The Thousand Islands – Friday Night

We went to The Thousand Islands on the New York State side this past weekend for a much needed two day vacation (I actually need a week long vacation, which will hopefully come next year), where the earth was my bed for two nights, which I haven’t done since I was a kid, and after getting used to how to arrange my body parts so I could sleep the first night, I slept like a log the second night.  Except I got rudely woken up by rain and getting dry clothes off the line so I didn’t have to cart around a bunch of wet clothes.

Anyways, on Friday night after we arrived, we went snorkeling / swimming across part of the St. Lawrence River to this island, of which I could figure out the name and I will, I just don’t have the map on me right now.

View from our campsite to the island.

Once we reached the island we saw a freighter go by – awesomely close, and I wish I had the camera on the float. We got back just before dark.

Sunset view from our campsite.

We had a great view of The Thousand Island bridge from our campsite – I just needed to bring a tripod for the night shots I took!

The Thousand Island bridge – really blurry, but the only photo I have of it!

We then went into Alexandria Bay, where Bill Johnstons Pirates Days was being held, and the streets were teaming with (drunk) people.

Yes, I need to work on my night shots.

After we found a parking place just inside of town, we walked down to Scenic View Park, window shopping along the way (stores stay open late and open early – very convenient!). This was my first view of Boldt Castle.

More to come on the castle in another post!

We then went back and fell directly to sleep on the ground underneath a sky full of stars. It was great seeing stars!

Do you know how many islands are in The Thousand Islands?

First Week in August

I’ve never really been a big fan of August.  Too many family members have died in August. And the minute it hits, my eyes start itching, the air feels yucky, and the worst part is, I didn’t know how cold it was to swim in the evening in August.   I thought September would be the month I wouldn’t be able to swim anymore, who knew August was it?  Unless it really warms up.  So now I have to find another form of exercise.  But I love swimming so much – wah!  And swimming in the pool at the Y is just *not* going to be the same.  Which reminds me, I need to go to Dicks and get a swim cap and goggles so the chlorine doesn’t kill my eyes and hair.

Anyway, we went up to Sylvan Beach for the car show again, and it is getting boring because we’re seeing the same cars every week, so we’ll give it a rest this week, unless Oneida Lake is still very warm and I need to go swimming there.

This is a sweet Ford Fairlane that we haven’t seen before.

Don’t you love the simplicity and largeness of the interior, and that bench seat, good for smooching at the drive-in.

Love the T-Bird insignia on the sweet, light blue T-Bird I showed you last week.

Afterwards, we went looking for the old bathhouse that was converted into something that we had to figure out, and we finally found it!

The bathhouse was cut in two and made into the Laff House. So of course we had to take the ride, and laughed our butts off because it was so hokey. But as a kid, I’m sure it’s scary as all get out. Or not.

I don’t care, I love the amusement park:

It reminds me of Suburban Park in Manlius, where my Mom used to take us every summer until it was closed.

We saw the tugboat Urger which I guess is an educational tugboat.

I wonder what those horns sound like. Nobody was around to “educate” us! But I guess it used to be a steam-powered tug in it’s day.

The tug was sitting in the canal:

Saw a big, puffy cloud:

And blazing, hot, sunset:

Saturday evening we tried to go swimming and froze our buns off – well not froze, but I was shivering even though I was moving. So Sunday we went to the Polish Festival, got sauerkraut and potato pierogies (yummy!), and ate them at the Inner Harbor,

where we saw a dredge:

And behind where we sat to eat are these things in the cement:

An apple,  LaFayette, where I grew up, is known as apple country

The Weighlock Building in downtown Syracuse.

Canal Boat

Salt Evaporation Vats; Syracuse was known as “The Salt City.”

One of the few buildings for boat repair still stands here:

I took a much needed nap on my new sleeping bag (nice and comfy) and when I woke up, the sky looked like this:

And this week, I have to get the camera batteries all charged up, cuz we’re going someplace I’ve never been to before!! I’m so excited!

Last Week of July

I can’t believe how fast this summer is going!  First, the railroad rail has been fixed, albiet not correctly according to railroad person, but at least it’s fixed:

The bolts are supposed to be staggered, not all on one side like they are here:

Then the antique car show at Sylvan Beach:

Cute T-Bird!

Saw lots of Mustangs of all vintages – nice!

Saw lots of ducks:

Listened to Jack Henke talk about his Sylvan Beach/Oneida Lake books here:

And got a parking ticket for a spot that was CLEARLY not marked as a parking spot that needed to be paid for, and on a Sunday, no less:

Which required me to have to go work off some excess energy by swimming in the lake in the dark.

