The Social Whirl

Old Forge, New York
43 42.676 N 074 58.415 W

We have been doing so many things, I did't have time to blog.  

On Sunday we had a wonderful day on Scandaga Lake with our friends Pete and Mary Ellen.  They have a seasonal trailer up there, and a party barge.   That was the ideal vessel to take us on a tour of the lake.   We saw the north end of the lake, including parts north of the Bachelorville Bridge which Libby and I have never seen before because of a low bridge blocking our way.

You see, from around 1975 through 2005, Sacandaga Lake was our home waters.  We started with an O'Day Mariner, 19', then a Clipper 26, and finally a Tanzer 27.  It is a lovely place to sail with clean water, and surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains.   During those years on our Clipper 26, after hauling the boat out for the winter, I got into the habit of trailering the boat to Champlain in early October for a week's vacation.  That was how our attachment to Lakc Champlain and to Vermont began.

Sunday night we camped at Northhampton Beach, right on the lake.

On Monday we visited with our friends and former neighbors John and Mari.   Then the four of us visited other neighbors, Bud and Nan.   All six of us had a great time, and Libby and I got to catch up on years worth of local gossip.  (Best was the story of a former fellow fireman who is now in jail.  It seems that he was trying to design a ray gun to zap Muslims until the FBI heard about it.  Tsk. Tsk.)   That too was great fun.  We're so glad that we could do it.

This morning we picked up my sister Marilyn and took her for a half day outing.  Poor Marilyn misses us and she doesn't really grasp the idea of us cruising and where we go.

Right now we are in the heart of the Adirondacks en-route to visit our daughter in law, Cheryl and our granddaughter Vicky in Booneville.  We used the most scenic route through this region from Warrensburg, to Blue Mountain Lake, to Old Forge, and Inlet.  On weekends this area is thick with tourists, but today it wasn't bad.

Tomorrow, we start heading south.  We'll probably wind up somewhere in Pennsylvania.

A little historic note:  Northhampton Beach was the site of one of our most memorable sailing moments ever.   Libby and I had just sailed out of a pea soup fog bank on the lake.   We emerged into bright sunlight and blue sky.  We were just ghosting.  The wind and water were entirely calm.   As we approached the camp site at Northampton, someone was playing the song Amazing Grace loudly.  The music set the perfect moment for this idyllic scene and the image burned itself into my brain and Libby's too.  We both remember it vividly.  (Good topic for a future blog -- most memorable moments.  Many of them were not on Tarwathie.)