day trip: fort ticondaroga

The lovely thing about having the grandparents come for a visit, aside from the fact that it's just nice to have my parents around for a good long stay, is that it give us an excuse to do a little bit of touristing. We're not really the type to shy away from playing the tourist in our own town (or state) but it's easy to think "oh we'll do that next summer. Today we'll paint a wall." Will and I have been meaning to take the kids to Fort Ticonderoga since we drove past it with out moving van but we've never managed to do it. So it's a good thing the grandparents are in town to make us go at last.

We took the slightly longer way there. Through rolling farm land and over one of the oldest (maybe the oldest) ferry crossings in the US to the fort. A long, hot (for here) afternoon in the sun of exploring and sitting on cannons and gazing out at the lake and watching soldiers march and fire and sew their own period perfect clothing.

My family went on a lot of these kind of excursions when I was a kid. Living history museums, old forts and villages. They kind of all blend into one long summer vacation in my mind and were, I'm absolutely sure, key in making me a history nut. Something I hope to pass on to my kids, who, with only slight bribing of a creemee at the end, explored right along with us and asked very good questions. Like, "Were there bathrooms or did they just pee off the wall?" (of course, what else would a ten year old boy ask?)