We left the Keys at the end of April so that I could visit my doctors at home. This is the second time I left the Keys to seek medical advice from my doctors in Baltimore. While I now have several doctors in Key West, I feel more comfortable seeing my doctors at home. There are not a lot of specialists in the Keys, so I would have probably had to go to Miami to see a kidney specialist. Fortunately only watching things at this time. I have a follow up in October to see if surgery is necessary.
It was good to have time at home to help Kat with her house project and time at Ryan’s to help him finish some of the maintenance on Liberty and to replace his shower in his master bedroom. We got to visit friends that we have been missing. Got to see how much Bennett has grown in a few months. And got to have lots of Maryland crab meat that I have been missing! What I was not expecting was the high price of crab meat. We bought several pounds to take with us to New York, and it was very high in price. Over $40 for lump backfin. The market said it was due to COVID. I don’t know how it was cheaper this winter when people were not working, but just glad I could get a few pounds, even if it was expensive.
It was tough getting used to the cooler weather in Maryland so we held off heading to Alexander Bay until mid June. Its even colder in the Thousand Island region than it was at home so we were in no hurry. The trip to Alexander Bay was uneventful, but bouncy. Interstate 81 is not a great road. It was very rough in Pennsylvania. It did smooth out once we got to New York. The closer we got to Alexandria Bay, the better it got. Now that we are in Alex Bay, we have only had a few warm days. We took advantage of one nice day to explore the St. Lawrence. Locals are saying the water depth is low; about what it is normally in the Fall. Not all of the rocks are marked, so we are being careful to avoid the rocks. We went over to see where Peter will be staying once he gets here. The Thousand Island Yacht Club looks very nice. Someone was in the slip assignment he gave us (82) so not sure if he will be in a different slip, or if that was just a transient. We took advantage of the cooler days and worked on cleaning up the RV. The RV park will not let us wash the outside of the RV, but we cleaned inside; wiping everything down and cleaning up. My clothes were a little musty smelling so everything got washed. It feels good to have nice, neat RV again. Even all of the cupboards and drawers have been organized. I am sure it won’t last long!
It was 54 degrees this morning which kept us in bed a little longer than normal because neither Randy or I wanted to get up to close the windows or turn the heater on. We have had a few nice days to get out on the water to explore, but we have found that the River is very crowded on the weekends, so we will try to limit our water excrusions for weekdays. It is an overcast, cool day so we it was not a good boating day. We drove the Jeep to Wellesley Island and the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse at Cape Vincent. The Wellesley Island State Park is the largest camping complex in the Thousand Islands region, but only 56 that have full hook ups. The park has a full-service marina with four boat launches. There is a sandy beach for swimming, but it is way too cold for me to want to get in the water. We were disappointed that the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center and Butterfly house were closed. We explored one of the trails but since we did not see any wildlife and Randy and I were not prepared for a long hike, we decided to explore outside of the park. We got to see a wild turkey and a grouse along the road. And a fawn nursing its momma was adorable.
After leaving Wellesley Island we stopped at the New York Visitor Center at the base of the Thousand Island Bridge. They suggested we visit the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse at Cape Vincent which was only about 30 minutes away. The Tibbetts Point Lighthouse marks the point where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence River in Northern New York State. The land upon which the lighthouse stands is part of a 600-acre grand of land to Captain John Tibbetts of Troy, New York. In early 1827, Captain Troy deeded three acres of land to the Federal Government where the lighthouse, lantern, dwelling house, kitchen and an outhouse were scheduled for completion at a cost of $1,747. Originally built in 1827, the lamps were fueled by whale oil. In 1854 the first tower was replaced by the current circular tower that stands 69 feet above the water. The whale oil lamps were replaced with a Fresnel lens. Today the lighthouse features the only original working Fresnel lens in Lake Ontario. Many repairs were made over the years and lights were automated in the early 1970’s. In the 1980’s, the lighthouse quarters were converted to a youth hostel, but that has since closed. Randy was disappointed that the lighthouse is closed to the public so he could not climb the tower. However, the grounds are available for weddings and events.
Since Randy did not get to climb the tower we have added the Rock Point Lighthouse to our list of attractions that we want to visit this summer. Even thought we can probably take our own boat, we are looking at the glass bottom boat tour out of Clayton that lets visitors explore Rock Island State Park where you can climb to the top of the historic 1847 lighthouse. Randy will climb the tower and I will watch as usual!
