Thursday, June 3, 2010

Memorial Day parade

The B'ville Memorial Day parade was held on Sunday and Aidan was very excitement to be marching with his Cub Scout pack in the parade:


James took Aidan down to the staging area and stayed to help the driver of the float keep an eye out for children and other hazards. Neighbor Cindy and I hauled our chairs and refreshing beverages - water for her and "flavored" lemonade for me - and we had a great view of our village's display of patriotism, gratitude and Americana. There were veterans, active service military, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, dancers, bands, politicians, old cars...all that was missing was a beauty queen or two!











Sunday, May 30, 2010

Boldt Castle

When planning our activities for the Memorial Day weekend, Aidan suggested that we visit Boldt Castle. He had picked up a brochure way back in December when we stopped in at a New York visitor center as we entered the state on our way home. We looked it up on the map, saw that it was less than two hours away and decided it would be our Saturday destination.

Boldt Castle is located on Heart Island in the St. Lawrence River. Rather than go into the story of Boldt Castle here, you can read about it on the official web site. Before going to the castle, we drove into the village of Alexandria Bay for lunch. Alex Bay was, in a word, disappointing. And another word for it is tacky. James summed it up well when he said that it looks like a smaller, more rundown version of Myrtle Beach. And we don't like Myrtle Beach.

After a passable lunch, we drove onto Wellesley Island to the Boldt Castle Yacht House. We took the water shuttle from the Yacht House over to Heart Island and the castle. It was slightly overcast but temps were in the low 70s, which made for a lovely day to wander around the grounds. Most of the exteriors of the various buildings have been restored but very little of the interior of the house has been completed, but it is still amazing. Every window has an amazing view - that's the beauty of living on an island!

Following are my favorite photos of the day, but the web site has, of course, far better views.