Burlington, VT

We arrived for our third visit to Burlington after leaving Vergennes at 7 a.m. on the morning of Friday, June 22.  The waters on the lake were absolutely calm and placid so we had a fine cruise.  Lynn miscalculated the distance so we arrived earlier than planned at about 10:30.  That was fine with us because  Burlington is such a cool town and there’s lots to do.  We also have two sets of friends that we were looking forward to seeing.  The first thing we did once we got settled was laundry (which isn’t too exciting).  Unfortunately, Burlington Boathouse, the City Marina where we docked, does not have a laundry so we had to schlepp it half a mile to the laundry.  Jonny got to help with that and, fortunately, we found a great place for lunch (August First) just around the corner to help pass the time.

After that, Jonny took a bike ride on the Burlington bike trail that runs along the lakeside for many miles.  He went to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreen’s.  Along the  path he found a Stonehenge-like earth clock that marks the equinoxes and solstices.  Very cool!

Later in the afternoon, Skip and Jane Brown met us at Zendo.  Skip is the brother of one of Jonny’s old prep school friends, Paul, who has since sadly passed away. Jonny had not seen Skip in almost 20 years.  They treated us to dinner at their neighborhood food truck festival and we brought our goodies to their fabulous penthouse condo overlooking the lake and the Adirondack Mountains in the distance.  It was a wonderful evening learning about each other’s lives, reminiscing about Paul, comparing travel adventures and generally having a grand time. They are intrepid travelers and we enjoyed hearing about their past and upcoming excursions.  

As it started to get dark, we walked back to the boat and saw the most amazing sunset from the dock.  It can aptly be described as a truly psychedelic sunset!

The next day was Saturday and first thing we did was go to the excellent farmer’s market just a short walk from our marina.  There we stocked up on so many fresh vegetables and other items, that we had to be creative to find places to store them.  At one of the stands, we met the pony-tailed Lt. Governor of Vermont, David Zuckerman, who is a local farmer and owns Full Moon Farm.  He was very engaging and, of course, we bought some veggies from him!  

That afternoon, we got to spend with one of Lynn’s oldest friends, Mike Goldfield whom she’s known since junior high.  Michael lives in Vermont and we visited with him on our last trip. This time he spent Saturday taking us on the grand tour of Vermont where he has lived since he got out of college.  We visited Richmond, the lovely town where he raised his boys (and the unique Old Round Church there).  

 Driving up Mount Mansfield, we visited Michael’s son Steven who lives in a wonderfully rustic, remote and homey cabin in the woods.  He has created quite a haven for himself there.  Michael is grooming him and his brother Aaron to take over his construction management company.  We also got to see quite a number of  projects that Goldfield Construction Management built over the years including restaurants, office buildings, homes and even the Jewish Community Center in Stowe. He has truly left his mark in this beautiful part of the world and it looks like his sons will carry on his legacy. What could be better than that?

More noteworthy places he showed us were Stowe Mountain and its expanding environs, Alchemy Brewery where we got to sample the legendary Heady Topper beer and of, course, buy a case.  For those who don’t know, Heady Topper is quite a legend in this part of the world.  It’s a delicious well-crafted IPA that originally could only be purchased at the pub where it was made. Since its popularity has skyrocketed, they have have expanded the size of the brewery and it can only be purchased there.  

We swung by Ben and Jerry’s, which was too crowded for us to stop for the tour (maybe next time), then up to Smuggler’s Notch were we hiked to see the caves that were used to smuggle potash during the War of 1812.  

We also hiked up to to Bingham Falls, a set of dramatic waterfalls on Mount Mansfield where Mike  had spent many days swimming and hiking with his sons when they were boys.  Both sights were just beautiful.  

We were lucky because even though the day was cloudy and became increasingly so in the higher reaches of the mountains, that didn’t stop us from enjoying every minute of our tour.  We were able to fully appreciate the great beauty of this part of New England. 

Unfortunately, Mike’s wife, Melina was unable to join us this time but we look forward to seeing her this winter since they have been coming to Miami Beach a couple of times each season to get a break from the long Vermont winters.  We got back to the boat at about 7 p.m. with a promise to see Michael in the morning for breakfast before heading out to continue our journey.  Burlington is just a great place to visit  - it’s small enough to be very walkable and it’s surrounded by incredibly beautiful country-side. And best of all, we are so fortunate to have such great friends who make it so much more enjoyable!

Vergennes, VT

We had an absolutely beautiful day cruising from our Chimney Point anchorage on Wed. June 20 up the sinuous Otter River to Vergennes.  Known as the smallest city in the U.S., Vergennes is about an hour’s cruise up the Otter River from Lake Champlain at our slow cruising speed. The river was  lined with woods and greenery and here and there little settlements of small manufactured homes that looked like vacation homes to us.  Fortunately, the narrow river had been cleared of any floating logs that might disrupt our passage.

What a happy surprise awaited us when we arrived at the Vergennes town docks.  The river ended in small bay with a roaring waterfall and parkland surrounding it. The park had free docks with water and electricity on both sides of the river.  

The “city” of Vergennes is nestled just up a hill next to the falls.  We docked in front a Manatee (boat not mammal) whose owner we met on an earlier stop of our voyage.  He helped us tie up and we found ourselves in the premier position on the dock with our aft deck facing the waterfall.  What a fabulous view!

That afternoon we took a walk up a steep hill to explore.  Vergennes bills itself as the America’s smallest city and calling it a city is a real stretch.  It feels more like a village, at least the part that we saw. Main Street is lined with attractive shops, a gallery, some restaurants and an amazing library. The funds to build the impressive library building were donated by a local resident upon his death and it was a complete surprise.  We took a look inside because it’s highlighted as one of the town’s attractions.  Especially noteworthy was a stained glass domed ceiling.  Afterwards we treated ourselves to the first ice cream of the season, at a shop with the most unusual array of flavors we had ever seen.

