest to you is the internet cafe area

Playground which the girls had to themselves most of the time

Our time in Kingston, Ontario

We left NS and said our goodbyes to family and friends...and to out of this world milk prices! The maritimes was horrible for the price of milk. In BC we pay $3.59 for 3.6L (1 gallon jug). In PEI we paid $6.59  which we thought was high but since it's a ferry trip over it made sense...I guess. Then we went to Nova Scotia and had to pay $7.83!!! Not sure why NS is even more expensive since they produced their own milk! Lets just say we were glad to be back in the States and paying only on $2.25 as we drove across to Ontario and once in Ontario their 4L bags of milk are about $4.59...there's my rant for the day!

When we left NS we left later then planned and stopped for the night again at a highway pull off close to the border in New Brunswick. We crossed the border with about a 10 minute wait and only a couple of questions and were off. We drove all day and stopped in Vermont at a little pull out on the side of the road. The road wasn't too busy so it was pretty quiet.

In the morning we got up and drove until we were in New York State, just below the Kingston border. We had plans to meet my uncle the following day so we stopped early at a roadside rest stop overlooking the river and 1000 island area. It was so pretty. There were no signs posted saying no camping or no overnight parking so we decided to give it a try and sure enough we didn't have any problems and we stayed there from about 4pm until the following morning.

The girls rode their bikes (scooter and trike) and Aayla is finally learning how to pedal. Usually she scoots her feet on the ground to move, but now had figured out that she can push forward for 1/2 a pedal, then reverses it and does a 1/2 pedal again and she slowly moves forward!

 In the morning we got up and looked for a sani dump and found one at a state park just up the road from where we stayed the night. It was a beautiful little park with many sites along the rock formed shore. We had to pay $7.00 to get into the park but that allowed us access to their dump station and gave us a spot to get rid of our garbage.

Then we were off to Kingston...with another smooth border crossing and met Uncle Marty and his son Jason at Denny's for lunch. Sierra and Jason had a lot of fun drawing pictures during lunch and it was good to catch up with Uncle Marty as I haven't seen him in about 15 or 16 years! We had planned on only staying for the day but decided to spend acouple nights in Kingston so we could see Auntie Karen and Amanda too. Also Uncle Marty is a real estate agent in Kingston and offered to get some properties together to show us the following day (we are considering buying land in Ontario to build our earthship because it is cheaper here then in BC and the lakes are supposidly warm and more usable then in BC)

Uncle Marty suggested a nearby RV park so off we headed to get a spot. We enjoyed the pool while we waited for them to come by and visit us after Auntie Karen got home from work and Uncle Marty had time to get some properties together for us.

Sierra is doing a fantastic job at getting her face wet in the pool. She jumps in, goes under, gets soaked and comes up OK and doesn't run away screaming anymore. She has learned finally that pool water doesn't hurt her eyes like salt water and is doing great in the water now.






A lady at the pool saw the girls with their Ariel suits
and brought them over an Ariel book that her daughter didn't want.




Trying to swing on the bars






This is the smartest set up I have seen for an older slide.
All kids LOVE the big slide but this way there is
no worry of a big fall.



Ian shaving outside with the truck mirror :)





We had a great little visit with Uncle Marty and Auntie Karen and the girls had so much fun playing with Amanda.

Uncle Marty and Auntie Karen

The next day we got up and went to look at some properties to get a better feel of Ontario land/prices to have a better idea then comparing BC to the Muskoka's where we are interested in land.

We saw one peice I really liked. It was 187 acres and had 1/3 ownership to a lake. The only drawback was it had a hydro easement near the roadfrontage of the property line in the hayfields. Once back by the lake it had more small hills and you could get out of site of the hydro lines and it was so pretty.

We saw a couple other properties but the other one I liked was swarming with horseflys. So much that we couldn't take the time to try to get back to find the lake access.

Ian swatting the flies away as we try to walk around the property

 



The horseflys/deerflys were CRAZY! As we drove away
 swarms of them followed us. There would be no peace at this property!



