1000 Islands, NY

 Hubby and I took a short vacation up to 1000 Islands, NY.   It was a long drive.....6 hours!  It's in upper state NY, right on the Canadian border on the St. Lawrence River.   It is literally 20 miles from Canada, across the river.  We stayed in Clayton, NY which is about 15 minutes from the more well-known Alexandria Bay.  

We stayed in a beautiful hotel called the 1000 Islands Harbour Hotel.   We were very pleased with the accommodations.

The grounds were beautifully kept.  They had a huge patio.

Balcony rooms all facing the water.

Two fire pits to enjoy in the evening.

Both inside and outside dining.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast out on the patio one morning, and a delicious dinner inside on the day it rained.

There was a beautiful pathway leading from in front of the hotel to the downtown area.  All along the way was a scenic view of the St. Lawrence River.

A couple of nights we were treated to a beautiful sunset

The sun lit up our faces

There were plenty of benches along the river to sit and gaze at the river and the beautiful sky.

We took two boat tours out of Alexandria Bay on Uncle Sam's Boat Tours.  One was a "2 Castle Tour".   The two famous castles in that area are the Singer Castle and the Boldt Castle.   The other was called the "2 Nation Tour" because we went in and out between the US and Canada.

The boat ride was very informative.  There are actually 1,864 islands in the 1000 Island area.   It's considered an island if: "It is at least one square foot, has a tree on it, and stays above the water 365 days a year."   As you can imagine, there are quite a few of those!  But there are also lots of bigger islands and they are all owned by someone, many with houses on them.

Many of the houses are owned by famous people as their summer homes.  Our boat tours took us in and out of Canada.  They do not want any island to be half and half in each country, so the line between Canada and the US goes in a zig zag between islands.

The bridge between Canada and the US

   

A couple of funny stories:

The tour guide on our first boat ride announced that we would soon be passing over the only underwater attraction.  Everyone, including us, got up to stand at the railing and look over to see something exciting.....perhaps a shipwreck?    The guide started saying, "The bow of the boat is now over it......now it's about halfway.....and now it's under the stern."   We didn't see anything!  And then she said, "We passed over the International Border....we are now in Canada!"    Everyone had fallen for the joke.   The even funnier part was, when we took the second boat ride, the guide tried the same joke....but we knew what it was about and didn't get up.  We were very amused watching all the people who did!!

As the boat moved up and down the river, the guide pointed out many different houses.  There was one tiny house on a small island, with a little bridge to an even smaller island.   The guide told us the bigger island and house were in the US, and the smaller island was actually in Canada.   The owner of both islands built the smallest "Peace Bridge" in the world to connect the two islands.  And when he and his wife had an argument, he could take his six-pack of beer and his fishing pole and cross the bridge to flee the country!

Our first stop was Singer Castle.  It was built by the owner of the Singer company, known for their sewing machines.

Well known for its red roofs.

Pretty medieval looking!

The cool thing about this castle was the hidden passages used by the servants so they would not be seen by the household.  They also had openings into the rooms for the servants to look through to see if the household needed anything without anyone having to call for the servant.

There were quite a few of these.... many people want to donate them....the tour guide said, "Please don't give us any more...we have plenty!!"

You can actually rent the castle for the night.  It includes accommodations, food and access to all the hidden passageways.

The master bedroom.  Note that the man's headboard is slightly taller than the woman's.....to show his superiority!

Our tour then took us over to Boldt Castle.   This castle was being built by a millionaire who made his money with the Waldorf-Astoria Hotels.   He was building it for his wife, who tragically died before the castle was finished.   At that time, Boldt ceased all work on the castle and never stepped foot on the island again.  The castle was falling to ruins, when a preservation society bought it in the 1970's and began renovating it.   So far, they've completed renovating 2 of the 5 floors, and have spent 50 million dollars on the renovations.

The "Gateway", where Boldt would greet his guests as they came over by boat.

The "Playhouse".....not yet renovated  - where there were such things as pool tables, etc.

And a bowling alley!

The indoor swimming pool

Gorgeous ceilings

Dining room for a few guests

Kitchen

Ballroom ceiling

Ballroom where they do have weddings.

Love the stairway!

His aviary where he kept his collection of birds.

The Italian Garden

He also had a separate building for his yachts!!

The rest of the time we enjoyed the area.  We fell in love with this little restaurant.  We ate breakfast there the rest of our stay.

Unfortunately, we were there during the week so actually had a hard time finding places to eat dinner.   There was really no place to write home about.

We did, however, find River Rat Cheese, which had not only cheese but lots of candy, fudge and the famous 1000 Island dressing!

We didn't get to go here but liked the name!

We went to the 1000 Islands Art Center....they had a room full of looms and this colorful display of threads.

We met this lady on the way in!

Since it was raining out one day, we went up to the Frederic Remington Art Museum.  Besides the artwork, the architecture of the place was beautiful as well.   Sorry...no pictures!

And finally, we went to the Antique Boat Museum

A lovely trip - a relaxing time away with Hubby!