I spoke too soon about summer beginning. It may be Memorial Day weekend, but we appear to be back to early spring temps. It may not even get out of the 40s today! However, we have had such much needed rain and the lawn and flowers are loving it (as are my allergies, with the rain washing away the pollen). My rhododendron bushes have more blooms than ever before, and the colors are gorgeous.
Hopefully we will soon be back to more water bound adventures. This month sure went by fast.
These two old goats have been busy and have everything at home pretty much set for the summer. Time to head north with the gorgeous summer-like weather. In fact today, it is warmer than Florida up here in Ticonderoga. We took the Chris Craft, Moxie, out on Lake George and everything works perfect, just like everything in the house does. Thankfully we lucked out this year. Dave even took his his annual first plunge into the very cold lake water...60 degrees at the surface. He was in and out fast, but actually went in twice.
I know I say this every year, but what a wonderful day to be out boating this early in the season. There were only two vehicles at the launch ramp and very few boats out on the water. A loon surfaced right next to our boat, and we were in awe when a C-17 plane came over the mountain and banked over the lake, quite low to the water. We weren't fast enough to get photos though. Yesterday was fun too, when I went kayaking in the crystal clear water, while Dave was down home attending to some business.
Turtles were everywhere sunning themselves, some on top each other...
I disturbed a merganser duck who was very unhappy with me. I paddled too close and he jumped back in the water.
Mating time for mallards and these two were a cute couple.
There were no Lake George Steamboat Company tour boats hauled out at the railway. They must all be serviced and ready for the summer tourist season.
I believe it is only once a week, but the Mohican comes up to land here at the other end of the lake in Ticonderoga for a short time.
Beavers have been busy up this little creek and their lodge is impressive.
Speaking of busy beavers... we took our first walk down to see if the beavers were still around down by their three lodge compound on the LaChute River. We immediately spotted two of them, one of which was huge and it swam right past us. We did notice that it seemed like the shoreline didn't have as many trees and bushes and now we know why...
Busy beavers, just like us old goats. 😉 Summer has begun!
If you guessed the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence Seaway, you are right! We really missed going up there last summer, since we didn't use Gulliver the camper van, due to the Covid pandemic. Now that we have our vaccines, we decided it was time to take a day trip back to Alexandria Bay and Clayton. We haven't explored the region this early in the season and now we know why. There were very few people around and quite a few establishments not open yet (but preparing to). The Keewaydin State Park looked bare with no boats at the dock.
It was fun to drive around both that and Grass Point State Park with the campgrounds still closed and no one around. The grass marsh hadn't started to grow and turn green yet, but we did see the swans (they are so funny when they stick their heads down in the water and their butts go sky high).
I had made a picnic lunch that we ate along the Alex Bay waterfront, overlooking Boldt Castle.
The water looked to be quite low this year, but of course that is compared to the super high water that happened in 2019 when we visited last. It was wonderful to see that it was just as clear as we remembered it.
The Uncle Sam's Boat Tours were running, with stops at Boldt Castle. The smaller boat sure is nostalgic and must date back to the 1950s. We did not see any Canadian tour boats out, but then again, the border is closed and, I may be wrong about this, but I believe US Citizens can't travel in Canadian waters or Canadians in US waters.
Despite the cold and wind, we still had a great time checking out our old stomping grounds. We haven't decided yet whether we will be going back camping this season, since it sounds like campgrounds will be quite full. You know us, we like to stay away from crowds. When others zig, we zag. Thank goodness we have the house in Ticonderoga to hide out at (which BTW did not flood the cellar this year!) and choose whichever Adirondack lake is appropriate for the conditions. The double bear wood carving that is below, sure would look better at our house, than in downtown Alex Bay. Nice workmanship though!
