Cheating

Monday we weren't sure what to do. We had planned to go to Valcour Island that day, but the wind was blowing from the exact direction we needed to go. Our little motor is not very strong, especially when beating into the waves, so we were not really relishing the thought. Corey offered to let us use his car while he was at work so we could run errands, mainly groceries. We decided it would likely be our last day of civilization, so we went out for breakfast at a place downtown that Corey recommended. We were surprised to have to wait in line at 8:45 on a Monday morning. It turned out to be a very popular spot, and we were sufficiently stuffed by the end of it.

While waiting for our meals we decided that we would take advantage of having a car and go to all the stops the wind had not let us go to. One was Essex, NY, which was a short ferry ride away. We drove south from Burlington to Charlotte (pronounced Char-lot, with the emphasis on the second syllable) and arrived at the dock just as the ferry was coming in. Perfect timing.

Essex is a quaint little town with beautiful estate-like houses built over 200 years ago. Most have been converted into shops or BnBs. It didn't take us very long to visit all the shops and walk along the main drag, so we got back into the car and headed west towards the Adirondacks.

However, without warning, David pulled over to the side of the road and did a U-turn. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I shouldn't have been surprised when we pulled in here:

I personally hate antique stores, but David is fascinated by them. As we went through he identified everything that could be fixed up and put in various locations around our house. "See this cabinet? I could varnish it and we could out it in our dining room. See this buffet? We could sand it and paint it and put it in the kitchen in the basement. It would be worth it to drive back here with the truck and pick it up."  I was anxious to pull him away before he started buying things.

We also made it a bit of a cultural afternoon by stopping at the Crown Point historical site, where the French, British and Americans all built some sort of fortification. The French destroyed theirs when the British were descending on them, and the British fort fell victim to a fire which exploded once it hit the armoury. This is all that remains:

Here is David in the chimney in the soldier's barracks:

Here is the Crown Point bridge we took to get back to Vermont:

Thanks once again to Corey for generously lending us his car. It was lovely to be able to get where we wanted to go in less than an hour, rather than sailing for days on end to get to the same place. Plus we got to see everything on the Lake we'd missed!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is David's birthday, and we're off to what the guide book says is the most beautiful anchorage on the lake: Smuggler's Harbour on Valcour Island.