Steam and Power

What a great coincidence that when we stopped at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton for a brief visit, that they were having a steamboat rendezvous there. As annual members of the museum it is free for us to tour anytime we want, so it is nice being able to go in, even for a short period of time. Unfortunately, several of the steamboats were out cruising around, so we only got to see a few at the docks. You could tell where the missing boats were by the piles of wood waiting to fuel up the steam engines (yes, that's Dave on the ramp again 😉) .

They even had a 'fuel truck' ready to replenish the supply...

Here are the boats we did get to see...

While on the museum grounds, we couldn't resist a quick walkthrough to see the latest displays. I noticed that the lower floor was cordoned off and wet, with several pieces of seaweed around, so the recent high wind must have blown the river water into this building. That must have been so stressful for the curators. It did make the boat displays look authentic 'in water' though! 😉

We are really looking forward to returning and seeing even more, especially during the boat show and auction in August.

High In T.I.

Yesterday was the only day that it was predicted not to rain this week. It was the perfect opportunity to go to the Thousand Islands to check out this year's high water in the St. Lawrence Seaway. In 2017 everyone said it was the 100 year flood, and yet 2 years later the flooding has happened again. With all of our rain, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence have set new record high water levels. Thankfully many of the residents, businesses, and municipalities are now practiced up on what to do and how to help protect their properties and save this year's summer tourist season. Floating docks and higher docks built over the stationary docks can be seen often. We first saw this at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, where we made our first stop...

Sand bags were also in use at their launch ramp to keep the water and debris from coming up on the lawn. 

With the recent high winds, it actually pushed the water over the seawalls.

It was strange to walk UP the ramps to the floating docks instead of down.

It will be impossible to use this floating dock to pull up some of the small sailboats that they usually leave here, until the water level goes down (only a certain amount of water at a time can be released downstream due to currents and keeping Montreal from flooding).

We had deja vu at French Creek Marina's store and office in Clayton, although the water was even higher then 2017 and the office has been temporarily moved.

A different meaning to waterfront site...

And be sure to notice that we saw the freighter passing in the distance!

On to Alexandria Bay, the docks were once again underwater, but they have adapted...

Weighted barrels are placed on the docks so that no one runs into them, and it probably keeps the docks from floating off. Private docks are like this also.

Need fuel? Hope not, because the fuel docks are underwater...

However, despite the flooding, the area is still one of favorites and we are looking forward to coming back and camping in Gulliver. We are still hoping that the 'Thunder on the Bay' Poker Run will stay on the calendar. Nothing can change this gorgeous view!

Leave It To The Beaver

We really enjoy taking our evening walks in any one of the several parks in Ticonderoga. There is so much green space, much of which is historical and revolves around the many different mills. This is at the base of the first of the La Chute waterfalls as the river flows from Lake George.

I am standing on the remains of one of the old mills that was filled in and became more green space. In the distance is the beginning (or end) of the paved walkway along the river.

Looking back south, you can see how much land there is and we have seen tons of birds, woodchucks, rabbits, and deer during our walks. We always sit awhile on the bench and watch to see if the beavers come out at dusk.

They now have a 'duplex' beaver lodge and there is another 'single family home' a few feet away. 

A few nights ago we were lucky enough to see two beavers come out to swim around. Taking photos of them is pretty tricky though.

There is lots for these animals to eat, as we saw several large trees that they have been working on...

They certainly have a lovely pond to live in, before the water heads down the next falls on its way to Lake Champlain. Beavers are so tenacious at trying to dam up any flowing water, but they will never succeed in this spot.

We have even seen them swimming around at the base of the next falls, so they must climb up and down the steep banks to get to the lower water. This is the remains of another mill.

What a great environment for them...and us too!

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. 😉

Classic Bikes

Dave attended one of the best swap meets he has ever been to last weekend. Held in MA, it was called the British and Classic Motorcycle Show. Below are a sampling of the 45 photos that he took, and I will let him do the captioning. The British bikes were especially artistic. Plus there were so many unusual other bikes. Enjoy!

This is a Triumph 750 street legal street tracker...

A 1924 Douglas. It has a 350cc opposed twin engine. There are 3 levers on each handlebar for controls.

Here is a gorgeous 1972 Yamaha GT 80.

This is an equally gorgeous 1974 Honda MT 50.

This is way cool! It is a 2017 Morgan 3 wheel car, powered with an S & S, V-Twin running through a Mazda Miata transmission to a belt driven rear tire.

Below is a Velocette 500. This is what motocross bikes started out as.

AJS was another popular British marque from the 1960's.

Here is a mid-1960's Yamaha 305, beautifully restored.

This Yamaha is a 1966 Twin Jet 100.

A dazzling blue metal flake Norton Commando with scrambler pipes.

Believe it or not, this is a brand new Janus Phoenix 250. They are made in Indiana and use a 250cc Lifan, Chinese engine.

An Army issue Harley Davidson WLA. The details were incredible.

A 1902 Clement-Gladiator from France. Note the acetylene headlight.

Below is a Triumph Scrambler with dual high pipes.

How about a brand new MotoGuzzi Eldorado...from Italy of course!

This is a Harley Hummer 165 from the mid-1950's.

A pristine Honda S 90.

Last, but certainly not least...Dave brought home this 1975 Cushman Minute Miser. That is also his shopping rig with the Honda Trail 70 and wagon in the background.

What an extraordinary find and whole day!