May 28, 2007
Adirondack Adventure Day 5: History Lesson
Sunday, as a day of rest, was dedicated to visiting historical forts. When I first met Erica and found out she was from Ticonderoga, the first things I asked her about were Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Not that I'm a wiz at American History. In fact, I haven't had a history class since my junior year of high school. No, I knew about them because they are points of interest on the Lakes to Locks Passage All-American Road, and I know my byways. So of course I wanted to see them. Plus, I happen to like history.
We first drove up to Mount Defiance for, you might have guessed, a view of the lake and Fort Ticonderoga.
And then we went up the road to the real thing.
When we got up there, though, we found out that it cost $12 for me to visit the fort, and we decided it wasn't worth it. So we moved to the next stop on our agenda, crossing the lake on the ferry into Vermont. I was pretty excited about the ferry ride. I remember going on a much larger one in Seattle when I was fifteen, but just barely.
And after about 9 minutes, we were in Vermont. It's hard to explain how things changed, but all of a sudden, we really were in New England. It just felt different. There were fewer trees, the mountains were more distant, and there were cows.
We stopped in Middlebury for lunch and to wander around a bit.
Then it was back over the bridge into New York and to the Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse.
Amazingly, the lighthouse was open! This has never happened in all the years Erica lived in Ti. So up the rounded staircase.
And we could see all around!
Right next to the monument are the ruins of Crown Point. Just so you know, if you want to save five bucks, you can park across the street and just walk in to the ruins, but Erica and I believe in supporting historical sites, so we paid. Plus, it looked like rain.
I don't know what it was about Crown Point that I loved so much, but it was one of my favorite places. Maybe it was the stormy weather, maybe the dandelions poking around the ruins, or maybe just the ruins, but I loved it.
Posted by kea at May 28, 2007 08:13 PM