More Wooden Boats

Summer wouldn't be complete without a visit to the annual ACBS boat show in Lake George Village. Hosted by the Adirondack Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, it draws a huge crowd each year. What a great way to spend a couple of hours and what a beautiful setting to have the event!

Gorge-ous Day!

What a perfect day to have my birthday celebration get together at Queechee Gorge in Vermont. My sister Sue and brother-in-law Len met us about halfway between their house in New Hampshire, and our place in Ticonderoga. After a nice lunch at CJ's in the Quechee Gorge Village, we checked out the  Antique Store and shops, including the toy museum. Talk about going back in time and reminiscing?! Then it was on to the gorge itself, which is 165ft. deep.

There is a trail along the ridge to the dam that the four of us took.

Then Dave and Len took the trail down to the bottom of the gorge, where the river is very low and looked like a stream. 

It was a beautiful ride through the Green Mountains to get there too, but next time we go, we'll be sure to bring our swimsuits for the swimming hole. Thanks Sue and Len for making my birthday celebration special!

'Mystical' Engines

Dave and I attended the 25th Annual Antique Marine Engine Expo at Mystic Seaport that was held this past weekend. It was quite a display with engines of all sorts...large, small, inboard, outboards, diesel, gas, and many we didn't even know what their purpose was. The best thing was that most were running!

I especially liked the miniature engines that were all in service, plus many model boats.

This is a model of the Seaport's Sabino that gives harbor tours. 

They even had a pond available for the remote control boats to cruise around in. There were RC tugs, barges, sailboats, and classic wooden runabouts meandering around.

We also checked out the schooners that are on display including the Charles W. Morgan, Joseph Conrad, and the famous slave ship Amistad.

That's a lot of confusing rigging on the Morgan...

Although acting as captain on the Joseph Conrad now, I don't think that Dave would have liked being in charge back when the schooner was in service training up to 80 teenage (or younger) cadets for 6 months at a time!

It was a perfect day to revisit the Seaport and all it has to offer, including the waterfront itself. We were jealous of those people out on the water, so next time we'll plan to go sailing or at least bring our kayaks. 

"Give An Inch...

Take a mile." Or so the saying goes. This time it has a different meaning. We had a storm roll through the Adirondacks and although we only received an inch of rain, it sure got the streams and rivers flowing! We passed by Ausable Chasm on a day trip and it was wild, looking more like Spring snow melting and run-off.

This lady took advantage of the dynamic conditions and put it on canvas.

As we were waiting for summer conditions to return, we continued on our little road trip from New York, up to Rouse's Point at the Canadian Border, then across the bridge to Vermont, and back to Plattsburgh on the Cumberland ferry.

What a great way to spend the day, visiting our old cruising spots on Lake Champlain, but doing it the fast way in our PT Cruiser Convertible!

 

Where Are We Now?

It sure looks like we are in some foreign country with the sailing dory at anchor, but we were really at Thayer Beach in Colchester, Vermont. The sand is beautiful at this shallow water beach on the south side of Mallet's Bay in Lake Champlain. Mallet's Bay is so large that it's like its own lake within a lake.

Once we were done touring the bay we headed back to the New York side and Valcour Island for another swim. We were completely shocked when we got out into the main lake and saw it was flat calm...a nice switch from the two foot waves on the way over from the Peru launch ramp (gee, maybe we WERE in a foreign country!). Of all the times we have been on Lake Champlain we have never even been close to Colchester Reef, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Despite a couple of danger buoys and the main concrete and rock marker that you can see in the distance, there wasn't anything else to determine where the rocks and shallow water started and ended, pretty much in the middle of the lake. With the low water levels right now, some of the rocks are showing, but in the spring they may not be visible at all, yet still lurking just below the surface. It must be pretty dynamic here when there is a storm or high winds and waves. Our advice to anyone sailing near here is to stay way clear of the area! Dave just had to get out and walk around though...

Just another one of our fun adventures to add to our 'history book'!

Back to T.I.

The fun never ends...or at least it seems that way. We have just returned from spending 5 days up in the Thousand Islands, including attending the annual Antique Boat Show and Auction in Clayton with several friends from Hope Town.

We didn't take very many photos at the boat show, but this Coronado was definitely our favorite.

In the days before the Clayton show, we were out in Moxie and had a blast. Friends Jim and Sharon brought their Monterey up and we cruised around the islands. Other HTSC friends Peter and Linda were visiting the area, so we took them out and all six of us went to Boldt Castle and Yacht House. 

This is the view from the Yacht House to the castle.

When we went back to our boats, Jim had surprise hitchhikers on his swim platform. It was so funny because we were trying to be so quiet to get photos, but that wasn't necessary because no matter what Jim did, including starting the engine, the ducks wouldn't leave. He finally shooed them off and I think they would have gladly gone for a ride.

Freighters were in abundance traversing the Seaway and we still love seeing them. What a unique area!

 On Sunday morning we went kayaking from Kring Point State Park before heading back home. It was really picturesque and we were so lucky that it was totally calm. It was the perfect ending to our mini-vacation.

So, if you are one of my daily visitors to this blog (and I really appreciate it!), but don't see any posts for awhile, you can rest assured that we are out having fun or just being boring (highly unlikely). The photos below sum up our summer...Going, going, gone!