Sight Seeing on Vacation - places and wildlife....

 At the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, we boarded a replica of one of Benedict Arnold's gun boats. There a number of wrecks that had been discovered around Valcour Island which we saw from the cottage.

Our day on the boat was spent on the Inland Sea. At The Gut, the crossing spot between South and North Hero, we saw the drawbridge let some boats through. It opens every 30 minutes if there are boats to cross.

 Birding was the best at The Shore Acres  in Grand Isle. These colonies have been returning for decades and were noted in the first and second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlases. Unfortunately, the overall population of the state is in decline. Our timing was perfect and we watched the parents tending the young while we dined overlooking the lake. 

This property was managed by an artist? There were 500 birdhouses that we were told are cleaned out and occupied every year. Now that is one for the conservationists. 



The damp weather early in the week had provided a proper habitat for the pigs down at the nearby farm.

Slugs were happy, too, like this one that was mistake for something the cat left behind, but then started to move.