Winter on Lake Champlain

 19 November 2022

Commodore Drive, Vergennes, Vermont

Marc-  Sue and I usually try to start the day off with a good walk of several miles.  Today we headed off to Button Bay State Park nearby that has become our regular stop.  On route we saw some snow covered Adirondack mountains and sheep in a snowy field enjoying the weather.  

The highlight of the hike was visiting Basin Harbor through some of the connecting trails with Button Bay State Park.  We were surprised to find the Lake Champlain flagship:  the Lois McClure securely docked in Basin Harbor for the winter.

Not all of the boats leave the lake for the winter months.

The Lois McClure (and her dinghy) is the only boat in the basin.

Winter Projects

 16 November 2022

Point Bay Marina, Charlotte, VT 

Marc-  Snow arrived this morning to Vergennes and it complicates our boat projects.  Fortunately we have been busy in the last few warm days of Fall.  I built a new centerboard and ordered a new pivot pin.  From the photos you can see the old board was broken in half and the pin was twisted.  I managed to cut out the steel core from the old board and install it in the new board.  The old board broke off just below the steel core ( a 1/2 inch x 6 inch x 36 inch carbon steel plate with a stainless steel insert for the pivot pin).  The new pin went in smoothly and fit tightly in the new board and snugly in the bearings.  We will have to wait for warmer weather to glass over the centerboard pin bronze access plate. 

New Centerboard.

Old centerboard pivot pin.

Hopefully there will be some more warm days (anything above 50 would be great) to work on a few interior plumbing issues.  The boat does have interior heating to help.  

October: time to head South or to be hauled out.

  25 October 2022

Point Bay Marina, Charlotte, VT

Fall has arrived here in Vermont and in the Lake Champlain Valley. The cooler temperatures and the shorter daylight hours have arrived along with the great foliage.  

Town Farm Bay from Mt. Philo

The colors here never fail.

The snow geese are headed South.

Sue and I have been rowing out of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

We have decided to travel South with our camper come January.  Lucy III has been hauled for the Winter.  There are Winter projects, as always.  One of them is rebuilding the centerboard which was damaged during the hauling process.

The board missing half its length.

September sailing days

 17 September 2022

Point Bay Marina Moorings, Charlotte, VT

Camel's Hump in the distance.

Marc-  The boats are beginning to be hauled out for winter storage yet some of the days have been warm and sunny with reliable wind.  Saturday proved to be a great day to get out before Steph leaves for NYC.  The wind was 10- 15 knots out of the South and the warm sun was great as we sailed about Town Farm Bay and over to Kingsland Bay before returning to our mooring.  

We did discover from fellow boaters that several days ago a boat burned in the mooring field and that all aboard were rescued.  It appears that the boat is a total loss.

Lucy III is in the center of this photo and suffered no harm.

Rowing Lake Champlain

 Point Bay Marina Moorings, Charlotte, VT

25 August 2022

Steph taking a break at the Adirondack Palisades.

Marc-  After doing some brightwork maintenance on Lucy III's mahogany gunwales, Steph and I went over to North Bay and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum for some rowing on traditional wooden pilot gigs.  The pilot gigs were boats used to get the pilot out to incoming ships in the days of sailing ships.  Speed was of the essence since whoever arrived to the ship first got the job.  Gig rowing is an international sport and the Vermont teams venture far to compete.  They recently competed in the Netherlands.  The LCMM gigs are built at the Museum in Ferrisburgh. We usually row for 2 hours.

Pilot Gigs to choose from.

Even I get to enjoy a break after rowing across Lake Champlain to the New York shore.

The Palisades of  Split Rock Mountain rise some 150 feet above the water and drop 150 feet straight down below the water as well.

View from our rear deck toward Otter Creek.

  

Sailing Lake Champlain: Westport Cruise .4

  Westport Marina, Westport, New York

21 August 2022

Marc-  We enjoyed meeting up with our DIYC friends for dinner last night (24 for dinner). There was also late night Bananagrams on our boat.  Today we met up to help each other with projects including mounting a new sail and planning for a refrigeration upgrade on friends' boats.  Sue went back home with the truck.  Steph and I set sail for a return trip to Charlotte.  It was a grand sail with a maximum speed of 7 knots.  

I was impressed with the fact that all of our boat systems worked perfectly on this trip.  We especially enjoyed the two air conditioning units working with the high humidity and 90 degree temperatures.  

Sailing Lake Champlain: Westport Cruise .3

 Westport Marina, Westport, New York

20 August 2022

Marc found a friend.

Marc-  Part of this day was spent driving Sara back to Montreal so she could get to work by 14:00.  I drove up Route 87 with Sara.  There was a 30 minute wait due to high volume at the border crossing.  Montreal was beautiful with flowers along many of the city streets.  Our navigation routed us through many streets including 20 turns before arriving at CRIM (Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montreal) where Sara's works.  This is next to Parc Jarry (old Montreal Expos baseball park) and a train station.  I decided to do my own navigation on the way back making fewer turns.  

I met up with Sue, Steph and our friends Patrick and Jessica at the Essex County Fair in Westport.  This is a traditional agricultural fair with some thrill rides a a few shows.  Shows included a horse riding exhibition, tractor pull and a water acrobatics.  I did wander over the the animal barn and discovered some extremely clean cows, heifers and calves all belonging to Vermont farmers.  The ice cream was good too.

Sailing Lake Champlain: Westport Cruise .2

Westport Marina, Westport, New York

19 August 2022

Lake Placid home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics.

