Cozy Little Colonial: Henry's V

Our fifth year at Henry's Resort on Lake Champlain -- hard to believe! It's always such a joy to cap off the summer with this trip. It takes a lot of prep, but once we're there, the livin' is easy. We get to sleep in real beds. All the dinners, except for the fish fry, are pre-made, heat and serve. Don and Sarah do a lot of fishing; I do a lot of crossword puzzles; and we all do a lot of relaxing. (Granted, that hasn't always been the case, as previous years' posts prove, but that's ancient history.)

The week would have been perfect if Abby could have come. Sadly, the resort doesn't allow dogs (even small, adorable ones). It's a shame, because she would have a ball there, and we'd all be even happier.

The journey started off with a zing, when Don was stung by a hornet at the Guilford Welcome Center, just over the Vermont border. The little devil just flew up and got him on the inside of the elbow -- no fair! His arm ached for the rest of the day.

First up, the fishing photos. Yes, I held a pole twice during the trip...and didn't catch anything. Sarah and Don caught quite a few smallmouth bass and a bunch of sunfish, which were yummy.

The big news was the walleye, which hadn't shown up in three years. Sarah caught this 22", 4 lb. one! She took the photo while Don held it, and he cut his thumb pretty badly on the gill covers. There wasn't a first aid kit in the boat, so he had to make do with nylon rope. She insisted they release the fish, which was a little big for eating anyway.

Don caught this 19" walleye his last evening out fishing. We will enjoy eating this one at home.

Of course, boats aren't just for fishing. I'd rather hold a pair of binoculars than a fishing pole, and Sarah sometimes has her fill of fishing. I love watching the caspian terns and ospreys diving into the water for fish.

We took the boat over to the "underwater beach" twice this year. Playing catch with the disk in knee-deep water is a lot harder than it sounds -- you can't run after it!

Sarah swam off the dock one day, and the first morning there, I hopped out of bed (which never happens) at 6:30 for a paddle on the quiet water. And then there's skipping stones....

I taught Sarah to play cribbage at the cabin. She picked it up quickly, of course. She didn't beat me that week, but she has since.

Don and Sarah watched football on the computer a couple of nights, and Sarah and I walked up to the field above the cabins to watch the Perseid meteor shower the second night there. Unfortunately, the lights from below marred the darkness, but we saw a few shooting stars.

Sarah spent lots of downtime in the bedroom that she and I share. (The beach towels serve as black-out curtains, making the place look like a hippie haven.) She also insisted on making up a gymnastics routine for ME, and made me practice in front of the cabin for all to see. 😜

We always enjoy exploring the area. This year, our goal was to find places where we could bring Abby, since we missed her terribly. Lake Carmi State Park, about 30 miles east, seems to fit the bill. The lake is the third largest entirely within Vermont (and only a few miles from Canada). We met a game warden there who was straight out of central casting. We've made reservations to camp there in October.

I went geocaching on the south end of North Hero Island one day. I first searched for one at Camp Ingalls, but there were kids there, and I felt self-conscious snooping around. I proceeded on a nice hike at the adjacent Butternut Hill Natural Area, which ended with some beautiful stone steps leading to a shale beach. On the way home, I found one in a cemetery (my first true "park-and-grab"). (We all returned to Camp Ingalls the next day, and I found the cache -- the tiniest I've seen.)