We had just spent the weekend observing our wedding anniversary near Alexander Bay. The last thing we expected driving home was a UFO sighting.

It started innocently enough with three nights lodged at an old friend’s cottage located on the St. Lawrence River — or as the local folks endearingly call it “The River.”

It was Sunday evening, Aug. 7, at about 8:10 p.m. My spouse had chosen to drive home because I had done most of the weekend driving. We had just passed southbound Interstate 81 exit 33 for Parish, NY.

As a passenger I was relaxed and enjoying the scenery of lovely cloud formations against pristine blue sky. I glanced up and noticed an intense illuminated object traveling from the western sky. It gleamed brightly in the late evening sunlight.

My first thought was it was an airliner flying in a holding pattern for Syracuse’s Hancock International airport. After it crossed the highway at about 45 degrees in elevation from us, and perhaps at an altitude of 10,000 or 15,000 feet, it was then that I noticed that it wasn’t like any conventional aircraft I’d ever seen.

My first impression was that it was boxy; my spouse while driving did a brief glance upward and simply remarked, “Hey, it’s rectangular.”

Again in the back of my mind, I’m still waiting to see the bright, low angle sunlight brighten up the tail or perhaps the wings. Then it happened, the object just stopped. I watched it for a good five minutes, then reached in the back seat and grabbed a pad of paper to make notes. I half expected it to be gone when I glanced back, but it had not moved; it was still there parked where I had last seen it.

I studied the object and scribbled notes as to its relative size. How big was it, hold your arm out and look at the width of your adult thumbnail, it was that long from our perspective. It was a bright, white, cylinder-shaped object, but it was a bit flat on the top.

I glanced down at the dashboard clock to note the time and immediately looked back and alas, it was gone in the wink of an eye.

I’ve been reporting other people’s sightings for a little over three years now and in my life this was my sixth serious UFO sighting. It still gives me a sense of wonder.

Let’s look at some other UFO sightings in New York Skies:

July 17, 2016: At 10:30 p.m., a New York City resident reported observing a huge egg-shaped object hovering in the sky east of Manhattan over Brooklyn.

July 29, 2016: At 9:15 p.m., a resident of Mohawk observed an orange circle-shaped object that was hovering, then it took off at great speed.

July 30, 2016: At 9:15 p.m., a resident of Deer Park reported seeing 20 red lights in formation flying in a zig-zag pattern, moving from west to east.

July 30, 2016: At 10:45 p.m., a resident in Lancaster witnessed four orange fireballs flying in a triangular formation.

If you are interested in joining a monthly UFO discussion group in the Onondaga County area, drop Cheryl an email [email protected]. If you have a UFO sighting to report, you can use either one of the two national database services: nuforc.org or mufon.com. Both services respect confidentiality.

Cheryl Costa would love to hear the when, where and what of your New York sighting. Email it to [email protected]. The names of witnesses will be omitted to protect their privacy.