Sashaying Through The 1000 Islands

We had a windy and stormy start to the weekend...so windy that we couldn't launch Sashay on Friday. Driving to the St. Lawrence River was a bit difficult, so we stopped for a break and ironically parked next to this boat that was quite the opposite of ours.

 Once settled in at the motel, a storm hit and a huge near by tree split and fell on a neighboring house.

When the weather cleared on Saturday, it was gorgeous out and a perfect day for touring the antique boat show on the Alexandria Bay public docks. Friends Catherine and David drove down from Montreal to join us.

We saw many wooden boats, but this 1945 Coast Guard built launch was our favorite. The owner was very detail oriented, but of course we are a bit biased.

That's Her reminded me of the tour boat that we went to Boldt Castle on, back in the 1960's when my family visited the area.

Looking and craving all these wooden boats led us to launching Sashay, which is just as classy, but much easier to take care of since she is fiberglass.

As we were launching, a huge race boat was waiting to use the ramp also. It came complete with its own fuel hauler. We kept kidding David and Catherine that we were going to tell everyone in the sailing club that they are trading their sailboat in on this.

Once in the water, we got a different perspective on everything happening at the docks.

We cruised around several of the islands admiring the the estates and even the tiny houses built on rocks. Being in the St. Lawrence Seaway gave us the added advantage of seeing a freighter go by.

 Two Davids contemplating.

Two C's enjoying the ride!

 

Sunday morning we woke to bright but chilly weather, which was actually a nice change from the 90+ degrees we had been having the past week.  Dave and I spent the morning Sashaying towards Canada, going under the bridge that leads to the border.

 

 Our goal was to go through the rift with its swift current. Although the little Yanmar 2 GM 20 h.p. motor only pushes us along at 6 knots, it handled the current that was against us, just fine.

We felt like we were the African Queen and for Dave especially, this was a dream come true!

Time For An Update

We have been living up in Ticonderoga for most of the past several weeks. In fact I haven't been home for three weeks! Dave did go back to Glenville for his physical therapy appointment and while he was there he went to the Steamboat Meet at the Waterford docks with Jim and Sharon.

 

This was an event that featured original boats that our Martini Launch was fashioned after. We have been very busy working on Sashay, and after some very hard and hot days of retrofitting the top by trial and error to telescope (in order to fit in the garage), she glided into Lake George for a jaunt around the Ticonderoga area. Needless to say she gets plenty of looks and compliments.

 

My kayaking career has really taken off and Dave sometimes drops me off at one spot and picks me up downstream. Even though he can paddle with difficulty, we cannot transport the double kayak anywhere except the hand launch area that we used that one time. When I do kayak, Dave waits patiently, doing his exercises at the designated launch ramp, which of course is overlooking the mountains and water. Not a bad way to do his physical therapy. One day I did a 'triathlon' with walking several miles, then launching my kayak in Lake George for a paddling trip, and ended with a swim in the lake.

We've also been doing some visiting with sailing club friends. Heinz and Jacqueline (Ganesha) invited us up to their new condo in Plattsburgh. It was a wonderful day relaxing and catching up on news, all while sitting on their third floor balcony overlooking Lake Champlain.

Tuesday, Carol and Bill (Interim) will be here for an overnight stay and hopefully lots of swimming with the 90 degree weather expected. Then we pack up Sashay and head home to mow the lawn and make the Pashley Rd. house look like someone really does live there. Up here I have had to mow every four days, so I can imagine what it looks like home with me being gone and not mowing for 3 weeks!

Next is our much anticipated trip to the Thousand Islands of the St.Lawrence Seaway, where there is an antique boat show at the Alexandria Bay docks. Usually we go to Clayton for the boat museum's show and auction at the beginning of August, but this year we are trying something a little different, especially since it is difficult for Dave to walk around a lot. David and Catherine (Soiltaire I) will be joining us for the day and after we look at boats, we'll Sashay our way around some of those 1000 islands! Stay tuned for photos and a report when we return...

"Yes I Can!"

"Yes I Can" Dave scratched another first off his list of things he can now do again after his accident....kayaking! It was a very calm morning with the fog rolling in, so I put the double kayak on its cart, walked it down to the local hand launch spot, and we had a perfect paddle in the upper part of Lake George that we call the pond. It was so serene that it was hard to believe it's almost the 4th of July, which is usually a hectic time on the lake.

 

This Independence Day has more than one meaning for us. Once again Dave was sore but happy and I'm so proud of all he has accomplished.