Lake Times 2

June 23-July 1, 2014

SIT hit the heart of the Adirondacks when we landed in Tupper Lake New York. We decided to spend a few days here as we continue our trek north and east.

The Town of Tupper Lake was a thriving logging town once upon a time. There is still logging going on but not like it was back in 1850. In 1899 a fire swept through this community and burnt 169 buildings to the ground. Undaunted by the loss, the spirited pioneers rebuilt the village, and within a few years it was back to business as usual.

 

St. Alphonsus Church

 

The current bragging rights for this area are that Tupper Lake is also the base camp for "10 Rivers Region". For avid river users this is the place for you and you can't beat the mountain scenery. Our temporary spot was next to Tupper Lake so we enjoyed watching the lake since we timed it just right for thunder storms to come through the area.

 

 



We did manage to play golf a couple of times between the rain storms but didn't get out on the lake to fish. Steve spoke with a few locals and the fishing hadn't really turned on, well at least for what he wanted to catch. Oh well, I am sure the little fishies will be at a location in our future!

Pretty Course

 

Did I Win?



We left New York and settled at South Hero Vermont, an island on Lake Champlain. The RV Park was across from the lake so Izzy had her swim fins on almost as soon as she saw it during her walk. We gave her a couple of opportunities to play with the fish and fetch her floppy. I think she enjoyed it as it was pretty warm and humid.

 

Lake Champlain View from the Marina

Heaven

Don't Worry I want more

 





The RV Park has their own Par 3 golf course so I imagine you can figure out what we did as well. We enjoyed the opportunity to play a couple rounds as we got some good exercise. We won't talk about how we played though. Exercise is important you realize.

 

Where's the my floppy?

Hanging out with Dad

Breakfast Time

 

Guess Where You Don't Want to Hit Your Ball?

 

Getting the Distance



This area is a pretty popular spot for people from Canada, New York, and other parts of Vermont. We headed into Burlington a couple of times for some food and enjoyed walking around the historic part of downtown. They have created a mural along one of the buildings which depicts all things Burlington and Vermont. It is really cool. Samuel de Champlain was an explorer and settler, father of Quebec City, and the first European to map and describe Lake Champlain. I bet you can guess where the lake got its name! Burlington is home to Ben and Jerry. No not Ben Stiller and Jerry Steinfeld but Ben and Jerry ice cream. We didn't venture into their shop but did find a Creemees which is Vermonts' soft ice cream. It was simply wonderful as we tried a twist of maple and red raspberry. Glad we don't live here as it would be hard to resist these.

 

Burlington Vermont

Samuel de Champlain

Ben and Jerry

Not being sure how Burlington got its name I decided to do a bit of research. Permanent settlement didn't take place until 1783 due to the Revolution but it started to become a town in 1775 through grants. The War of 1812 was unpopular in Vermont but it didn't stop the British from shelling the town on August 2, 1813. This has either been cited as a bold strike by the British with an ineffectual response from the Americans, or a week sally by the British, properly ignored by the Americans, depending on who relates the story. The cannonade lasted for about ten minutes and did not affect the outcome of the war.

Burlington became the port of entry for Lake Champlain due to its location which afforded the area to prosper and grow. As you walk around the town you see large old churches and other buildings from the 1700 and 1800s.

 

Keeping Time

Vintage

Oh yeah why is it called Burlington? We thought it might be from the railroad since railroads are a large part of our countries history but apparently that isn't it. There are two theories for the origin of Burlington's name. The first is that it was named after Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, while the second is that the name honors the politically prominent and wealthy Burling family of New York. While no family members are listed as grantees of the town, the family held large tracts of land in other nearby towns, some of which were granted on the same day as Burlington.

Since we weren't able to hang out here for the 4th of July we decided we would hit the road on July 2nd and avoid the holiday travel traffic. New Hampshire here we come!