Driving North

We took a week and drove north to Highgate Springs, in Vermont, by way of Boston. We were on our way to visit Colleen, who is working this summer at the Tyler Place resort. We stopped in Boston on the way to tour Boston University and Emerson College with Christina.


View New England Trip, Summer 2012 in a larger map

A full photographic collection from this trip is on my flickr account. There are a few photos also posted on instagram.

The Lake Champlain Bridge: 1929 to 2009

They blew up the Lake Champlain Bridge today. The bridge, which ran from Addison, Vermont, to Crown Point, New York, was old and out of shape and judged to be unsafe.

The bridge was opened in 1929.


This bridge has a small part in our family memories of Vermont and the Tyler Place. We used it at least once on a return trip; we used it to visit Fort Ticonderoga one summer.

But recently, engineers determined that the bridge was unsafe. And so it came down on a snowy morning.

Sixth and Seventh Golf Games in 2007

I had two chances to play golf while we were in Vermont this summer. Vermont is, topographically, so much different from Delaware that is great fun and a real challenge to play up there.

At Bakersfield Country Club
On the Tuesday of our week at the Tyler Place, we put together a group of 10 interested in playing a round of golf and headed out to Bakersfield Country Club. Several of us had played there in the past; it is one of my favorite places to play just for being so different from what I am used to here in the flat lands.

Bakersfield is a local club and very down to earth. The parking lot is gravel and the members are neither hoity nor toity. The holes range from rolling meadow layouts to long thin dog-legs that hug the sides of what seem like towering mountains. There are plenty of elevation changes and challenges.

I played poorly, as is my habit, though there were some good moments. Since my drives are dicey at best, I usually play safe and use my 3-wood off the tee. On a course like Bakersfield, where many of the holes feature dense forest on one side and yawning chasms on the other, straight-though-short is a good approach. I carded a par on one hole and felt mostly positive about my game despite a few blow-up holes and a final score of 126.

The weather was lovely, with blue skies and a few clouds.

At Richford Country Club
Later in the week, Andy Southmayd and I headed a bit further out to play a neat little 9-hole course at Richford Country Club. This is another very local club that sits just south of the border with Canada and boasts a healthy membership from north of the line.

Andy found this place and counts it among his favorites. I am fond of it as well. It also varies between meadow and woods and has even more elevation changes than Bakersfield. Like many courses in the area, it includes wonderful mid-fairway boulders that, if hit, can send your ball well off to almost anywhere.

Our round was wet. we played in a slowly lifting fog that occasionally forgot itself and became light rain. On the positive side, it made reading the greens a bit more interesting.

Again I played badly, mixing in a par with a series of mediocre holes and a few blow-ups. Not terrible, but not great. Good only another 126.

Over the last nine years, I've played some seven different courses in upstate Vermont and New York. I've enjoyed all of them, played poorly, learned things, and seen some spectacular views. I've bought golf shirts and hats. There are grass stains from mountainsides on my golf shoes and towel.

Thanks north country. It's been great fun.

Vacation Report #4: At the Tyler Place

This summer was our ninth, and might have been our last, at The Tyler Place family resort, at Highgate Springs, Vermont. Not our last because we don't like the place; we love it. But Colleen next year will be too old for the kid's programs and too young for the adult. The Tyler Place is wonderfully well designed for families with younger kids. Unfortunately, we're starting to leave that demographic.

But let us not dwell on that thought. Let me tell you about our week.

We took two days to drive around Lake Ontario from Niagara Falls. We spent a night at Trenton, Ontario; a small town about half-way around. The next morning, we continued around the lake, crossing the St. Lawrence River at Cornwall and re-entering the US at Rooseveltown. We drove along the very top of New York State, crossed the top of Lake Champlain from Rouses Point in New York to Alburg in Vermont and drove through Swanton to The Tyler Place.

Over the years, we've tried most of the activities that are possible at the Tyler Place. We have our favorites, and we indulged ourselves with walks in the woods and along the lake shore. We went on canoe and kayak trips. We enjoyed sunsets. Karen played tennis. I played golf. We went on a mountain hike that ended in a clear, cold mountain stream. We did all the great things that one can do in Vermont in the summer.

We also met great people and reconnected with old friends. Folks stay at the Tyler Place for a week at a time, and most return the same week each summer. Each year, there are a few new couples joining the group. In our time, Karen and I and our friends have tried to meet at least one, if not two, of the new couples in our week. Entering that group of vacationing families can be daunting, but the Tyler Family makes a point of welcoming everyone. We have found great pleasure, and many new friends, by trying to be as welcoming as possible.

At the end of our week this year, someone called me a "camp counselor." It was a nice complement.

I think I find my greatest joy in the waters of Lake Champlain. The Tyler Place includes a variety of boats and water sports. I played around with the hobie cats and made sure to slide off the lake-slide. And at the end of almost every afternoon, I swam from the dock above out to one of the blue and yellow floating trampolines for a water-born loaf.

The lake waters were remarkably refreshing.

And then we drove home. I've posted many photographs. And I'm back at work.

I Wonder if There's Going to be an "Open Fort?"

Each summer, either going to or heading home from The Tyler Place, we pass Fort Montgomery. It is a weathered 19th-century military installation that juts out into Lake Champlain on the New York side just south of the Canadian border.

I've often thought it might be cool to visit, but it doesn't look like it is "open."

It turns out that, for just the low, low price of somewhere between 3 and 9.95 million dollars, it could be ours! The fort, and some additional land, is on sale on eBay, according to the web site The Lay of the Land:

365 acres with frontage on, and under, Lake Champlain is for sale in northern New York. The property comes with a 19th century fortification, Fort Montgomery, that while in need of some repair, is still largely intact. Furthermore, the property abuts the Canadian Border, making this an excellent opportunity to add to the defense of the nation.

I could be tempted. Ever since we started visiting in Vermont, both Karen and I have thought about moving there. It's a lovely place and that far upstate part of New York is nice too.

But Colleen and Christina won't hear of it. They want to stay here in Delaware where they have life-long friends.

I can respect that. But a fort on Lake Champlain would be pretty neat. And maybe we could get some cannons. (Via BLDG BLOG)