Sarah Too

After a week of coral research overload and hob-knobbing, I flew towards my most favorite place in the world - The 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River in Northern NY. For a few days I was living on River time in my true hometown with good friends and my family. My parents rented a fantastic cottage with a huge screened-in porch overlooking the main U.S. shipping channel on the south side of Wellesley Island.

Our days were filled with reading, relaxing, games, good food, and much laughter. My best friend provided us with brown lake trout and venison sausage as a basis for my brother's culinary masterpieces. The rented house provided us with board games like Trivial Pursuit and Password. And the River provided us with many hours of entertainment and peaceful contemplation.

Even after all these years, the ships moving up and down the channel still give me a thrill. I still wonder what is on board, and I still take note of whether the ship is riding high or low in the water.


Our first day at the cottage was HOT and cause for us all to jump into the "refreshingly cool" River. After floating the 86 degree salty Atlantic Ocean, the 72 degree freshwater River was small shock to the system, but it felt so good! That is of course, if you keep moving when you first jump in (there is no wading)...

The second day was a bit more...temperate, with rain showers all through the night and through a good part of the day. We visited the Boldt Yacht House, and Boldt Castle. I saw the Castle last year, and there always seems to be something new to see each time I visit. The skies finally cleared in the late afternoon, so the girls took at walk over to T.I. Park. After a little playtime on the see-saw and the swings, it was time for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

My last full day was filled with a lazy morning, then an afternoon jaunt to Cape Vincent and Clayton. Tibbett's Point lighthouse is always a favorite, as is the newish favorite -- the Lyric Coffee House in Clayton. For dinner, we ate out (since we demolished the trout and venison sausage). I had a delicious stuffed-chicken dish at Hacker's at the Thousand Island Country Club. Our table could have been less "plastic fold-out with inconveniently-placed legs," but the food was fantastic, as was the sunset.

In the morning, I had to leave. After two weeks on the road, work and my day-to-day life were beckoning. I didn't want to leave my friends or family, though. It was so nice to spend time with them all, and I didn't want it to end. It was a tough ride to the Syracuse airport, as my best friend and I tried to enjoy remaining time together. It had been a year since we last saw each other and I dreaded that my departure meant another year would go by before our next visit...

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