Trip back in time - Alexandria Bay

If you love the old town vibes or want to see where the millionaires spend their summers, Alexandria Bay is where you should be. It is the heart of The Thousand Islands, and as the name suggests there are more than 1800 islands spread across the St. Lawrence River.

It is an almost 3 hour drive from Rochester, so it was the perfect time for us to rent a car and go on a summer road trip. 

Preparation tips for drive: 

• Multi packs of bottled water
• Snacks and packaged food 
• Candies

With our packed bags we left early in the morning, had some breakfast in Dunkin Donuts – the large coffee made sure I had energy for the day. We had tickets booked for Uncle Sam’s boat trip for noon and had an hour to kill. To complement the caffeine rush, we stopped for Go-karting at 500 Go Karts for some additional adrenaline.

Uncle Sam’s boat takes you on a 2-hour tour of “Millionaire’s Row” on which you’ll see famous islands purchased by some of the wealthiest families in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, along with the lavish mansions built back in time and few recent ones. It makes a stop at the Boldt Castle on Heart Island which has a heartbreaking history but I’ll leave that suspense for you to unravel when you are there. The St. Lawrence river straddles the border of the U.S. and Canada so during the tour you might lose cellular network for some time but I assure you, you are going to be fine.

There is a lot else to explore as well including shopping, farms, and wineries (if you are 21+, of course).

If all of this does not interest you, just the blue crystal water and the sun reflections dancing on the waves will make you take a deep breath and relax, something I didn’t realize I needed but I am glad I got to do in Alexandria Bay.