Lake Ontario and Thousand Islands Trip - August 2-5, 2020

These pictures are from our pandemic trip to the Watertown, New York, area to visit Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands. The ongoing pandemic meant it made a lot more sense to stay in the northeast than travel to areas with more significant outbreaks. Pictures are from my Fujifilm Finepix HS50, my iPad Pro, and Cathy's iPhone camera.

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Sunday, August 2

We got on our way from Amsterdam after lunch [2 Pictures]. We took the Thruway out to Utica, then worked our way north. We waited out a thunderstorm in Boonville [Picture], then spent a few hours at the Whetstone Gulf State Park, where we checked out the creek both up close and from part of the hike along the rim of the gorge [22 Pictures][19 People Pictures]. We continued on to Watertown, picked up some Moe's and Chipotle for dinner, taking it back to our room, and got to watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball. [63 Roads/Signs Pictures]

Monday, August 3

Some overnight rain left a cloudy and chilly morning, so we took our time getting started. A quick grocery store visit in the morning provided breakfast in the era where hotel breakfast buffets are not allowed. After 10, we started north toward Clayton, where we got our first looks at the St. Lawrence River, then followed the river back to its source at the Tibbits Point Lighthouse. Next, it was back into Cape Vincent to check out the public pier and to get lunch from a small market (which we ate back on that same pier) [22 Pictures][7 People Pictures]. We returned to the hotel briefly to prepare for the beach part of the day, which took place at Westcott Beach State Park [14 Pictures][6 People Pictures]. After a couple hours there, we drove into Sacketts Harbor to look around town with a little ice cream to get us through to dinner [5 Pictures][2 People Pictures]. Back in Watertown, we got a good takeout dinner from Bernardo's: pizza, wings, and fries with gravy back at the room [1 People Picture]. Then more Yankee baseball on television, this time against the Phillies. [37 Roads/Signs Pictures]

Tuesday, August 4

This day was spent on the outer fringes of the rain from Tropical Storm Isaias, which was moving up through the eastern part of the state. Our main objective for the day was a riverboat tour out of Alexandria Bay, so we made our way there mid-morning [6 Pictures][2 People Pictures]. We ended up getting tickets for the 12:30 American Narrows cruise [34 Pictures][8 People Pictures], giving a little time to walk around the village and get some lunch. The cruise was very nice and interesting, taking us upstream past the Thousand Islands Bridge, then back downstream to Elephant Back Rock before dropping us at Heart Island for our tour of Boldt Castle [18 Pictures][1 People Picture]. This was also an enjoyable stop. When we had enough there, we got the shuttle boat back to Alexandria Bay, then took a bit longer way back to Watertown, first going north and east up to Morrisville. Back in Watertown, we got dinner from Chipotle and Five Guys to bring back to the room. [33 Roads/Signs Pictures]

Wednesday, August 5

The tropical storm passed, but left behind strong winds out of the west and mostly clear skies. We checked out [2 People Pictures] and decided to make our stop for the ride home the Sandy Island Beach State Park on Lake Ontario [26 Pictures, 1 Video][8 People Pictures, 1 Video]. It's a great spot, and the surf was really up with the strong winds. After a few hours there, we grabbed a quick lunch in Pulaski and made our way home. [39 Roads/Signs Pictures]


terescoj+pics@teresco.org - Mon Dec 7 20:39:53 EST 2020