We got to spend another night visiting with Uncle Marty and Auntie Karen after looking at the properties and then we were off in the morning to go see my dad...Wasgag Beach...here we come!

Down on the farm and farewell NS

Time to pack up and head on over to the Farm but not time to say goodbye to mom yet as she is coming with us :) Tina and Jimmy have a wonderful little farm near Westville. They live off of their land with the help of the horses they grow and harvest enough food to store and last the winter. They also sell some of their crops and wood.

No tractors on this farm to hay, plough the fields, mow the pastures and log the forests...nope! Not when Mike and Kate are near. All Fall, Winter and Spring Jimmy goes out with the horses to log his land and when Summer comes it's time to plough the fields to grow their crops, mow the lawn and pastures, and they do the haying too.

Jimmy mowing the back pasture with the help of Mike and Kate our first night here

Sierra galloping up and down the driveway

Aayla climbing all over Corey





Feeding Kate one blade at a time



Kisses for Kate

A quick sit on Kate

Stanley and Chance

The girls trying to pet Chance

Stanley is ever present to keep his eye on Chance...
and Chance adores him, following his every move

 They have a couple little ponds with hopes of putting in a bigger lake this summer.

Look who found another slug to love

Over a couple of days the guys repaired the barn

Visiting the goats at Justin and Corey's.

 We also had a treat of visiting Jakki Rogue and she sang and played quitar for us but I forgot to take the camera in :( Jakki was so kind to give us one of her CD's. PLEASE click HERE to go to her website.

Getting ready for the new post

Aayla loving the inside hammock

Tina pushing Aayla in the hammock

Sierra learning to play the drums

And the pan flute

And the piano

More drums

I think we have a budding little musician in Sierra. Here she is playing a duet with Matt.



Mom playting her flute. She has always wanted
to learn to play the flute properly and so has
started to take lessons and is sounding great!



Love the garlic headband! Sierra started the trend
with a necklace and although it doesn't stop the
blackflies from biting it does help a GREAT deal.

Hoisting up the barn to add in the last new post

lookin good

Spiders in the barn

Sierra helping with the last bit of shoveling

Tina and Aayla on there way inside

One of the many huge barn spiders

Stanley getting ready for a ride

Aayla so happy to be off on a horseback ride

Riding around the hay field...isn't that some of the nicest hay you've ever seen?

OK so none of us except Stanley are ready for this photo...

Sierra and Ash playing in the hayfield

Jimmy getting Mike and Kate ready to go out and finish the mowing

The sun shines briefly...the light is so gorgeous

"The Blacks" on their way out to the field

One of the many gardens they have to grow their food for the year...
this one ahead is different varieties of potatoes

I could watch the horses all day long. We weren't able to see the horses in the woods this time but if you'd like to see them in action doing various jobs on the farm here's a video Tina did and has on youtube.

Tina has a couple other videos on youtube but this one shows the horses on a day off

We have had an amzing few days here. We have enjoyed learning many new things and were glad to help out with the barn. We would have liked to help with more. Thank you both for not only allowing us to stay with you for a bit and hammer you with questions about the daily runnings of the farm, the horses, the bees, the plants and more, for the HUGE welding job Jimmy helped Ian with but also for feeding us some of the best meals we've had in a long time. It has been a great visit.

Being in NS for 10 days flew by quickly but it was very stressful being there at times. Our girls were over the top excited to be near their Grammy Sue and Bluebell and it was hard to contain their energy at times and negative behaviours skyrocketed and with it my stress level of trying to have them behave. Who would have thought that being in NS could have been so stressful.

It was bitter sweet to leave and say our goodbyes but I am glad to be back on the road...(we are currently in New York State and will cross the border to Kingston in a couple hours). Sierra and Aayla were both little devils most of the time we were in Nova Scotia but I am happy to say that even only being back on the road a short time, they have settled into our crazy routine and we are all breathing a little more easily. I think they are happy to be back into our "on the road routine" too.