Aug. 8-14 Vermont Vacation

“Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.” –Unknown

Our August staycation...was actually a real vacation. We left the state and enjoyed a week with our family in the mountains of Vermont. We were joined by Bryt's parents Tom and Cynthia. We had two adults for every child, that's a great way to take care of kids. There was always someone for the kids to do something with and plenty of time for everyone to relax.

We spent the week exploring Manchester, Winhall and Stratton Mountain. We played golf, pickleball, card games, went swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding and even had a little time to shop. Best of all we had a lot of time to visit and enjoy each other's company.

The house

The bedrooms

The game room in the basement was a lot of fun.

Like usual...the deck was my favorite place.

The view I had with my morning coffee.

We had a lot of fun at Pike's Falls...the water was cold but refreshing on warm afternoons. 

Graham had a great time sliding down the rocks and jumping off the falls.

The deck and it's amazing view was a great place for us to paint. 

Even Hattie got to paint this time.

Dinner on the deck was also a lot of fun.

Graham had a chance to play golf with his Mom, Papa Fauch and CiCi. He had fun and caught on fast.

The week was very warm, so playing in the water was the most enjoyable. One day we went to the pond near the golf course to paddle board and kayak.

Hattie turns two this month. Since everyone was together we had a birthday party for her. I think she enjoys being two...she loved the cake.

Everyone helped on this 1000 piece puzzle. We actually finished it in record time. 

We spent one day at Stratton Mountain Village. 

Brytanie and her Dad did a little downhill mountain bike riding.  

The rest of us decided we weren't up for the workout and enjoyed riding the gondola to the top of the mountain.

View on the way up.

Stratton Mountain Village

The best thing to eat on a hot day is ice cream. We were in Vermont, so we had to have Ben and Jerry's.

No matter what else was going...playing at the house was the most fun.

Aug. 24 - Mile Bay, VT

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

Basin Harbor Club Mooring

Today was another short cruise...down the Otter River and into Mile Bay. Mile Bay is on the Vermont side of the lake, but we cruised by the Palisades on the New York side before stopping for the day. The Palisades are magnificent cliffs that rise 100' above the water and plunge another 140' beneath the water's surface. The water is so deep you can take your boat right up to the wall. The lake is much narrower here, so getting from one side to the other doesn't take long.

We stopped in Mile Bay so we could visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Basin Harbor Club will let you use one of their mooring balls while you go ashore to the Museum. We were told at the museum no one monitors the moorings and we could spend the night...so we did. Ever since Samuel de Champlain stumbled through the Green Mountains in 1609, Lake Champlain has been one of the most important, and fought for, waterways in the Northeast. Wedged between New York, Vermont, and Canada, the lake has hosted bloody battles and bootlegging operations, plus the gamut of shipboard shenanigans. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum reveals the history of this contested body of water. Along with the history of Lake Champlain they have displays of antique boats, rowboats, canoes, motors, and replicas of Benedict Arnold’s gunboat, and a sailing canal schooner. It was all very interesting and a great way to spend the afternoon.

Later in the day we took the dinghy and explored Basin Harbor and Button Bay. The Basin Harbor Club is a 700-acre resort with cottages overlooking the lake. It has provided swimming, boating, golf, tennis and gourmet dining to its guests for over 100 years. It looked like a nice place to spend a week or two.

The Palisades

Iceboats can go up to five times the speed of the wind because of their minimal surface drag. In 1907 an iceboat was clocked traveling at 144 MPH. For decades iceboats were the fastest vehicles on earth. They were originally used for commercial purposes along the Hudson and Lake Champlain, but by the 1860 they were becoming a sport. 

Some of these outboards were produced in early 1900s

Benedict Arnolds’ Gunboat Philadelphia was built in 1776; it was sunk in Lake Champlain during a naval battle with the British in the same year. It was salvaged off of Valcour Island in 1935 and is the oldest surviving American fighting vessel. We were able to see it last summer at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. This is the Philadelphia II, a full sized replica of the original ship. It's located at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

Aug. 23 - Vergennes, VT

City Dock

OK…today was one of those less blogable days. Very uneventful, so I thought I’d provide everyone with a little Lake Champlain folklore: A number of oral traditions around the world refer to the survival of giant creatures and water monsters from the ancient past. Loch Ness has a legend of a huge underwater creature in its “Nessie;” the modern-day residents of Lake Champlain have nicknamed the local version of this creature “Champ.”

