Day 24 to Port Henry, NY

      We had a nice slow morning and left the marina around 10:20 am after our obligatory pump out. Lake Champlain is a no discharge zone, like everywhere we boat. You have to go 3 miles out into the open Gulf or Ocean before you are allowed to pump out overboard. What makes Lake Champlain different is that they require your overboard system to be dismantled. So, I took out a vacuum break at the top of a loop in the discharge hose of the system and capped off the ends before we reach Lake Champlain.  The fine is $500 if you haven't complied with their regulations.

       We made it to Port Henry and successfully docked at Van Slooten Harbor Marina. The photo at the right shows our view of the southern part of the city with the marina barely visible at the far left. The finger pier is short and narrow which added a little excitement to the docking process.  The Admiral had to sit on the dock at the end to keep from going for a swim while wrestling with the bow line. She reported that the water on her feet felt wet (ha, ha) and refreshingly cool!  It was down right hot for the third day in a row.  The one advantage today was a breeze.  Everyone is complaining because the temperature has hit 90 degrees each day.  Even for Texans like us, it was pretty zapping the previous two days as the light wind was at our back and therefore nonexistent while on the boat. Today was much better!  We plan on staying here just one night.  I promised dinner out, but unfortunately for me the only restaurant open on Monday night is Chinese. I love good Chinese food, but ordinary restaurant Chinese food, especially buffets, is not high on my list. 

        We had a walk of 0.8 miles to the restaurant that is right in the very center of town. The bad part was that we had to go up hill about 200 feet in what remained of the heat of the day.  Our walk took us through the historic old town of Ft. Henry, and as we crossed a railroad track, we were greeted with this Amtrak sign (photo at left). The restored, historic railroad station is now used as an Amtrak Station. The station is on the Montreal - New York City route and has one train each way per day.

 

 

 

      A little further up the hill we got a good view back at the old station as well (photo at right). The diesel engine on display is relatively new, but behind the engine is a vintage ore car and a caboose. Unfortunately, the caboose is largely hidden by the band stand, but it was modified from an ore car like the one in front of it.

 

 

 

      Then I turned around and took the photo on the left. It is the present town hall, but it was originally built as the company headquarters for the local iron ore mining company. This iron ore was historically important in steel making in the US well into the 20^th century, and it was shipped via railroad to Ft. Henry where it was loaded on ships and barges for transport to steel mills on Lake Champlain. The marina is built on the site of the dock where it was loaded.

 

 

 

 

 

     The last photo (at right) was taken over the stern of Lucky Us at the marina. The railroad cars are being stored on an old siding that is probably where the ore was delivered. The concrete bulkhead was part of the dock where the ore was loaded for transport. None of the original buildings remained, but there was an extensive array of concrete foundations remaining.

     And now, back to the story about dinner out… We arrived at the main intersection downtown only to find that even the Chinese restaurant was closed. The Admiral searched again on Yelp and found a drive-in restaurant on the edge of town that was open. She even called to verify it. The good news was that the drive-in was across from the main entrance to the marina, and they made a pretty good fish ‘n chips. The really good news out of all of this is that they also had soft serve ice cream, which put me in a much better frame of mind….