Later that evening we had a date night with dinner at a local restaurant - the Black Sheep. It was definitely a local favorite as the manager/server seemed to know everyone who came in.  The food was quite good and the restaurant’s unusual feature was to charge the same amount for each of their appetizers and the same amount for each of their entrees which made the evening surprisingly affordable. 

We stayed in Vergennes for two nights because it was such an idyllic setting.  On Thursday we rode our bikes to the local supermarket going up some pretty steep hills (not Lynn’s favorite).  We had a delicious lunch at a local restaurant called 3 Squares. We chose it because it had the most people inside and we figured that was a good sign.  It was!

Then we went for a walk around the falls and along a very long path that lined the river.  We met a few individuals who looked to be taking a break from work for a lunch time stroll.  What a wonderful stress release!  We explored the old factory buildings on both sides of the falls which have been used as a source of power for over two centuries.  Vergennes had once been a manufacturing center during both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The falls provided water power to a variety of forges and mills. And in fact, the American Naval fleet which fought the British in the the Battle of Plattsburgh War of 1812 was built at the base of the falls.  The bustling site that also included an arsenal and a number of factories is now the site of a hydro-electric power plant but one that doesn’t detract from the bucolic look of the area.

Vergennes was definitely one of the loveliest spots on our trip thus far and we would be happy to visit it again in the future.

Chimney Point, VT

It wasn’t until we shoved off from the Whitehall town dock on Tuesday, June 19 that we realized how windy and cool it was.  The forecast we had seen earlier looked more promising than what we encountered.  We weren’t  sure how rough it would get as we cruised on a wider portion of Lake Champlain towards our planned destination of Cole Bay.  But first we had to go through the last of the 12 locks that we traversed to get to Lake Champlain.  

We were pretty chilly so we just kept adding layers of clothing and closing the “glass” on the fly bridge.  But the scenery on the lake was just stunning.

We stopped at Chipman Point Marina for a pump-out which is the primary limitation to our staying on anchor for days on end.  We stayed at Chipman Marina when we did the Down East Loop and we have very fond memories of it.  What is particularly special about it is that the marina is housed in two pre-Revolutionary War storehouses - tall stone structures that are situated on a point lot overlooking the lake.  

Due to the windy weather including plenty of whitecaps on the long stretches of the lake, we began to identify alternatives to our original destination.  The Chimney Point, VT and Crown Point, NY locations looked promising especially the Chimney Point anchorage that was protected from the north wind.  Both sites are of historical interest and because it was still early in the day, we decided to visit both of them.

First, we anchored off of Crown Point and dinghied ashore to explore the ruins of two Revolutionary forts there, the French Fort St. Frederic and the larger British Port Crown Point. 

The location of these forts was both strategic and incredibly beautiful.  They overlook the narrowest distance on the lake between  New York and Vermont.  A very popular bridge spans the two points and has served as an important gathering place from the time it was first built as a much smaller wooden structure to today’s soaring replacement.

We explored the ruins for a couple of hours on our own since unfortunately the small museum was closed.  The remains of the officers quarters and the enlisted men’s quarters were still standing as were reinforcements of a portion of the fort’s surrounding walls.

The views from this elevated site were just spectacular!

Next to the bridge was a large monument commemorating the tercentenary of Samuel Champlain’s discovery of Lake Champlain (not that the native Americans weren’t already aware of it).  It was designed as a memorial lighthouse and Lynn climbed its 101 steps to the top.  The monument is topped by a bronze bust of La France by Rodin.

Afterwards, we dinghied back to Zendo and made the short crossing over to the Chimney Point side of the lake.  There we anchored, protected from the north wind, and spent a restful night.

Whitehall, NY

We went for a walk in the park by the Schuylerville Lock first thing on Monday June 18 before we resumed our voyage.  It was a pleasant place to stay overnight and we appreciate the opportunity to dock for free and get out to stretch our legs.  It was interesting to see that adjacent to this lock was an older and smaller canal that preceded the current wider and deeper one.

From here, we went through locks 7, 8, 9, and 11(there is no 10). Between  two of them we reached the highest point and after that we would descend in each of the subsequent locks.  We also passed the infamous Guillotine gate near one of the locks that prevents water from flowing through.

Near Fort Edwards (which we hope to visit next time) we finally left the Hudson and cruised through a dug canal that eventually brought us to Whitehall. On the way we went under another very low bridge (17.5 feet). It was a squeaker but we felt confident going through it as our antenna was still lowered from the earlier bridge. 

We passed through some pastoral scenary and one unfortunate dwelling.

We stopped at Whitehall, home to the U.S. Navy, to have lunch at a cute historically restored restaurant there.

Tying up at the Town dock, we met another cruiser who warned us of a forecasted afternoon storm of which we were unaware.  Over lunch we decided to stay in Whitehall for the night since the town provided free dockage, electricity and water.

Jonny busied himself with boat chores in the afternoon and Lynn did not.  The predicted storms came through with only a short burst of heavy rain. We had made the right decision to stay put.

That evening we took a walk through the town.  Whitehall was significant during the Revolutionary War and there are several references to that time in the downtown area.

Although it is friendly towards cruisers, the town seems to be on a downward slide. It hadn’t changed much since we were here three years ago. There were few business establishments in this part of town and though the waterside park was planted with flowers, the town still has a feeling of glory long past.

The next day we’ll be going through our final lock before entering Lake Champlain!