The Ships

We saw more ships this time during our 5 days on and in the St. Lawrence Seaway, than we have any other trip. It seemed like every time we looked up, there was another one either upbound to Lake Ontario or downbound to Montreal. I know this sounds opposite of what it actually is, but that's because up and down depends on the river flowage and current. It still amazes us to be in such close quarters with these huge vessels, especially since they are traversing in fresh water. At the Grass Point Campground we could even lay in bed and watch them go by. Below are several of the different ships we saw. My favorite is the last one that passed by the Keewaydin State Park Marina. Enjoy, and the poker run boats will be in my next post!

Back From T.I.

What a great time we had camping in the Thousand Islands. 

We stayed in two different state parks, Keewaydin with its gigantic pool and nice launch ramp (where the poker run boats were launched), and then Grass Point with its view of the St. Lawrence River and ships...plus fantastic kayaking. I will be splitting up my posts when we get back to my computer in Ticonderoga and I download the photos from my new camera. Get ready for photos of ships and wildly fast boats!

Happy 4th Of July

We hope you are enjoying this Independence Day week. We took one last swim at the Waltonian Islands today and I snapped this photo before the lake got busy. It's hard to believe it's a holiday from the lack of boats...that all quickly changed though.

We have now regrouped at home and are ready to head to the 1000 Islands in Gulliver. Time to see freighters and race boats, and of course more clear water. We have the Sea Fox in tow with the kayaks in the boat. Stay tuned for more adventure stories!

Heat Wave

Summer has come on strong with the hottest temps in years. Lake George and its clear cool water beckons us. Yesterday we never even realized it was 98 degrees back on land in Ticonderoga....until we got back to the launch ramp. We have our special spot down in the Mother Bunch Islands where small state camping islands surround us, preventing most of the wakes from rocking us at anchor.

And wakes there were on this busy Sunday! It was one of the busiest days I have ever seen on the lake, but normally we tend to stay off the water on the weekends. We certainly didn't want to do that with these high temps. The cool water took awhile to get used to...unless you are Dave who dives right in. With a laser thermometer, the surface temp when we arrived at noon was 72.5 degrees, with a thermocline of about 5 degrees colder 3" down. By the time we left in late afternoon, the surface temp was 78 degrees, which was much better, yet still very refreshing, to say the least. The next few days will be more of the same and we will either be in Moxie, the SeaDoo, or perhaps at the town beach. Stay cool everyone!

Maritime History

It is always a quandary for us retired folks to decide what to do on a day when we can't get out on the water. Thankfully we have great museums around, and that's another reason we like this historical region so much. When the wind was "blowing like stink" from the north the other day, we headed to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbor in Vermont. We hadn't been there in about 10 years and although even back then we were impressed, we were even more surprised to see how far it has come with its displays. My photos this time are a bit smaller to take up less room on this page, but if you click on any of them, they will enlarge. Here are a few highlights from our afternoon visit:

A new addition to the museum is the Hazelett Watercraft Center. Below is their 1902 ice yacht Storm King that was used on Lake Champlain. They can go up to 5 times the speed of the wind. This gorgeous building is full of canoes, kayaks, rowing skiffs, and other wooden watercraft that were used on Lake Champlain.

These are two Lake Champlain 'Sailabouts' of which there were about 20 made.

This is Sunfish Hull #1, the first Sunfish ever produced! 

Next we were drawn into the Steam to Gasoline Building. I bet you can see why! The collection of antique outboards was donated by one man and lined the walls.

The wheelhouse, doors, and dinnerware were from the 200 ft. long steamer Reindeer. Seeing these bits and pieces reminded me of the Titanic.

The Nautical Archeology Center housed many artifacts from the American Revolution on the lake and told stories of historic shipwrecks. This cannon and the remains of its carriage were found very close to Valcour Island.

Out on the docks is the Philadelphia II, which is a replica gunboat built at the Maritime Museum.

It was very rough in the bay and out on the big lake. It is hard to tell, but the floating docks were moving so much that I had a hard time getting out to the boat. Those are Lake Champlain Longboats on the left side.

The Rhinehart Blacksmithing Arts Center and metal shop are where classes are held for kids wanting to cast metals, including tin, copper, and bronze. They get to make and bring home their own knives by the end of the class. From what I have read it's really hard work.

