1000 Islands

Some of you may remember that last year we attended the Riverfest and toured Boldt Castle. This year, Mama Bear's brother and his wife visited for a few days, so we showed them the fantastic St. Lawrence river with its Thousand Islands. (Thanks to Mama Bear's brother for taking these pictures!)

We went on the Uncle Sam's 2 1/2 hour tour, which was a little longer than last year's cruise. This boat is a tour boat from the Canadian side. No passports are required on either side because you don't need a passport until you set foot on foreign soil. Note the little lighthouse. These popped up in several places on the river.

Uncle took Panda and Cinnamon up to the Captain to try steering the boat--for real! Cinnamon went crazy with the wheel, and the Captain had to reel her in!

This house was damaged by floating ice. Yikes! Many of the houses on the river are built partly over the water. Instead of a garage for cars, they have a parking place for their boats.

This house is one of the most recent ones. There's a man-made waterfall near the water.

The owner had a huge lion and other statues placed in front of his property. Their red eyes were meant to scare off bootleggers.

This island was a pirate hang-out.
Boldt Castle through the trees.

The Power House and Clock tower at Boldt Castle. It was closed for repairs, but the outside is beautiful.

We had a lunch buffet as part of the cruise. We also had ice cream cones on the dock and shopped at the gift shop (finally got my Boldt Castle snow globe!). Before the cruise, we also shopped in Alexandria Bay. We ended the day with a nice big rain storm.