fort ticonderoga and north to the wilderness!

LOL - well not exactly the wilderness- but we did get to Plattsburgh before the end of the day.... and here is how we got there-

we left off in Whitehall NY (birthplace of the US Navy) - we headed north out of town recognizing that it was already mid day and we had only gone something like 11 miles into NY from the VT border- LOL and we were less than 80 miles from where we started 24 hours into our trip- at this pace we could see about 1/4 of what we had discussed during our loosely defined "travel planning" LOL

so we pressed on to the actual Fort Ticonderoga... seems to me I first heard about the place around fourth grade and of course it stuck (unlike much of the stuff the teachers droned on about) because we had pencils named for the place that we used day in and day out.... and still sold apparently - although not made on site or even in NY for that matter- such is life in the 21st century...

but we arrived to find a fife and drum performance scheduled just in time for us to catch it and headed through the grounds and right on over to the fort...

 

while the soldiers had a horrid looking pea slop the tourists could eat in the restaurant on site after browsing in the gift shop-

we had an ice cream to hold us over until lunch (LOL- it was well after noon already but that was the way the day was going...) and headed northward -

along the way we saw a sign that said bridge to Vermont and noted that there was another historic site including a Light House so we turned off and took a byway to the byway-  and that is how we found a real gem for lunch! the Bridge Café in Chimney Point VT offered fabulous burger for me, some open faced sandwich with gravy for TB and maple cream pie - first rate food and a fun waitress... what a find!

you will note the bridge on the awning- several photos above- which I commented to TB must have been the old bridge- and he said no that was the bridge we came across to get here - I differed and so we paid closer attention AFTER lunch than we had before and here is the NEW bridge- LOL

a sleek modern design which can be seen more clearly from the lighthouse-

 

still not done with our second day on the road - a few more stops... but I can save those for the next post.... stay tuned....

ticonderoga or bust! - but first....

a stop at the Vermont Country Store...

we drove south out of Rutland for our side trip to the Vermont Country Store- honestly I should just make this whole post about the Vermont Country Store or better yet about time travel....because that is what happens when you go there- it is a portal of some sort like in this great flick of yesteryear where the dwarfs find holes in the map of the universe where you can move back and forth through time...

or the other EXCELLENT time travel movie-

 

so why do I mention this? because TB and I took a tour of our childhood years at the Vermont Country Store... step back into the past with us- where your grandma always had Chiclets in her "pocketbook" and your kid brother had a big wad of Fruit Stripe gum to gross you out....

 

and why aren't they labeled butlers and maids? LOL- oh sure I get it we are in the past!!!!!

OK the below shots are from someone else's past not mine- I never lived in a place where they had these but the cozy scene begged to be photographed!

sadly we leave behind the VT Country Store and return to the Lakes and Locks byway- via Whitehall the birthplace of the US Navy! (who knew?)

 

 

Whitehall lies at the very bottom of Lake Champlain where the canal to the Hudson River begins (or ends depending upon your direction) so we believed that we had followed the path of that canal up here along the Lakes to Locks byway--- but all will be revealed later to the confused city dwellers- LOL so stay tuned - we are about to head off to Fort Ticonderoga of childhood pencil fame!