Island in the Sun

Island in the Sun
Day 2: July 15, 2013

Andrew on the boat with Boldt Castle in the background

Kids at Boldt Castle Generator Building

Nothing is as effective for an alarm clock as a group of grackles chatting. After a slow moving morning, we made our way to the beach. There were two lifeguards on duty, one for watching the swimmers and the other for raking the muck out of the water. Despite the occasional mucky surface, the water was cool and clear and refreshing on a hot day. The kids tossed a frisbee ring, built sand castles, and played Marco polo. Adults marveled at the tranquility of the place and wondered how much a small island for sale nearby would be.

After gathering back at the campsite for lunch, we headed forth to Alexandria bay and the Uncle Sam boat tour for millionaires row. Alexandria bay is a tourist town with tshirt shops and big signs. We made the one o'clock tour despite set backs by elderly ladies cutting line and miss-parked laundry trucks. We boated over a section of river with a boat wreck that was 250 feet deep. There were mud flats only 10 feet deep, island after island, many with fancy houses, a pool slide right into the river, huge ocean liners boating right next to pleasure boats, and a tour guide that tried to sell item after item. The tour ended at Hart Island with the

Indoor Pool

fabulous Boldt Castle. George Boldt was the self made millionaire who owned the Waldorf Astoria hotel and the originator of the saying "the customer is always right." He also loved the thousand islands and had quite a few properties here. He began building Boldt Castle as a gift for his wife Louise. When she passed away suddenly, bereft, he stopped work on the castle suddenly and left it to molder. Eventually it became a ruin that boaters would go to and write their names throughout. The transit authority took it over and began to refurbish it as
a destination for tourists. Although no match for what was originally planned, the castle was breathtaking, surrounded by a stone veranda with each ground floor room opening onto it. All rooms have breathtaking views and it was designed with every need thought

Three levels of Boldt

of. The basement level had a pool and the top floor a stunning reading room with a balcony with views of Alexandria bay. It was built with a steam generator house to power the island, a large stone duck and hen house, an arch de triumph replica to celebrate George Boldt's success, and a crazy funhouse. It's hard to say the most amazing part of the building, but the story and grounds were well worth the trip. We then took a launch to the boat house. The boat house was filled with antique wooden boats and the story of Clover Boldt. When most women of the time were playing tennis, Clover Boldt was racing boats. She won the gold cup for several years and she and her husband were often
seen racing their boats around the river. The biggest, most delicious ice cream greeted us at the dock and we jumped on the next boat back to Alexandria bay. While we didn't spend a wealth of time in Alex Bay, I did get to snap a few shots of the fabulous collection of old signs that grace the streets there.

Reading Room Balcony

The beach was yelling for us on that hot, steaming day and we rushed over. But not before Owen sampled a high allergen item and was done for the night. Andrew, ever the creature catcher, proudly caught a turtle. Dinner was a  miraculously delicious scraped together affair of grilled celery peppers onions and spices with hot dogs. S'mores and a quick reprise of telephone delayed bedtime for our exhausted crew but we soon made it and collapsed into our tents.