August 1st…. We freshened up and went into Alexandria Bay for a sunset dinner at Riley’s by the River. Delicious bourbon glazed salmon for me and Earl had stuffed flounder. We intended to have dessert, but just too full. I'm including the description though, so you can drool. Ha....Except for the drama with Lisa, it has just been a beautiful day.
Aug 2, Tuesday – we slept late and
then drove around Alexandria Bay again, while waiting on our cruise/tour. What a pretty place!
After a late breakfast out, we went on a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands. We learned that there are
actually over 1,800 islands! We took the Millionaire's Row Tour. Just a
gorgeous day and beautiful scenery.
Tip: If you ever take this cruise out of Alexandria Bay, sit on the LEFT side! I missed a lot of great photos because we were on the right, and I didn't want to have all the people in my photos.
We also toured beautiful Boldt Castle on Heart Island and learned the very interesting story of the unsurpassed love of a man for his wife. Louise, the love of George Boldt's life, was the reason he found this heart shaped island and decided to gift her with this tribute and symbol of his love. Everything here, from landscaping to the wood trim, to art work, etc. has a common "heart theme." Very interesting.
George Boldt came to America in 1864 from Prussia, the son of poor parents. He had tremendous organizational skills, daring and imagination, and became the most successful hotel magnate in America, managing and profit sharing in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, as well as the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia, PA. He was the president of several companies, a trustee of Cornell University, among many other accomplishments.
This is a tragic love story. Originally he set out to build a full sized Rhineland Castle, after having shared four glorious summers on Wellesley Island, 300 artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge and a dovecote. No expense was spared. In 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegrammed the island and commanded the workers to stop all construction immediately. Louise had suddenly died at the age of 42! Boldt was devastated and could not imagine his dream castle without Louise, so 300 workers laid down their tools and the house was vacant for 73 years! Boldt never returned to the island. The Thousand Island Bridge Authority assumed ownership in 1977 and began the process of extensive renovations and restoration of the property that had been vacant for so many years, at the mercy of ice, snow and vandals. We only saw 3 stories, and even the 3rd is still under restoration and the process of finishing the original plans which are framed on the walls there. What a tragic, but beautiful love story.
George Boldt came to America in 1864 from Prussia, the son of poor parents. He had tremendous organizational skills, daring and imagination, and became the most successful hotel magnate in America, managing and profit sharing in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, as well as the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia, PA. He was the president of several companies, a trustee of Cornell University, among many other accomplishments.
This is a tragic love story. Originally he set out to build a full sized Rhineland Castle, after having shared four glorious summers on Wellesley Island, 300 artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge and a dovecote. No expense was spared. In 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegrammed the island and commanded the workers to stop all construction immediately. Louise had suddenly died at the age of 42! Boldt was devastated and could not imagine his dream castle without Louise, so 300 workers laid down their tools and the house was vacant for 73 years! Boldt never returned to the island. The Thousand Island Bridge Authority assumed ownership in 1977 and began the process of extensive renovations and restoration of the property that had been vacant for so many years, at the mercy of ice, snow and vandals. We only saw 3 stories, and even the 3rd is still under restoration and the process of finishing the original plans which are framed on the walls there. What a tragic, but beautiful love story.
Note of interest: Earl’s great aunt, Sarah Berry, was the head
maid for the Boldt’s and lady in waiting for Mrs. Boldt! Too bad she never got to see it really finished. Imagine throwing galas and impressive get togethers before a home is even finished..... (ala Downton Abbey,
haha).
Wednesday – Aug. 3 we moved on,
finally feeling like we have NO schedule, which we LOVE, and have reservations
until Sunday at Medina on Wildwood Lake in New York, just 47 miles from Niagara
Falls, which we’ll be visiting on Friday.
We had quite an adventure today. If you follow me on FB you will have
seen that we had a close call going under one bridge, clearance 12’10” and our
RV requires 12’8” clearance, so that was a little too close for comfort. Earl
had done great research as always on the route we wanted to take, Lake Ontario
Scenic Byway and the only restriction noted was no commercial vehicles. So off
we went enjoying the gorgeous day and listening to praise music, when suddenly
we came up on a bridge that was only 12’3” clearance, on a road under
construction with the right lane cordoned off with the big orange cones.
