Thousand Islands

Brad's research has been on hold this week, so, after moving, we thought it would a great time for a day trip to Thousand Islands. Thanks to our friends the Bowmans for helping us plan the perfectly timed day.

We left early and arrived just in time to hop on Uncle Sam's boat tour of the St. Lawrence river. The St. Lawrence river divides the U.S. and Canada and in the gilded age and just after was THE hot spot for millionaires. The region is called thousand islands because there are literally 1800 islands on this stretch of the river. They are fairly small, but many are large enough to put opulent "cottages" on them, so during the late 1800s and early 1900s this is where the who's who of America built their summer homes. The boat tour highlighted several of these island cottages. Many are still there, but a few are gone because during the Great Depression the owners burned them down to collect on the insurance. Much to their dismay, the insurance companies were also broke and they just ended up losing their homes and their money. So much for arson.

After a couple of hours, the boat dropped us off at Boldt Castle. This was the largest of the cottages and was actually intended to be a castle. The owner of the castle was the man who owned the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC. (Interesting tidbits: He popularized using flowers in decorating and introduced the policy that the customer is always right.) He was an immigrant who worked his way to the top. He built the castle for his wife (even had the island reshaped so that is was in the shape of a heart), but sadly she died before it was completed. So he sold it to the state for $1 with the condition that no one ever be allowed to stay in it and it cannot produce revenue. It was GORGEOUS! Annie and James were really good the whole time.

When we finished with the castle we hopped on one more boat to go back Alexandria Bay, grabbed an ice cream cone, and got back just in time for Brad to do a shift at a free clinic for people without insurance. If Brad wants, he can post about the awful disease a patient THOUGHT he had. Let's just say that it's a good thing Brad is the one in the family who'll be the doctor. He LOVED working at the clinic!