Rio Travelers: THOUSAND ISLANDS, NEW YORK

These pictures are from our drive through the Thousand Islands and Saint Lawrence Seaway area of upper New York state. It is a beautiful area and the highlight of our stay, at least according to Ken, was our visit to the Wooden Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.

Our drive after we left Essex Junction, VT took us through the islands of Lake Champlain including North and South Hero and Isle La Motte before crossing into New York just south of the Canadian border. We discovered the monument to Samuel de Champlain and the site of the old fort on Isle La Motte which is also home of Saint Anne's Shrine which dates back to the 1600's when the French settled the area.

I have to admit that I enjoyed our visit to the Wooden Boat Museum almost as much as Ken did. The old boats are beautiful and some of the things we saw were very interesting, like the first wave runner built in the 1920's and the ELCO yacht. "ELCO" is an acronym for Electric Boat company which also manufactured WW II PT boats and now manufactures submarines. The house barge was built for the Boldt family who owned hotels as well as an island in the Thousand Islands. The McNally family who bought it are of the Rand McNally name. Some people have way too much money.