Smuggs Chronicle ’14, Day 9: August 2, 2014, Part I

white lighthouse on a sunny day
Total: 0 Average: 0

We drive into Jeffersonville for breakfast. The Mix Café and Bakery had a cozy, quaint décor. But the menu on a chalkboard carried limited—and pricey—breakfast entrees. We return to 58 Main, our perennial favorite.

Packed house— a woman with a tattooed arm serves herself coffee

Shelburne Museum. 45 acres of artistic landscapes, gardens, galleries, and exhibits. The cashier informs us twice that our receipt is good for two days, thought we don’t know why. Leaving the giftshop entry, we step back outside.

sunniest day yet— along our path—big round-red barn

The Ticonderoga rests aground. Over 200 feet long with four decks, she was the last sidewheel steamer serving Lake Champlain. We cross a gangway over a ditch to the main deck, pass an antique car and a model horse-and-buggy—as well as various freight—on the foredeck. Walking toward the stern, we pass the stateroom used by officers on our left, the engine control room (with its assorted levers and brass pipe sound tubes) on the right. A vertical shaft that runs through every deck is in the ship’s center. The aft deck features a dining room set with white tablecloths and silverware.

We ascend the adjoining stairs to the saloon deck, viewing the single bed, chamber potted, miniscule passenger staterooms. The double-sized—and full size bedded—staterooms, one of which features a golf bag of a presumably wealthy gentleman, are toward the bow. When we reach the pilot house, atop the steamer, Frankie tries to sound the gong that leads to the control room. He can’t quite get it.

A quick walkthrough of the engineering deck back in the bowels of the ship conclude our self-guided tour of the Vermont legend.

Petunias snapping his photo at Ticonderoga

The Colchester Lighthouse is air conditioned. We lounge under the “Relax” signs before a quick exploration. Then—onward!

Stepping toward archaic village starting to sweat

Photo by Marco Cardinale

Total: 0 Average: 0
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Frank J. Tassone

Frank J. Tassone lives in New York City's "back yard" with his wife and son. He fell in love with writing after he wrote his first short story at age 12 and his first poem in high school. He began writing haiku and haibun seriously in the 2000s. His haikai poetry has appeared in Failed Haiku, Cattails, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Contemporary Haibun, The Haiku Foundation and Haiku Society of America member anthologies. He is a contributing poet for the online literary journal Image Curve, and a performance poet with Rockland Poets. When he's not writing, Frank works as a special education high school teacher in the Bronx. When he's not working or writing, he enjoys time with his family, meditation, hiking, practicing tai chi and geeking out to Star Wars, Marvel Cinema and any other Sci-Fi/Fantasy film and TV worth seeing.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply