Left off yesterday sitting in Alliance Nebraska sipping ice tea while the afternoon thunder storms were building off in the west. I left that area around 5:00 and made it back to the trailer in time to make and eat dinner while reading one of my books. The first of several storm cells hit soon there after, with wind gusts, heavy rain and even some pea sized hail. By the time it was all over 1-2 hrs later there had been at least 2 inches of rain that had fallen. No damage from the hail really, other than a few tree leaves that had been stripped off. I enjoyed watching the lighting and hearing the thunder going off right over my head. But it soon finished up and the skies were clear soon afterwards. It was another wonderful night for sleeping.

   Up by 8:30 this morning.... I don't know why! Once up however it was easy to eat a little breakfast and then take a shower. Had to locate the titles for both my truck and trailer as today was slated to be the day to try and get my license plates changed from Colorado to Nebraska. As it turns out it was one of the easiest government things I've done in a long time. I went to the court house in Chadron and had a local policeman do a VIN check on the truck in order to make sure it was the one listed on my title. Then it was into the Treasurer's office to do all the rest of the paperwork. It took about 20 mins total to get two new titles, new license plates and registrations. That and $190 was all it took, and then I was done.

    Went and got a haircut after that. It had grown really long and should of been cut more than a month ago. Finding someplace to get a decent haircut while on the road is always one of the more difficult things to find but today I think it turned out better than usual.... hope so anyway.

   Just hanging out right now working on some of the hundreds of photos that are still pending. It may take a couple of weeks yet to actually catch up with everything. With that in mind; here are a few new photo's from a trip my friend, Anita, and I took to Boldt Castle while we were in Oswego NY for the contra dance there. I will be posting these in blocks of about 15-20 per day just to keep it doable. The rest will be posted over the next several days. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these first ones.

 

Boldt Castle on Heart Island near Alexandria New York 

June 3, 2013

Boldt Castle was originally planned as a summer home for the millionaire George C. Boldt. Most famous as the man who started the original Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, he was going to give this home to his wife, Louise, as a Valentine present. Unfortunately see died in January of 1904 when the mansion was nearly 98% complete. All work was stopped at that time and the building then sat empty and open to the elements and vandals for the next 73 years.

Built on Heart Island, right off the town of Alexandria New York you have to take a 10 min boat ride over to the island to visit. One of the first things you will notice is the Fairy Tale looking power house where steam turbines were installed to provide power to the house and all of the out buildings.

A closer look at the Power House.

It's hard not to take lots of pictures of this building. It is just so darn cute. Note that originally, access to the building was only via the arched bridge on the left side. Since being taken over and opened up to the public they have built a new level bridge to make it handicap accessible.

A view of the Castle poking up out of the trees. Six stories high and with 120 rooms, there was not much left of it when the 'Thousand Island Bridge Authority', TIBA, bought it in 1977. They decided to open it to the public and use the money from entry fees to start putting it all back together like it once was. Now 36 years later they have spent more than 32 Million dollars on rehabbing it. Still less than 50% complete, they have done an amazing job so far, but have so much more to do.

This is the boat house that goes with the Boldt Castle. It is on it's own separate island and is accessed via boat. This building, in and of itself is a wonderful little tour. There are 3 separate interior boat slips, each 128 feet long. The highest door opens up a full 64 feet high. There are pictures of large steam yachts and sailboats being housed inside. What I found fascinating was that they had a system of screw jacks on each slip which would allow you to moor any boat that would fit inside, and then hoist it completely out of the water and be able to do work on the hull. There was also a movable smoke stack which allowed you to fire up the engine inside without chocking on all of the smoke.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I got to take any interior pictures of all of the antique boats stored inside.

Heading up to the front entry of the Castle.

Built of native granite, Boldt actually bought his own quarry on another island so that he would have access to enough stone of the same color and texture. Over 200 workmen, including many European stone masons, worked on the building for more than 3 years.

A closer view of some of the cut stone details that were included.

An even closer, close up of some of the details. As you look at the pictures of the exterior and interior keep your eyes open for hearts and harts used in the design.

Designed to look like a castle built in the Rhineland of Europe, it has many details you would find there.

The parlor off the front entry. You have to imagine that there was nothing left in any of these rooms when the TIBA bought it. No windows, no plaster, flooring, furnishings, etc. There will be pictures of some of the rooms that are left to do later, but right now know that what you are seeing here has all been done in the last 30+ years. The detail and finish of all of this is just exquisite. Note the plaster ceiling.

A closer view of the plaster work in the parlor. This was all done by a historic restoration plaster company in either South or North Carolina. ( I can't remember which).

A close up of one corner of the ceiling with all of the 'wedding cake' plaster that was redone. It is beautiful.

Another amazing plaster ceiling in the billiard room.

The grand staircase is also new, as is everything else in this atrium. The workmanship in all of this is hard to believe. It is nice to know that there are still craftsmen here in the U.S. that can do this level of work.

This one shows more of the 2nd and 3rd floor balconies and ceilings that open off of this staircase. At the very top is a huge oval stain glass dome. A picture of that will come later.

This is the first 17 of more than 60 photo's. Additional pictures will come in the following days.