Last from Thousand Islands & Clayton, NY

We spent yesterday saying our goodbyes at an American Baptist Church in Clayton where we have attended for four weeks. We will miss this pastor's sermons which were so full of scripture and explanation from Acts that we did not get any sports or life stories in them. We did get four tapes to take with us of past sermons that we can use when we are not near any church. We also went to our last concert in Frink Park, Clayton where we liked to watch the boats as we listened and sang with the music. This was the best one that we attended! They did many scripture based songs that they have written, which was very inspirational. We were chased out by the lightening we could see over the river as the sky got darker . During the break in music I walked along the main street taking these pictures . One is the Opera House where we took in play "Murderers" last Friday night . I also could not pass up showing this historic house which is on the main street along the river and is on the market for $800K. Wonder how long it will be on the market? Also liked this house on the way out of town. Saturday, before we leave the area, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice restaurant at Edgewood Resort in Alexandria Bay front view, back view, and the river view as seen from inside . This was a building in the Resort that was constructed in 1890 to handle the overflow of guests and was named for the founder of the resort, J. M. Curtiss of Cleveland, Ohio. On the way in to the restaurant we were fascinated by the boulders behind these houses . I'm sure that is all you see when you look out the back door. A week ago Gary took in an Antique Boat Dealership Openhouse. He loves the old wooden boats and found them fully restored (as shown below) and some not worked on at all yet . While he did that I stayed at home working on a comforter that was made for Richard when he was young by his aunt. It has seen better days , so I decided to see what I could do with it. I finally decided that I would only salvage the top and try to resew the blocks before backing it with fleece. So I got all of the demolition done and will save the rest of the project for another rainy day. We also went to a Decoy and Wildlife Show one Saturday and Gary enjoyed that more than I. But there was a couple good artist's work there also. We will picnic with our neighbors tomorrow as they are moving on toward the ocean. Then we will move on Friday along the St. Lawrence going northeast and on into Vermont. Hope your summer is as pleasant as ours has been. Except for a couple heavy rain days here in 1000 Island area, it has been sunny and breezy mostly. We have loved it. These are some of the boats from the Antique Dealership: Some built by Gar Wood and some Chris Craft . But don't know who built these . Catch us again later!

Ginger Bread Houses

Opps, I forgot to include the photos of the houses on Wellesley Island in the last Blog. So I decided that I would show them all by themselves. Some are quite attractive and then some of them fit the term "ding bat" quite appropriately. I sure would love to sit out on one of these porches in a rocker reading a good book while watching the boats go by. But it does make a very unique community. So enjoy!!

I also forgot to include the boats that they had stored in the slips of the Boldt Yacht House. So I will show you those in the next Blog about the Antiques Boat Museum. I probably show too many pictures, but I hope some of you enjoy them as much as we do!

Antique Boat Museum at Clayton and Light House at Cape Vincent

We went to a French Festival at Cape Vincent which we found to be what we know as a craft show with fair food. We took photos of a "skeleton" and "robot" which we thought our grandson would like to build. Have fun helping, Dad! We did not stick around for their parade. While there, we did sit and watch the boats go by which included a freighter. We also watched a ferry that would go to Wolfe Island unload and then reload. That was interesting. Think that I would have to let them drive my car on as they were packed in like sardines. We then left and went on to Tibbitts Point Lighthouse and Hostel . But the light house was not open to go up inside. The road that went to the point went right along the river edge with each home or cottage having it's own dock beside the road across from their home. Was neat! This same week we went to the Antique Boat Museum and spent about four hours there. That is where the Boldt/McNally's houseboat is now stored. We went through it as I showed in a previous blog. You can also take a ride in an antique speed boat from there. It looked like fun, but passed that up this time. We saw a variety of boats moared in this area .

They had a building and repair shop where you could see boats in various states of construction and reconstruction . They also had skiffs that you could rent to go out on the river.

As we went through the museum we saw a runabout that was used by the Boldt family, primarily the daughter, Louise. It is amazing the length of some of these boats that were used for daily household transportation.

There were speed boats built in Boldt's day for river competition for the wealthy's recreation! Note the "This" and "That" .

These are more that were stored in the slips of the Boldt Yacht House . This was a 1940's Duck Hunters out board motor boat . This photo was on the wall in the Yacht House . Can you imagine dressing in this fashion to go out boating?

Then the "Miss Behave" which was in a fleet of six that had been built to start some racing competition on the St. Lawrence were in the Antique Boat Museum. I wish I could remember the names of her running mates in addition to the "Miss Understood"!

These also were shown in the Antique Museum in addition to antique to modern day speed record makers . Disc shapes on the back walls show these speed records and can be seen if you double click on the photo to enlarge it to full screen. I think that the highest speed record was in the 280's MPH.

And Gary said that one of them actually blew up.

This may be about all that we will do in this area until we move on up the river and on into Vermont. We'll see. Keep checking in.