A great mystery, there are reports of this creature having been seen in the lake by residents and visitors for centuries. Native folklore tells us that the Iroquois referred to this beast as the “Great Horned Serpent.”

Samuel de Champlain’s 1609 journals provide us with the first written documentation of the presence of some kind of large creature in Lake Champlain: “a swimmer about 20 feet long, thick as a barrel, that resembles a serpent with tough skin, in which a man’s knife cannot penetrate, with the head (like a horse) having a snout like that of a boar.” He had “teeth that could spear a man.” Champ’s size, sightings in the shallows and an apparent preference for swimming along the water’s surface led Champlain to conclude that Champ must be a carnivore.

The Native people who have long traveled the lake believe that it is extremely dangerous to provoke or disrespect any of the lake’s aquatic inhabitants, real or supernatural, lest one be drowned.

Numerous studies through the years have come up empty handed, but both the Vermont and New York governments have passed bills protecting Champ against death, injury or harassment. So far we haven't seen Champ!

This picture was taken by Sandi Mansi in 1977

Aug. 22 - Vergennes, VT

Waterfalls and Hills

City Dock

We only moved a few miles south in the lake today and then up Otter Creek to Vergennes. Vergennes is Vermont's oldest and smallest city, established in 1788. The city is named after Comte de Vergennes who served as the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and negotiator of the Treaty of Paris. Because of its proximity to Lake Champlain, Vergennes became the site of a U.S. Navy shipyard during the War of 1812. Commodore Thomas MacDonough commanded the building of a naval fleet to defend the Lake against the British invasion.

The town provides free docks with water and electricity (15 amp) for boaters. The docks are at the base of three waterfalls that provide electricity to the area. They're a pretty sight and the sound is hypnotic. There are docks on the east and west side of the creek, both sides have a few picnic tables and grills. We thought we'd be the only ones here since it’s the middle of the week, but both sides were completely full by evening.

We walked up hill (a big hill) to the main part of town and had lunch at 3 Squares Cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed the weather and a nice lunch. Afterwards Stan got a haircut and I did a little shopping...great sales on summer clothes right now and the best deal is Vermont doesn't charge sales tax on clothing. Later in the afternoon Stan got energetic and rode his bike (up the BIG hill) to the grocery store. I decided to walk up to the falls and take a few pictures, because I didn't think I could make it up the hill on the bike. I love riding my bike, but these types of hills are too much for me...they're not really hills, they're small mountains. Someone last week told us, when she found out we were from Texas, that Vermont would be as large as Texas if they flattened it out. I laughed when I heard that...now I'm beginning to think there's some truth to that statement!

Can you find 10 turtles?

Coming into the east dock

View of the east dock from the top of the falls

Looking out from the top of the hill towards Lake Champlain and New York

Two of the falls...I'll get a better picture of all three tomorrow.

The sun reflecting off of one of the falls

Aug. 21 – Kingsland Bay State Park, VT

Perfect Day

Kingsland Bay Mooring

Another perfect day…I took advantage of the cooler weather this morning and baked brownies. It’s hard to use our oven when the weather is warm. While the brownies were baking I spent a little time cleaning house. The rest of the day we spent being lazy and soaking in our wonderful surroundings. We took the dinghy ashore and spent the afternoon hiking, swimming and basking in the sun on the rocks…I felt a little like a lizard. What a great day.

This evening we got together with Ted and Trish aboard their Monk…it was fun to see the little differences between our boats. They're a great couple with so much information to share. It will be hard leaving this great anchorage, but I think we will move on tomorrow

Where we landed the dinghy

Stan relaxing in the shade

Views from our hike

Trish and Ted