Thousand Islands (May 28)

Sorry for the delay in posting about what's been going on. We've been busy and internet is not ubiquitous, as previously believed. 

Thousand Islands: So, last Tuesday (May 28), we went into downtown Alexandria Bay to explore the Thousand Islands and the little town that has grown out of the tourist trade. The town itself seemed rundown and deserted. There were very few people waiting for the boat tour, and the people that we did see looked… shall we say, in their golden years. 

Look how deserted this place is; all I could find was this attractive man posing for the camera.

Unfortunately, it felt like the town was past its prime as a tourist destination. Tim assures me that its busier during the height of the season, but that we should expect it to be like that on a Tuesday morning before the season really gets going. In all honesty, I felt a little irresponsible being there because there was obviously something that I wasn’t doing (like working…or studying…or…) because everyone else my age was so clearly not there.   

We took a 2 and ¼ hour boat tour around the thousand islands. Tim took thousands of pictures and we enjoyed ourselves. There are a lot of big, old summer mansions built on these tiny little dots of land in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Personally, I loved the little tiny houses that were clearly the pride of the people that lived there all year round. The major attraction for tourists is the Boldt Castle, and there is an interesting story surrounding it. George Boldt started out as a busboy at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel during the turn of the century and eventually worked his way up to being owner of the hotel. 

My future house (acutally the shack that George Boldt built for his mother-in-law) and me, looking confused. Obviously

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It was at that time, during the early 1900’s that he decided to build this castle, inspired by the European castles that he so much adored, for his wife. She suddenly died of tuberculosis many years later, as the castle neared completion and Boldt stopped construction on the castle because he was so heartbroken. Tim and I decided to not go tour the castle because it was ridiculously overpriced and the shuttle back to the mainland was going to cost us even more money when we had already paid for the trip to the castle. Overall, I would recommend visiting the Thousand Islands; it’s cute, not too big, and is an interesting meeting of nature and technology. I would definitely check out Kring Point State Park as a place to stay; it's a beautiful campground with lots of amenities. 

Love, Bonnie