Lake crossing, Lake Champlain

The severe weather that was forecast last evening did not materialize, but we did have rain. No problem there. We left camp this morning and continued our drive through the Adironacks. We drove to the town by that name. It really wasn't much of a town, meaning it wasn't large, but was quite picturesque on the shores of Schroon Lake. The scenery in this part of the country is absolutely beautiful, no question about that.

We drove on roads Phaeton Place could only dream of. That is the reason we got MinnieMee--to go where no diesel pusher has gone before. LOL  Once we got out of the dense forest, we were on wider roads and saw a little more of the mountains.

We traveled on to Ticonderoga, which was the location of Fort Ticonderoga. The town is very quaint with several historical buildings. We stopped at a museum which was in an old building and was at the park which at one time was the location of the industrial hub of the town. The river running through the town had several waterfalls and the town dammed up the river and used the water power to run their mills, of which there were several.

We continued on to the Ti Ferry as it's called. It is a small ferry pulled by cables which were underwater. We were the only vehicle waiting to go across, but when the ferry docked, we decided against it. The slope was a little too steep for MinnieMee and we were afraid of scraping on the back. Our holding tank connections are the lowest things on the coach and we certainly don't want to break those off. LOL So we went back through town and drove further north to the Lake Champlain bridge. The bridge is new and was built in 2009, replacing the original bridge. At the bridge on the New York side are the remains of two forts which were used for defense. One was a French Fort which was eventually blown up by the French rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands. Drawings of the fort show it to have been a nice looking structure in the "star" formation. The British also built a fort there and it was larger and more elaborate than the French one. It was destroyed by fire. A fire in a chimney got out of control and blew up the magazine in the fort. It was never rebuilt, but there are some buildings which partially remain

Also in the area is a lighthouse and a long pier. The pier is where steamboats would dock when traveling on the lake. I walked the 62 steps to the top of the lighthouse and looked out. It was really scary being that high up. I got some good pictures of the bridge. It is really spectacular.

Once we crossed the bridge into Vermont, we drove through the college town of Middlebury. It was very picturesque. Everything here looks so neat and clean. You don't see a lot of trash along the roads. There seems to be some pride in their surroundings.

We drove toward Shelburne, which is where we camped for the night. Enroute we stopped at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. We didn't take the tour, but did go through the gift shop which had about every color/theme teddy bear you could want. The prices started at $29 for a small bear and $49 for the most common size. They were cute, but I have a hard time spending that kind of money on a stuffed animal. There other cute ones in the stores, especially around Christmas time, so I left without buying any.

Till next time. . .

Dale