Marc-  Having our truck made visiting nearby Lake Placid easy.  The downtown is very nice with upscale shops, hotels and restaurants.  Outdoor sports and the Winter Olympics are featured here.  The Olympic sites remain as training areas to this day.  We passed by the bobsled  runs and the ski jumps.  There are several beautiful lakes here and several mountains to climb nearby.  Many people were out hiking while others went shopping.  

We were invited for dinner to our friends Catherine and Eric's home in Wadhams.  We enjoyed outdoor dining and viewing their extensive garden.  Eric pointed out that the soil here is "Vergenne's clay" and needs special care but is full of nutrients for a productive garden.  I took notes.

Eric and Catherine's back yard.

Garden

Catherine explaining her plants.

Comfy outdoor seating.

 

Sailing Lake Champlain: Westport Cruise .1

 Point Bay Marina Moorings, Charlotte, VT

18 August 2022

Marc-  Steph and I set sail for Westport to join in with the DIYC weekend cruise early. Westport Marina provided us with a nice protected slip since the lake was a bit lumpy with winds out of the East at 10-15 knots and with floating seawall was missing (it is placed on the bottom of the lake to protect it from ice in the winter and not yet raised).  Sue picked up Sara at the bus station in Burlington and went off to do our weekly Lake Champlain Maritime Museum rowing before driving over to Westport.  Steph and I went in search of an ice cream parlor and found one on Main Street.  Afterward we visited the Westport Library where Steph obtained a Library card and took out some dvd's.  After dinner we went over to Ballard Park to listen to a country and western band.  The setting is wonderful with Lake Champlain and the Vermont mountains in the background.

Village post office.

Ballard Park stage.

One of several historic homes in Westport.

Camel's Hump in the distance.

Westport Marina

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum dock and rowing gig.

Several rowing gigs.

Schooner Lois McClure.

Cross Country Adventure 2022 (day 25)

 Whispering Pines Campground, Panton, VT

10 August 2022

Hummingbird inside Elsie the camper.

Marc-  We left Plaisance, QC with beautiful sunshine and had an easy drive passing back into Ontario and then back to Quebec before arriving at the USA border crossing in Highgate Springs, Vermont.  There was one $ 9 toll to cross a St. Lawrence River bridge in Valleyfield that surprised us.  Two issues at the border.  First,  the gate security was a little tight for the camper trailer combination and required a back up to straighten the rig.  Second, the border crossing guard was friendly and asked only two questions- where have we been and did we purchase anything in Canada that we are bringing back.  No problem until he mentioned that next time he could turn us around and deny us entry because of the level of dirt on the truck (our campground in Quebec had dirt roads and it had been raining for two days with the running boards on the truck caked in dirt).  We will be clean next time we pass through here for sure.

Overall the trip was great.  Having reservations for every night gave us some peace of mind and all of the campgrounds with one exception were fine.  The one problem was having reserved a site at the Badlands National Park campground without electric service and no shade when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees daily.  We found a spot in a campground within a few miles with water and electric and shade.  Our favorite State was Washington for its beautiful scenery, parks and getting together with our West Coast family.  Our favorite park was Glacier National Park in Montana for its awesome mountain splendor and wildlife.  A close second was Custer State Park for its wildlife.  

Our campsite was just the way we had left it and our neighbors welcomed us back.  Back at the house the grass / weeds had grown a lot in our absence (3 feet).  Our friends John and Mindy lent us there lawn mowed tractor to tackle the mess.

Our back yard of weeds...

This was fun.

A new resident on the back deck.

Blue Heron nearby.

Cross Country Adventure 2022 (day 24)

 Camping du Parc national de Plaisance, Plaisance, Quebec, Canada

9 August 2022

Petite-Nation River Falls

Marc-  A day to take it easy and visit with our friend Marie.  We started out by visiting the Petite-Nation River Falls nearby.  These magnificent waterfalls are higher than the falls at Niagara and surrounded by a forest.  There was once a village of North Nation Mills at the falls to exploit the water power for two sawmills.  The village is long gone but a small museum remains.

We then went over to Gatineau and Ottawa to explore on foot.  We parked in Gatineau and walked over the Alexandra Bridge with its wonderful views of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. We walked up along the Rideau canal’s 8 locks to visit Parliament Hill and parts of the downtown.  Several of the Parliament buildings are being restored such that Canada’s government is temporarily moved elsewhere nearby.  A usually busy Spark’s Street (pedestrian only) was rather quiet.  It appears that many of the local bureaucrats are working remotely.  On one part of the street a movie company was filming a Christmas movie.  It did seem out of place but the props worked well.  We next went over to the Byward Market, and this was the busiest part of the city we saw.  After a lunch of poutine we headed back to the campground.

Kayaks can be rented at the Campground to visit the Falls but it is three miles upstream and the current is formidable.

Native son Maurice "Rocket" Richard (famous player for the Montreal Canadians hockey team) in Gatineau, Quebec.

Ottawa the city on the hill (view of Parliament).

Alexandra Bridge connecting Gatineau to Ottawa (began being built in 1898, opened in 1901, originally was a horse carriage and railroad bridge that now has 2 lanes for cars, 1 for bikes and 1 for pedestrians).

Rideau Canal locks 

Engineer By who designed the Rideau Canal.

Parliament Hill buildings

Ottawa architecture.

President Obama is still popular here.

Notre Dame Church.

Filming a Christmas movie on Spark's Street in August.

Marie came over to visit and brought a wonderful salmon dinner.  After dinner we went on a hike through the marshes and saw some wildlife:  muskrat, frog, Green Heron, Blue Heron, Marsh Wren, Peewee and a beaver home (thanks to a very observant Marie).

Frog

Muskrat

Monarch Butterfly

Beaver House

Colorful marsh flowers.