Yikes!!!
Here's Earl out there during a little break in traffic trying to hook our 25' ruler up onto something on the bridge....
We had to quickly maneuver
between the cones into the right lane just before the bridge. WHAT TO DO??? We
talked about letting the suspension down, but didn’t know if it would still
allow enough to go under. We finally decided we’d need help in stopping traffic
no matter what we did. Earl unhooked the car to allow room to begin backing up
(we cannot back up with the car in tow), and it was miles back, so didn’t seem
feasible to back up for miles, oh my!! Earl is the calmest person I know in an
emergency, so he called the police, explained the situation, and it was only 15
minutes or so, till they came out.
The officer had a big coach as well, and his required 12’2” so he’s aware of how careful we need to be. He THOUGHT that when they re-did the roads the last time, they had lowered the roads several inches, and said he thought if we hugged the far left side under the bridge, we could squeak by, and that he would watch carefully for us. So he stopped traffic for us. I followed in the car as Earl got way over on the left side and thank God, we did squeak through. I was in the car, praying I would not see and hear a “crunch” as he went under. Both A/C’s sit on top and we’ve had quite enough trouble with A/C’s on this trip! Whew, never a dull moment! We took that exit and re-routed by a less scenic route, since the officer told us that he was pretty sure there were at least 2 more bridges ahead and he was uncertain of clearance on those, so we revamped quickly!
The officer had a big coach as well, and his required 12’2” so he’s aware of how careful we need to be. He THOUGHT that when they re-did the roads the last time, they had lowered the roads several inches, and said he thought if we hugged the far left side under the bridge, we could squeak by, and that he would watch carefully for us. So he stopped traffic for us. I followed in the car as Earl got way over on the left side and thank God, we did squeak through. I was in the car, praying I would not see and hear a “crunch” as he went under. Both A/C’s sit on top and we’ve had quite enough trouble with A/C’s on this trip! Whew, never a dull moment! We took that exit and re-routed by a less scenic route, since the officer told us that he was pretty sure there were at least 2 more bridges ahead and he was uncertain of clearance on those, so we revamped quickly!
We arrived without further incident
at the RV Park in Medina here and it’s a lovely park! Shady and we have a deluxe site that is
large and open with our own firepit and glider bench. We’re going to enjoy a
few days of downtime here. For our RVing friends, site is $75 per night.
Medina/Wildwood KOA. We’re looking forward to just a bit of downtime as we’ve
been really “on the go” for the past couple of weeks. NOW we feel like we’re
RVing like we love to do – no specific schedule, no definite places we have to
go and all the time we need to get there. It’s a great way to travel.
After we got settled in, we went into Medina to pick up a few groceries and supplies, and ate at a little local diner. On our way back, our hearts lurched when we saw flashing blue lights behind us! Yikes. We pulled over, and the officer came up and asked if we knew why he’d stopped us. Earl politely said he assumed we must have been speeding, but we’ve never been here before and had not seen a posted speed sign. He said we were going just over 40 and it was a 30 MPH zone! He could not have been nicer! Said he knew it was easy to do through there, asked where we were staying and expressed envy at our ability to travel the country in an RV. Cautioned us to slow down a bit, and wished us well. Whew….. relief!
After we got settled in, we went into Medina to pick up a few groceries and supplies, and ate at a little local diner. On our way back, our hearts lurched when we saw flashing blue lights behind us! Yikes. We pulled over, and the officer came up and asked if we knew why he’d stopped us. Earl politely said he assumed we must have been speeding, but we’ve never been here before and had not seen a posted speed sign. He said we were going just over 40 and it was a 30 MPH zone! He could not have been nicer! Said he knew it was easy to do through there, asked where we were staying and expressed envy at our ability to travel the country in an RV. Cautioned us to slow down a bit, and wished us well. Whew….. relief!
