After much dithering, we decided to stay here one more night so we can take the Clayton 1000 Islands Tour, and not pay the $$ docking fee in Alexandria Bay. We will just stop at Alexandria for a couple of hours tomorrow to bike around, and then anchor in Chippewa Bay.
I know it might SEEM crazy to take a boat tour of the islands, when we have our OWN boat and could do our OWN tour, but hear me out. We decided it will be like one of those hop-on-hop-off buses you take in a new area. We can learn from the experts and check out where we might like to explore more on our own. It turned out to be a great decision!
SO. MANY. ISLANDS. And houses, ranging from fishing shacks to palatial mansions (and even castles) perched precariously on them. A vacation home is always work; imagine a vacation home where literally every single thing, including all building materials, has to be barged/boated in....GAHHHHHHH.
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What a pain to have your vacation home on the daily boat tour.
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The main attraction on the tour was a stop at Boldt Castle. The hotel magnate (of Waldorf-Astoria fame) George C Boldt designed Boldt Castle to be the summer-dream-home gift for his beloved wife. However, before it was completed she died, and he stopped all work on the castle and never again set foot on that island (although he continued to come to 1000 Islands in the summer, as was popular at the time). For 73 years the castle and various surrounding structures were left to the mercy of weather and vandals. In 1977 the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property and has, room by room, restored much of it.
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Boldt really took the heart theme to ....er ....heart. It's just everywhere. He even reshaped the island so that it became heart-shaped, and named it Heart Island. Kind of hitting the poor woman over the head with romance? Possibly a bit over the top - but I'm not really a gilded age kinda girl.
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Harry Potter, anyone?
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| The island is in the US, but there is an immigration office at the dock so Canadian tourists can come over and check in to take the tour. |
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This might be my favorite picture I have ever taken! I love so much that it looks like a pic hanging on the wall.
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| A postcard showing Boldt Castle during all the seasons. We do try to bring our readers ALL the info, but we are not coming back to the castle each season just for all y'all. Just sayin'. |
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The Duchess (docked at the Antique Boat Museum) was another of Boldt’s “homes”
He used it for guest housing and moved it with his own personal tugboat whenever he felt the urge. |
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| The small boat house on its own island. | | | |
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After the 3.5 hour tour (did that make you start humming the theme from Gilligan's Island?!) we road our bikes back to town and stopped for poutine at the ... Poutinerie, of course!
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Poutine is, traditionally, a pile of French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. In this case we had buffalo chicken poutine.
There isn’t a much tastier meal and it includes all (does it though??) food groups! |
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| Insert daily dad joke here __________________________ |
Hey - guess who showed up!!! Our friends on Egret - so all 8 of us had docktails in the raging wind!
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Millie is VERY photogenic! And my long lens (on loan from sister Janet) is the BEST at profile pix.
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It's just howling windy - it's gonna be a bumpy night. Even with a breakwater... Pray for me...(Rick says it is like sleeping in a washing machine).
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I had to look up how to pronounce "poutinerie" LOL. Boldt Boathouse has its own island? Do these tiny islands erode?
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