The Blacksmith Shop is where the iron fittings for the Philadelphia II were forged. Notice the big bellows on the left.

The Boat Shop and Boat Shed were busy with activities and projects.

There was a class in session where the kids build their own wooden kayaks. When completed they load it with gear and travel from South Bay all the way to Burlington. I believe the trip takes about 10 days. There were also real young children participating in summer camp. What a great sight to see the youth so active in these projects!

On our way out, I couldn't resist getting photos of these Pyrex bowls on display. We grew up with the mixing bowls and my mother still had hers until her house was sold.

This display had to do with an introduction to the program being held on the educational ship Lois McClure that was built in Burlington. We followed the progress of this replica sailing canal boat as it was being built and were on hand when it was launched in 2004. This summer it has teamed up with the Corning Museum of Glass's GlassBarge to retrace the move of the Flint Glass Works from Brooklyn to Corning, NY, where it became Corning Glass Works. On board there will be exhibits and displays of actual glassblowing.

We even have one of these old TVs in our cellar, and ours has a magnifier on the front. I guess we have even more historical items than we thought!

Solo

Dave made arrangements to go to Lake Champlain with Jim on their Sea Doos, but since it was so calm, I opted to go kayaking. Only the van has a trailer hitch and of course carries the kayaks too, so my only option was to use the hand dolly and bring the red kayak 'Romine' down to the unimproved Tin Pan Alley canoe/kayak launch (and unimproved it is right now...I could barely it get to the water's edge with all the high weeds and grass). This is at the extreme north end of the lake, which is officially known as the Outlet, since it flows to the La Chute Falls and River, but we call it the Pond. Except for the residents along this shallow body of water, there is never any boat traffic. I headed south into the main part of the lake and went all the way to Prisoners' Island. This is more of a rock with some trees and I know there must be history with a name like that, but how many prisoners could fit on this tiny piece of land?

My timing was perfect with barely another soul on the water at this end of the lake. As I paddled back north and passed by the Mossy Point State Boat Launch, I stopped to take photos of the remains of three different underwater barges that Dave and I discovered recently. They all look like the photo below and we are presuming that they are the bottom of barges used in the 1800s for the transport of graphite, which is what Ticonderoga is known for (I am sure everyone remembers the pencils we all used with Ticonderoga on them).

As I scooted around the rocks that separate the main lake from the Pond, I was naturally looking ahead and down in the water so I wouldn't run aground.

That's when I heard all sorts of strange splashes and gurgling and looked up to see, yup, more turtles! I must have startled them and they were sliding into the water. These ones were huge. After I passed by, I was surrounded by little heads popping out of the water and giving me the evil eye.

With still no water traffic, I went to the end of the lake. Usually the current is strong here as it heads to the falls, but today it was undetectable.

End of the line and the end of a great morning on the water.

And Dave had fun too! He said it was so calm that it was one of the best rides he has ever had on Lake Champlain. They went from the Port Henry Boat Launch Ramp, all the way up to Essex, NY and across to the Vermont side too. 

Once again, whether we are together or apart, we certainly are diverse!

Cannons And More

A few days ago, before the rains came, we went to Ft. Ticonderoga to renew our Ambassador passes that allows locals to get in the fort for free. We were just in time for the cannon exhibition, including firing of one of the smaller ones. Each year the fort features a particular year, and this time the soldiers were re-enacting from the Canadian Navy era in 1781. They gave a great talk about the procedure, how many people it took to set off one cannon, all the different commands that were given, and even passed around the different types of ammunition.

Ready...

Aim...

Fire!

What a gorgeous day and view.

They certainly have lots of different kinds of cannons on display and these are only a few of them.

We'll be back for a longer, more detailed tour of the fort, but before we left we went to the King's Garden, my favorite part of the grounds. 

The Pavilion is being restored and we are anxious to see how it turns out.

There is now a boatbuilding project going on in this part of the property, plus a building to house the boats is being constructed.

This boat will be the perfect size for rowing up the La Chute River.

This gazebo is a beautiful accent to the overlook of Lake Champlain and the tour boat Carillion.

One of the entrances to the garden has a bell like ours!

The flowers weren't in total bloom yet but still pretty.

What a gorgeous historical place, pretty much right on our own backyard!