Thursday 8/4 we took as a day to
catch up. The weather is mild and we’ve enjoyed sitting outside almost all day.
I got all our bank accounts balanced, and worked on the blog off and on. I’m
really behind, so lots to catch up on, but I HAVE to take time to read, as I’m
really in a good book, so hard to focus on getting things done when I want to
just get lost in my book. I marinated
chicken this afternoon, and we grilled out, accompanied by a delicious loaded
salad and green peas. We were outside till dark and then went in and caught a
program we like and then Netflix for a little while before calling it a day.
Friday 8/5 – Niagara Falls!
Crossing the border once again!!!
What amazing beauty, and brought back childhood memories for me. I went there with my daddy one summer when I traveled with him all summer. He had a campmeeting in Kitchener, Ontario, and either on our way there or back, we went to see Niagara Falls, riding Maid of the Mist, etc. Good memories. I could still remember the rushing water and the mist in my face like yesterday. Not much has changed actually – every bit as beautiful and awe-inspiring as I remembered. The photos will speak for themselves.
Crossing the border once again!!!
What amazing beauty, and brought back childhood memories for me. I went there with my daddy one summer when I traveled with him all summer. He had a campmeeting in Kitchener, Ontario, and either on our way there or back, we went to see Niagara Falls, riding Maid of the Mist, etc. Good memories. I could still remember the rushing water and the mist in my face like yesterday. Not much has changed actually – every bit as beautiful and awe-inspiring as I remembered. The photos will speak for themselves.
We stopped for a very late lunch on the way home – FINALLY finding a good Mexican restaurant in Lockport, NY. I’d been hungry for Mexican, and they seem very rare around here! So we enjoyed a good lunch and a very scenic drive through primarily beautiful farms and country roads.
We had time to sit outside for awhile
and I finished my 2nd blog of the trip (still behind) but internet
is so slow here, and takes forever for photos to load, almost 4 minutes per
photo! I’m spoiled by the lightning speed we have at home. We have AT&T and it is not strong here
NOR is our Verizon air card! So we’re kind of stuck with the park wi-fi and it
requires a great deal of patience, not my strong suit, unfortunately, but made
bearable by starting another book and reading between each set of 5-6 photos.
Saturday – Yesterday I got another
blog posted and FB photos, so today, working on another one, trying to get
caught up. While photos are
uploading this morning, we are outside enjoying blissful weather while I
work on these things. I keep reminding myself it’s not ALWAYS like this here.
ha I know it’s brutal here in the winter being so close to the Canadian border,
but wow, is it ever nice now. We should enjoy it while it lasts as I think next
Tuesday and Wednesday it’s supposed to be 89-92 again! Yikes!
One amusing thing happened today.
They declared this weekend to be Easter weekend! We saw it in the schedule of
events for this RV Park, and thought, whaaaaat? That has to be a mistake, but
nope. Easter egg hunts for the kids, Easter stickers, activities, and even a
fire truck that came around with a huge Easter Bunny on the top, with all the
kids in the park riding along. The occasional siren with “wave to the Easter
Bunny” over the loudspeaker. Ha I guess
when you’re snowed under every Easter, you celebrate it in the summer.
We were sitting outside almost all
day today while we read and I worked on the blog off and on. GORGEOUS weather,
and late this afternoon, Earl looked up and said, “You know, this reminds me of
a Norman Rockwell painting,” and we looked around from that perspective – kids
on bikes yelling out to each other, beach towels hanging on a line at a couple
of the RVs, after being at the pool, people sitting all around on their “front
porches”, an occasional barking of a dog. If you listen carefully, you can hear
just a bit of the wind whistling through the many trees, and an occasional bird
calling out. Just for a moment, it was like stepping back in time to our own
carefree childhood, riding bikes with our friends and looking forward to a
campfire at dusk. Someday we’re going to write that book about our RV travels,
entitled, “The New Front Porch of America.”
Thanks for traveling with us! Stay tuned for more from Pennsylvania!
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