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