Day 90 – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!
It’s the beginning of Month #4. This makes us feel partly sad, and partly in awe – in awe because it’s gone by so fast & being gone this long had originally seemed like such a long time; and sad because one week from today we’ll be driving home & this journey will be over. I think it’s gotten into our blood, and we were meant to travel. We had considered this trip to be a kind of practice trip in anticipation for much longer trips farther in the future; it went so well that we don’t want it to stop; we want to keep traveling on to the next adventure. There’s this feeling that we want to see it all and we want to see it now and we don’t want it to stop – ever. We were afraid the cats would get antsy. They did not; they adapted quite well. And us – people had said things like, “just wait, you’ll be at each other’s throats in no time being confined together day in & day out in a small space” or “aren’t you bored?” or “what will you do all the time?” or “don’t you get on each other’s nerves?” or “aren’t you tired of traveling around yet?”, etc. Captain Bringdown Strikes Again. Well, it’s been wonderful and has surpassed everything we thought it could be & more!
Moving on, this is a travel day & we’re heading for Vermont. We love Vermont & have really been looking forward to spending more than just a few nights here. When we’d been to VT before, we’d taken a day trip to the North West corner to Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge & the Lake Champlain islands (located northwest of Burlington, VT on one side & northeast of Plattsburgh, NY on the other side of the islands, not far south from the Canadian border). This is such a beautiful area, the Adirondacks to the West & the Green Mountains to the East. And Burlington, VT is a great city; we’d stay there when Rob had to travel to VT for IBM. There’s lots to do here; lots of kayaking & biking opportunities, too.
Our last week of Trip #1 will be spent at Champlain Adult Campground in Grand Isle, a gorgeous & spacious campground located on Lake Champlain – 30 acres of rolling parkland, the prettiest campground we’ve been to on this trip for sure. We couldn’t check in until 1 p.m., so we didn’t leave Brasher Falls, NY until 10:45 a.m., hanging around & relaxing until time to pack up. The low last night was 50 degrees & it rained lightly; when we departed it was 56 degrees and still occasionally raining & quite cloudy. We took small roads all the way rather than the thruway & a ferry. It was a nice drive, passing through small towns, farmlands, indian reservations, and by rivers with rapids, lovely meandering streams, waterfalls, and by lakes – the beautiful North Country of NY. We went through Chateaugay, NY which had miles & miles of wind turbines on both sides of the road, in people’s back yards, everywhere. By that time it was raining fairly hard so it was difficult to get pictures that did justice to the size and scope of these wind farms. Not much farther and we crossed over the bridge from NY into VT and got our first glimpse of large Lake Champlain. Then we headed east & south through the islands and incredible scenery.
We arrived at Champlain Adult Campground at 1:10 p.m., nice to have such a short journey for a change. The cats didn’t even notice we’d been traveling & slept the whole time. 52 degrees, raining. The owners/hosts, JC & Emma, were just hanging up the campground sign as we approached; they waved & asked us to pull over for a minute while they finished; then he took her picture by the sign – really, really nice people. He led us to Site #13, a wonderful campsite on a small hill with a view of the Lake. They were heading out to celebrate Mother’s Day & said we could go thru the check-in process another day, but on their way out, she stopped by with a map of all the biking trails & a VT road map. The campground was immaculately maintained with small, one-lane roads winding around park-like grounds & beautiful trees throughout. Amazing.
We unpacked, enjoying the scenery& quiet. The kitties immediately settled in, happy as can be, all four girls clustered at a window watching the birds.
Birdwatching!