Beating The Heat

After 4 fun filled days of watching the speed boats in Alexandria Bay, we just had to come back and take out Moxie.

 Dave has his own 'speed boat babe'...

What is that washed up on 'Moxie Beach'?

The sand colored lounging pad on the back of the boat (aptly named Moxie Beach) is where we have been spending lots of time this hot summer...unless we're in the water of course!

Thunder On The Bay

All I can say is wow, what a 4 day trip we had! It wasn't just the Poker Run boats, but all the support vessels and vehicles, plus boat enthusiasts everywhere. We had quite a head start when we arrived at Keewaydin State Park to launch the Sea Doo and THIS pulled in just ahead of us...

Aqua-Mania had TWO jet engines and sounded unbelievable. There was one other boat named My Way that has jet engines also. It has been clocked at 224 mph!

Then we saw this get launched at the small ramp by our motel...

The Alex Bay public docks were packed full of boats each night, along with onlookers and wanna-be's.

How about four outboards? We see this in Hope Town from time to time, but never up north. 

Three engines won't fit in line in this engine compartment, so they put one in front of the others.

 Need For Speed was a favorite. Some of the boats like this go over 100 mph.

 This looks like a carnival ride for nine people and probably feels like it!

These are for my brother...your ships have come in, and one had Daytona "written all over it."

How is this for support vehicles? Want to take the Ferrari for a ride?

The Poker Run itself was to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. In fact they were looking for Wounded Warriors to ride with them, which must have been amazing. The start was led by a pace boat and the thunder from all that horsepower could be heard for miles....not to mention 4 jet engines taking off. It was too hard to get photos, so this is from the Poker Runs of America website. There were also a couple of helicopters taking photos and following the boats so we could tell where the racers were.

It was really quite confusing in the beginning, because not only were the participants lingering around tiny Alexandria Bay, but so were other go-fast boats not involved, a Coast Guard inflatable (who followed alongside the whole way), and police boats. PLUS before the race at 11, there was a Paddle for the Betterment of Alex Bay benefit starting at 9 AM! Dave and I were out for a leisurely kayak tour and discovered we were just ahead of the pack. We got out of the way when they caught up, but the chase boats kept trying to get us to go back and join. The last stragglers reached the beach just before the Poker Run started. It was wild. Dave and I were still out in our kayaks and almost got swamped by the big boat wakes. I didn't have my camera so here is a photo from Betterment's site from previous years. Now just picture 20 other 25-50ft. boats mixed in with the kayakers.

What a fantastic experience it all was and we will be doing it all over again in another couple of weeks when it's time for the wooden boats to all come out instead!

Cruising the Hudson River

Jim, Dave and I took our Sea Doos down the Hudson River from Catskill to Kingston yesterday. What a gorgeous and calm day, with very little current.

It didn't take us long to get to the lighthouse entrance at Kingston's Rondout Creek going 35 mph!

 

The shipyard was much busier than in previous years.

End of the line. There used to be a lock here in days gone by for boats transporting coal.

 

"Be Aware of Falling Objects" is a sign on the new bridge that is replacing the old one over the west end of the creek. Gotta love Dave's special hat!

Now it's time to load up the Sea Doo to head to the Thousand Islands'  to watch the annual Poker Run this weekend. Lots of big fast (and loud!) boats. Check back for what I'm sure will be some awesome photos.

Boathouse Tour

Dave and I trailered Foxie up to Lake Placid to explore the lake. A couple of years ago, when we still had our launch Sashay, we did a tour of one end of the lake with Lynda and John. This time we covered the whole lake, peering into all the gorgeous boathouses, most of which had wooden boats in them. What a pretty lake underneath Whiteface Mountain.

Here a few of the gorgeous 'camps' and boathouses...

After our exploration, we found a walking trail to portage the kayaks over to Mirror Lake, which was just as much fun. We got to see the back side of the shops and restaurants along the main street.

Another interesting and diverse day on the water!

Clammin'

Who would have thought that you could go clamming in the middle of Lake George? We had fun taking friends Kerstin and Kenny out in Moxie and stopped at the sandbar near Ticonderoga.

 

Walking in the shallows we found all sorts of clams with our toes! 

Kenny (who is taking the photos) took some home to cook, but I doubt they tasted very good. It certainly added to the adventure though!

Another Annual Trek

Last summer Dave and I signed up to be ambassadors for Ft. Ticonderoga. This allows us to get into the fort and the grounds for free, because we have a home in Ticonderoga. I know I posted photos of the King's Garden last year, but they are so gorgeous this season, I had to show you a few again.

It must take so much work to keep the garden growing and pristine, and it certainly is appreciated... especially by me!

Lunch Cruises

There seems to be no limit as to where we'll go for lunch. When you are retired you have be diverse and imaginative. Last week we launched our 17ft. Sea Fox center console Foxie at Westport on Lake Champlain, motored across the lake to Otter Creek. We followed the winding creek all the way to Vergennes, VT...at the designated 5mph no wake speed! It took a little over an hour to travel the 7 miles and we were plagued with deer flies, which kept us busy swatting. It is a very pretty trip though, and we were the only boat at the public dock at the base of the waterfalls. We sure were ready for lunch at our favorite restaurant after a short but steep hike up the hill to the Three Squares Bistro.

The following day was an easy run down to Anthony's Nose for a picnic lunch on Lake George in our Chris Craft Speedster Moxie. It certainly didn't feel like 90 degrees on and in the refreshing water, but back at the launch ramp it felt even hotter. Sorry no photos...we were too wet!

Wednesday we headed to Niantic, CT for a Hope Town reunion at friends Bruce and Gail's home. 22 New Englanders got together and it was so much fun seeing everyone away from Abaco.

We traveled in the Thunderbird and Chris and Deke from New Hampshire drove their 1950 Chevy Sedan Delivery hot rod. What great 'dinghies' they were for this event!

Who knows where the next lunch outing will be! Stay tuned for more adventures...