Today’s theme was scenic waterfront vistas. The bike trail running out of Burlington took us straight up the shore of, and eventually straight out into, Lake Champlain. When I say straight out into the lake I guess I more so mean straight out over the lake. The Island Line Trail eventually sort of veers out over the water and turns into this isthmus/land bridge-thing that connects the eastern shore of the lake with an island in the middle called Grand Isle. We had the lake, and all of the views that come with it, to both our left and our right all the way up to the loading dock for the bicycle ferry. We hopped on for our first boat ride of the trip and made landfall again after a surprisingly quick journey that really only takes you past a gap in the trail that is meant to allow boats to pass through. From there we rode up into Grand Isle and straight to Allenholm Farms for some maple creamees, apple cider slushees, and quality time with Willy the friendly donkey. After feeding ourselves and nearly every animal in their petting zoo, we headed out to the western shore of Grand Isle for our second boat ride of the day. This much larger ferry, the “Vermont,” was quite pleasant but also had some strange cargo that we weren’t very familiar with. Other people were riding but many of them were bringing with them these large metal machines that looked like they were somehow used for transportation. They seemed to be full of these peoples’ belongings and I believe that most of them had four wheels instead of two. I feel like I’ve ridden in something like them in the past but those memories also seem like they took place long ago and very far away. Weird. But anyway, the Vermont took us back to New York and then our bikes took us to Cumberland Bay State Park where we’ll be spending the evening swimming and cooking over the open fire. We will soon venture into the Great White North and engorge ourselves with poutine and smoked meat, but for tonight we will feast on franks and beans like true red-blooded Americans. Au revoir
