Cycling in Burlington, VT

Heading north

Staying on task can be difficult when there are so many places to see along the way.

We made a stop in Belton Hills, NY that overlooks a golf course in the Catskills. Even in the rain, the golfers were out there.

Lake George, NY

Lake George is a beautiful lake and town in the Adirondacks of the Upstate of New York. The rain continued to follow us as we headed north. We did manage to get a bike ride to Glen Falls along the bike path that runs along the old Military Road, the path the soldiers took in the Revolutionary War. The mosquitos were out in full force.

 Lake George is a tourist town but arriving before the holiday weekend, it was more of a ghost town. We stopped at the local Outlet stores and found everything I needed plus a few extras at 40% off. The Memorial Day sales were already marked down.

Rachael Ray is from this area and promotes the Warrensburg's Oscar's Smokehouse on her show. We thought about heading over but remembered how small our fridge is.  

Lake George, NY

Burlington, VT

The drive from Lake George, NY in the Adirondacks was less than 100 miles but the narrow country roads and more rain
made it feel like 200.

We had visited Burlington, VT several years ago to see the change of the leaves in the fall. Our visit was too short and the rain was heavy. We did get a bike ride in and found the city campground located downtown and on the bike path running along the shore of Lake Champlain. We hoped to return someday and do more exploring.

 While checking campgrounds for a place to stay over Memorial Day weekend, we found one site left for the weekend and booked it for the week. The mosquitos were even bigger here

Our site Sunday morning

What a difference a day makes. Our site on Monday. Guess they wanted to beat the crowds.

Church Street Marketplace

Yep, that's the church the street is named after.

We were at mile 25 of the marathon to cheer on the runners. They looked happy to hear the cheers with a thumbs up or thank you as they passed. I did call an EMT for one young lady that was struggling and had to lie down. I hope that she made that last 1/2 mile once she recovered. It takes 1700 volunteers to pull off the marathon for 8,000 runners.

View from Battery Park

A great place by the totem for a geocache that we found in Battery Park.

North Beach,  just outside of the campground.

Yep, another bike path.

Heading north on the causeway.

Ever since the first time we put our truck on the ferry to Alaska, riding ferries has become almost an obsession for us. We have ridden ferries on Lake Superior, the San Juan Islands and Italy to name a few. We heard about the bike ferry and I knew we would have to check it out even if the short ride was $8 each for a round trip ticket.

The bike ferry had just started running on the weekends until the middle of June. Taking in to consideration the marathon on Sunday and rainy forecast for Monday, we took a chance and left early on Saturday for our ride on the Champlain Islands. Riding the causeway the 2.5 miles to the ferry on a beautiful sunny morning and then a short ferry ride, 100 feet across the opening for heavy boat traffic. We were the only people, other than a crew of 3, on the 5 minute ride. It was still a chilly 59 degrees.



One of the ferry's crew members told us about the sunken horse ferry and the Champlain Maritime Museum. I had never heard of a horse powered ferry.

The horse-powered ferry in Burlington Bay is the only archaeologically studied example of a turntable "team-boat," a once common North American vessel type. Animal powered vessels were introduced into North America in 1814. They became a popular form of transportation for short-distance river and lake crossing, until the middle of the 19th century, when they were surpassed by the increasing use of steam power.

Lake Champlain's long, narrow shape created the need for many ferry crossings between Vermont and New York,  crossings that were ideally suited to horse ferries. The use of horse ferries on the Lake appears to have peaked in the 1830s and 1840s.

Divers certified in SCUBA can dive at this and one of the many other sunken ships.

The boat passage that we ferried around.

The north side of the causeway was full of potholes and mud for a mile. We turned off and the ride along the lake was peaceful with very little traffic.

 

South Hero, VT in the Champlain Islands

Someone loves birdhouses in South Hero. There were brightly colored houses all through the woods with dinosaurs thrown in. It made a pleasant bike ride even better and a few less bugs.

Some of the little castles on Grand Isle.

A patriotic street on Memorial weekend

Returning on the 2pm bike ferry was another story.  Since it warmed up, we dodged people all along the southern causeway. It's just part of traveling on a holiday. We were ok with sharing the beautiful day.

Heading back home.

This is a good stop for us. We were getting pretty tired after all we have been doing on this journey. Staying in one place where we can walk to town or ride our bikes to Colchester and Shelburne between rain storms was just what we needed for this week.