Sun = Fun

We have had three spectacular days up here in the Adirondack Mountains. We took all of our boats out except for the sailboat. We must have done a good job of winterizing everything last fall, because we haven't had any issues at all. Friday we took Moxie the Chris Craft Speedster for a jaunt down to Gull Bay and over to the Waltonian Islands off of Hague. In the afternoon we launched the kayaks at the Ti town beach. It was a bit windy, so no photos, but still great to be back on Lake George. Friday evening we met Greg and Wendy for dinner in Bolton Landing (what a great trip in the T-Bird with the top down on the freshly paved Rt. 9N over Tongue Mt. and its curves). They had been in Lake George Village for the Americade Motorcycle Rally, then ventured north to meet us. They had never been to the elite Sagamore Hotel, so we all decided to sneak in and get a few photos. The place was a flurry of activity with several different affairs going on, but even though we weren't dressed like everyone else, we just walked right in past the lobby and on out to the back patio. Acting like we were a part of the crowd worked, and we had a blast checking out the beautiful grounds.

Saturday we headed south to Hulett's Landing with the kayaks in the van. The Northwest wind was more than predicted but we hid in the lee of the bays and had a fantastic picnic lunch on one of the tiny rock islands. On the way back north, we went by a gull rookery with two tiny little fluff balls climbing all over the rocks and sliding into the water. Unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of them because they moved too fast (and I stayed away from the island so the gulls wouldn't dive bomb us, which they have other times...now we know why!), but here is the rest of lake from our calm picnic spot. Once again we love this uncrowded time of year.

Today was another busy day with Dave taking the Sea Doo out and us both taking the Sea Fox on lower Lake Champlain. However, the highlight of the day and weekend was our one way trip down the La Chute River from the Ticonderoga waterfalls, out into Lake Champlain, and over to the launch ramp near the ferry landing. We leave the van at one end and Dave's Aprillia at the other end.

Turtles were sunning themselves like bumps on a log, as they were everywhere we went this weekend. In fact all together we must have counted approximately 200 of them combined in all our outings!

The Lake Champlain water is still high, but has gone down, as you can see from the white high water line in this photo.

The  lake level is still high enough to do lots of exploring in the bayous, including going over what is usually dry land.

The river was flowing enough to give us just a little push and make our paddling easy. This choke point where a tree had fallen and was cut to allow access, was fun to go though. The photo doesn't show it, but the current was cranking through the area.

I found this sign up against the tree snags. Even though it is only half there we figured out it came from Asas Island in the Waltonians of Lake George, and had quite the trip down the rapids and over several falls. No wonder it was broken.

As we approached the grassy area at the mouth of the La Chute, it was totally calm. That is Mt. Defiance on the top right of the photo.

The wind was supposed to be south which would push us to the ramp, but there was no wind at all, even past the fort. That was fine with us too, as long as it didn't come from the north...the direction we were heading. This was a perfect time of year to do this trip. The grass and reeds haven't grown very high yet, and the underwater weeds and milfoil were less than usual.

All the boating activity, and knowing that all our vessels are in tip top shape, is really making us look forward to the rest of the summer. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Footnote: How could I almost forget the real cake topper of the weekend? We saw this $198,000 Bentley Bentayga in front of the Sagamore Hotel Friday night! I bet we had just as much fun in our T-Bird with the top down as they did though. 😉