Lifestyle Adventure, Working Four months, Playing Eight!

Editor’s Note:  In 2005 when Paul Malo created Thousand Islands Life.com he did so with a hope that much of the "past" would be appreciated.  He wrote at that time: "In the interest of finding appreciative stewards of historic properties, housand Islands Life presents some real estate of exceptional importance when offered for sale.”  Capricorn Motel Royale in Ivy Lea is one of those properties.  Be sure to visit our Properties page to see other historic properties all in need of new stewards.

Our son, who lives in London, called us in the month of March and offered to take our family pet, a lovable Lab named Sam, for the week so that we could go on a "get away" week end. Quick to take up the offer, I met our son on a Friday at lunchtime, put Sam our dog in his car, had a quick coffee with him, to catch up on all the news, then I headed back home to Ajax where we are from and lived for 19 years.

Moira was waiting at home wondering where we were going since we had not yet agreed on a destination for the weekend. When I returned we loaded the car with all the necessities for a weekend adventure.  As we began our journey she asked, “Now where are we going?"  I said "Kingston" -I don't know why, it was the first thing that came into my mind. She agreed and we set off east on the 401.

We booked into a hotel in Kingston, had a leisurely dinner discussing the options for the next day and decided to wait and see what the weather would bring the next morning. The morning proved to be the first good day of the spring. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we felt great. We decided to drive along the 1000 Islands Parkway and just enjoy the scenery on this the first beautiful day of spring.

We found ourselves in Gananoque and decided to keep on going as we were both enjoying the drive and the scenery. We passed the new casino then stopped in at the marinas near Ivy Lea to look at the boats and the River. We are boaters ourselves and love being “dock rats”. This is when we saw the motel with the "For Sale" sign on it. We commented to each other that this could be a life style we could both enjoy and then carried on with the rest of our day.

We returned to Gananoque for lunch and by chance saw the real estate office that had the motel listed. It was 5 minutes to twelve, and the office closed at twelve. I went in to the office and requested a copy of the listing. The listing agent was in the office and  insisted that he was on his way out to another appointment in the area of the motel and would be happy to open it up and let us see inside some of the rooms. I told him I was only curious and really thought there would be no point in him taking the time, if it would make him late for his appointment. However, curiosity got the better of us and we did follow him out to take a look inside the motel.

Well - we found ourselves in the real estate office in Gananoque that afternoon, writing an offer, and the offer was accepted! Back to Ajax, we then put our house on the market and sold it in three days….we were now the owners of a motel. This was meant to be! Kismet? We both quit our jobs in the city and started our new life…and now here we are living in one of the most beautiful parts of the entire world -with some of the nicest people for neighbours. We love what we are doing and love the people we are meeting here in the village. It is still "The Garden of the Great Sprit".

By  Bill Dow