Last Week

I had to work late for OHA’s Evening at the Museum, and you know I can’t just sit there without taking pics:

We snorkeled/swam across this river to an old sunken barge and got some big, old square nails. The sky was gorgeous the whole time, but until I get a water camera, I can’t capture the cool stuff I see while in the water! This was after we got back:

Queen Anne’s Lace is blossoming beautifully now:

Along with the Mullein:

And we went snorkeling/swimming every night, if not out of town, then at our favorite local place:

Scenes from the Week

Last week, as we all know, there was a beotch of a heat wave, and with the sun feeling like spikes driving themselves into your skin, we sought water and cool places.  We caught the tail end of a car show – there were some awesome cars there, but this one really caught my eye, a 1960 Thunderbird:

And this is why it caught my eye – my Dad had one: (that’s me in my Mom’s hat)

After walking around the car show, we jumped in the water for a night-time swim:

The water was freakin’ hot! Hotter than bath water. So the next night we went to another, much cooler lake. And I wore the mask and am getting used to not being able to breathe through my nose, so I could see the remnants of the steamship The City of Syracuse, which was burned in 1917 and sunk. No pics, sorry.

We went to the Antique Truck Show, and quickly walked around since it was my lunch time:

There were lots more very cool looking trucks!

That night we went to Tinker Falls, where we used to go when I was a kid, and the last time I went was with my parents in 2006. It has greatly changed since I was a kid:

Not much in the way of water coming over the falls, and there were tons of mosquitoes and deer flies, so we won’t go back until those things go away (or bring lots of herbal bug spray).

Then we went for a swim in this water:

Where there were ducks hanging on the edge eating:

It was cool, refreshing, and nice to have the sun go down on a way too hot week:

Jamesville Balloon Festival

This past weekend, after work, we went to the Jamesville Balloon Festival.  We caught it at the perfect time, when the balloons were being filled and taking off! They’re so pretty!

Goodbye balloons! ‘Til next time!

Camillus Erie Canal Park

This past weekend the Camillus Erie Canal Park had a Grand Celebration to dedicate the restored Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct, but since I work on the weekend, we couldn’t make it out there until Sunday after work, after all of the festivities were done.  It doesn’t matter, because I don’t really enjoy crowds, anyway!  And by the time we got there (after eating Luigi’s  pizza, mmmmm), the sun was in that perfect place in the sky to shed an orange glow on everything.

Here’s a replica of the Sims’ canal store, now known as Sims’ Museum, which wasn’t open. I do want to go back when it is open, soon!

Sims’ Museum

A long bed of iris along the canal bank were all so beautiful!

This is an old lock:

As we were examining the lock, Midnight, the resident kitty, came over to greet us, and then to perch himself underneath one of the bottom valves of the lock:

Buoy Boat 159 is on display here:

This is a replica of a Lock House:

We then went a mile down the canal to Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct:

If you click on this Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct link, you can see progress pictures of the restoration:

This looks great!

The aqueduct over Nine Mile Creek:

Of course, we had to walk down to the little waterfall of Nine Mile Creek:

Assuming that this is the old wood which was taken out and replaced with the brand new wood:

There is a steam engine exhibit that we need to come back and see sometime, soon, too! This is one of the steam engines outside of the exhibit area:

The back wheels are taller than me!

I took this shot of the sign for the hours, so we can visit when the museum is open:

And the last thing I noticed was this wildlife refuge sign!

I always love to see areas for wildlife!

Another Beautiful Sunset

While driving home tonight, I realized I left my camera in my backpack in the backseat, but alas, I always have my cellphone up front with me (for the most part) so I took a beautiful sunset with it, and it didn’t turn out as beautiful as it looked in real life, but you get the idea:

(also a very dirty windshield doesn’t help).

Getting Outside

Since I consider New Year’s day a real gift – a day off from work and long distance traveling, and just for doing whatever I want, I went outside, for a little while.  There was  a cold wind which altered my walking plans since I was too lazy to drive back home to put on more clothes.  First stop was gas and a car wash.  Had to be patient at the car wash while lady had to figure out how to get cash into machine.  So I snapped a few sky photos, since the sky looked kind of mean:

View of sky looking up at Rt104W

Then I drove up to Lake Ontario. There was one park I really wanted to go into, but the gates were closed. The lake was pounding on the shore and would have made for some great photos. Instead, I drove down to Irondequoit Bay, and the wind was even meaner down there, so I took a pic from where I could park my car, towards the lake. By then the sun had come out:

Looking towards Lake Ontario from Irondequoit Bay’s east side.

I love living near this lake. I sleep with my windows open, even now, and smell the lake air all night long. Makes for great sleeping.  Also makes it hard for me to wake up because it makes me sooo relaxed.

Watching the Sky, Woodchuck in a Tree, & More

It’s getting to that time of year again where when I leave for work the sun is just rising, and there have been some gorgeous sunrises this week.

There’s also been some intense cloud action on the way home.

Last night we walked in Mt. Hope Cemetery (in between the rain) and saw a woodchuck hanging out in a tree. We couldn’t believe our eyes, so I took some pics.

I’ve never seen a woodchuck in a tree. What’s the deal with this?

The hyrangea shrubs were beautiful – starting to turn pink.

We saw a couple of owl boxes.

And a tree with interesting burls.

Sassafras saplings just waiting for a hole in the canopy.

Cicada exoskeletons were stuck to various places:

Some of the trees are acting stressed this year, including horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).