One of the anchor points of this trip was to attend the Rochester Jazz Festival, and as a bonus meet up with Mike's brother and sister-in-law at their seasonal campsite in Byron, NY. We had camped there once before but not with Ruth. It is a very busy park and we had the good fortune of booking early so got a spot for a week.
After a slight routing mishap that brought us in on a gravel road (not ideal) we arrived and set up camp. We were within walking distance of their campsite, but Steve was kind enough to borrow a golf cart from a friend for us to borrow during our stay.
The four of us had tickets to see Bonnie Raitt at the festival one night and we planned to attend some of the other free music throughout the week. Mother Nature threatened and actually rained on us more frequently than we had hoped so we only got over to Rochester one additional day for music. However, Bonnie Raitt sounded amazing and it was such a treat in such a beautiful intimate theatre.
We played a bit of pickleball, rode our bikes along the Erie Canal and enjoyed a nice visit with Mike's brother and sister-in-law and even his nephew and family for a few days. Mike finally had a chance to get out his pizza oven for lunch one day.
 Music, campfires and pizza |
Our next stop was 1000 Islands Campground, nestled between Alexandria Bay and Clayton, New York. We stayed here over July 4th weekend. Clayton had their planned fireworks celebration on the 3rd awhile Alex Bay had theirs on the 4th. As the weather looked better on the 3rd, we opted to get a spot on the waterfront, pack a picnic and enjoy the celebration in Clayton. Clayton hosted a band that played all the hits of the 70's and 80's, right up my alley. It was a lovely, small town evening.
We had a few nice weather days in which we took a boat tour to Singer Castle. Gal's Place ice cream was located right in front (walkable) of the campground, there was a line every night. The holiday weekend was crazy, but we did manage to polish off a hot fudge sundae one evening after dinner.
The Clayton Antique Wooden Boat Museum was worth a stop. Multiple buildings full of works of art on the water and many of them are aging very well.
We also packed our bikes on the Jeep one morning and traversed the bridge into Canada for an enjoyable trail ride and lunch. Thank goodness for e-bikes on those hills. The border crossing was non-eventful.
This is an area that could easily lend itself to a much longer exploration, but it is time for us to head to Vermont.
