Lake Ontario

This is my last week here so I thought I should tell you about what is right in our backyard. It is Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is one of the 5 Great Lakes that are between Canada and the United States.

Behind me is Irondequoit Bay and then Lake Ontario. It is the smallest of all the Great Lakes but it is the 14th largest lake in the world.  Although it's the smallest you can't even see to the other side because it goes all the way to Canada. 

You can see in this map all of the Great Lakes and the states that they touch.  Ontario and Quebec are provinces in Cananda.  They are like our states.  There's an easy way to remember the Great Lakes which I just learned so I want to share it with you.  Just remember the word HOMES.  Each letter is the beginning of the name of one of the lakes.
H - Huron
O - Ontario
M - Michigan
E - Erie
S - Superior
Lake Superior is the biggest of all of them so that's why it has the name of "Superior."

The Great Lakes have 20% of all the fresh water on the surface of the world. 

If I was staying longer I could go for a boat ride on the lake.  In 2004 there was a big fast ferry that went from Rochester to Toronto which is in Ontario, Canada on the other side of the lake.
This is a picture from back then of the ferry.  You can see how big it is in comparison to the other boats.  It was coming back to Rochester to dock at its home in the Genesee River (more about that next time).