Our daughter Hannah joined us in Burlington on the last day of July, fresh from the Newport Folk Festival, spending some time at a friends camp, and a doing some paying work organizing a panel of entrepreneurs in Boston.
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| Dad & daughter at Revolution. Great vegan food |
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| Joel, the Buddha and Bernie have a moment of meditation while waiting at Revolution |
The next day her canoeing companions showed up and we had a chance to vicariously participate in their adventure down the Missisquoi River.
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| The Missisquoi River |
We signed up for delivery and pick up which allowed us to see some of interior Vermont by car.
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| Quebec Vermont border at East Richford |
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| Supplies for the week |
They put in at East Richford, which is right on the border with Quebec.
We watched a serious cyclist try to make Canadian customs by racing past
the US customs station and over the bridge, but the sirens went on and
the bull horn came out to let him know the Canadian side was closed and
that he would have to go six more miles to another crossing- he was not
happy, having been 120 miles that day already. The customs house was
lovely, it used to be a bustling crossing until the interstates came,
now the grass is coming up in the road crack. Between canoes and
canoeists getting dropped off, and the flying cyclist, it was probably a
pretty exciting day for them
The trippers launched at about 4:45 pm, a bit later than they had planned, but they had great weather and not too far to go for the first day.
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| Nat petitions the River Gods, while Hannah enumerates the hazards to come |
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| Amazing light on our dock at Lands Landing |
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| Zach's. We couldn't get in for dinner, he only seats14, but we had a nice lunch |
Back on the boat we headed back to Valcour Island, and then to Ladd’s Landing Marina for a couple of nights. It is right between North and South Hero Islands. and this is great biking territory, quiet rides, mostly flat, great pastoral vistas and lake views, It is also a very sweet friendly marina. and a delightful stop at a rural cafe with an energetic solo chef.
Six days later we reunited with the minivan and set off to the mouth of the Missisquoi at Lake Champlain to pick up tired but happy campers, who had a great time and against all odds, missed getting rained on the whole time.
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| Nate, Thalassa, Hannah and Nat who against all odds, missed rain all week |
We all had drinks aboard and dinner at the Farm House. This is a terrific bunch. Nate is an animator who lives and works in Portland, part of the up and coming creative economy of Maine. Thalassa has spent the last three summers documenting the life of one of the last grave diggers in Maine, which has allowed her to stay with his family and to dig graves with him. This will eventually be part of her MFA from RISD. Nat is working for Hilary Clinton ’s campaign at a national level. He does a lot of integration work among the different divisions of the campaign, including recruiting talent across the board. I feel quite cheered after listening to the insider perspective. Hannah is learning la lot about business in the age of the social entrepreneurs and enjoying her work as the program manager for Mergelane, an accelerator program for women owed businesses.
Alas our plans to travel to Montreal with Hannah were thwarted as her “expedited” passport never arrived.
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| Biking the Causeway at Mallets Bay |
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| Got lost walking at Shelburne Farms, but we didn't mind a bit |
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| We also did swings and yoga in Rouses Point |
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| Hannah's sunset kayak cruise |
But we enjoyed ourselves in Rouses Point, where we played, Mallets Bay, where we had a great bike ride, and Shelburne Farms with a beautiful walk and tasty lunch. We also met John and Cathy on Serenity who had just completed The Loop and where enjoying the summer at their home port in the Champlain Marina.
When Hannah left so did we, north once more up the Richleau River and the Chambry Canal into the St Lawrence River. The canal is delightful, and very well tended by the friendly and charming staff of Parc Canada, which is exceedingly well run and adequately funded.
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| Town along the Chambly |
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| Chambly Canal |
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| Hand cranking the lock gates |
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| Mt St Hilaire from the Richleau River |
I confess to having been a bit apprehensive of The St Lawrence River, visions of dodging huge container ships in a raging current, and right at the end of the Richleau that looks to be the case.
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| Looming container ship on the St Lawrence |
But on our day of travel, Sunday, it was lovely, with very few big ships, and tons of speed boats, jet skis, kayaks and tubers. The scenery was pastoral for the most part, much of it undeveloped. The current was another matter, as we knew it would be. We had cruised down the Richleau at 8.5 knots, but we started up the St Lawrence at 7 kts, and it diminished all day, to a low of 1.5 kts as we entered Montreal, with much turbulence and eddies. Fortunately this was for a short stretch and was expected. Once in the marina, right in the middle of Vieux Port, all was calm.
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| We had plenty of time to watch the rides on Ile de Sainte Helene as we were only going 2 kts |
Next up, Visiting with Joel’s Montreal family and welcoming brother Nat aboard.
Cheers and fond regards to all
Sarah & Joel
We had the mooring wall pretty much to ourselves in the sweet town of
Chambly. Our seasonal lock and mooring pass covers these tie ups
nice blog
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