Mark spent his childhood vacationing in the Thousand Islands, so he was especially happy to be in his favorite place on his birthday. There was a lot of reminiscing about his camping and fishing days with his parents and grandparents. Mark and I have also been coming up here for years, we love the scenery and it's great that we can explore the area again by boat. One of my favorite parts is watching all of the freighters go by, there has been a lot of commercial traffic this trip.
I had never visited the Antique Boat Museum so that was tops on our list of things to do. We really enjoyed every aspect of it, from the houseboat that was built for George Boldt (another gift for his wife) to the antique wooden boats, race boats and antique motors. There was a group of 7 antique wooden boats docked at the marina, they were beautiful and fun to watch as they raced around when they headed out each day. You can't help but think about what this area was like in it's heyday at the turn of the century and the antique boats are an ever present reminder. This was the summer playground for the wealthy, they owned islands and boats and entertained their high society friends in this region. It is certainly understandable why this area was so popular.
Tuesday was the first day we had not had rain either overnight or during some portion of the day since we left Staten Island. With a very promising weather forecast for the next few days we headed to an anchorage just northeast of Alexandria Bay, the Summerland Group of Islands, 17 miles from Clayton. This little protected cluster of islands had a bunch of boaters out enjoying the sun and water each day we were there. We are thrilled to be back in the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, the water is so clear you can see the bottom in 30'.
The days at anchor were filled with swimming, fishing, painting, relaxing and soaking up the natural beauty. We could hear the loons singing and we had one lone loon that hung out not to far from the boat that we enjoyed watching. We took a boat ride to the Lake of the Isles and Thursday to Alexandria Bay. The town docks had been closed because of high water and just reopened last week in A Bay. We walked around town, ate lunch and saw there was a storm coming so we headed back for the anchorage. We were very lucky as the storm went south and north of us and the sun came out.
Friday we will head to the Canadian waters of the 1000 Islands for a few days.
The Oswego Lighthouse
Tibbetts Lighthouse
This marks the point where Lake Ontario meets the
St. Lawrence River and was built in 1827
Homes along the St. Lawrence River
Mark & I enjoying the scenery from the gardens
at the 1000 Island Harbor Hotel
Ships sailing in the night
The 1000 Islands is where I became fascinated
with freighters. I am forever looking for them and
taking pictures.
La Duchesse, 106' houseboat built in 1903 for hotelier
George Boldt. It was to be a present for his wife, as was
the Boldt Castle. She died before either was finished.
The houseboat was also owned by the McNally family
(of the Rand-McNally Co.) and was donated to the museum.
The sun deck, the wicker furniture is from Boldt's era
Although it is not stamped Tiffany, they believe
it to be so
One of several fire places on the boat
Due to the flooding they had to build "knee walls"
on the current docks to secure the boats in the boathouse
Antiques boats at the marina
This is a house we stayed at for a mini family reunion a few years ago,
you can see how the dock and boat house are under water
Island homes between Clayton and Alexandria Bay
Barrels holding the docks in place along the river
Boldt Castle
Kids jumping in the water at the anchorage
View from the anchorage, Mark fishing and
we can see the freighters on the other side
of the islands
Wednesday night - fresh perch dinner
The lone loon
Another beautiful sunset from our anchorage
Along our travels - trailerboat??
Beautiful. I love it there!!
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