Thank you so very much! We've admittedly been avoiding the Northeast with the RV for years - cost, congestion, etc. were all relevant factors. But this brief visit to Vermont rekindled my love for certain things about this area, for Vermont demonstrates some of the best things that New England has to offer.

@@GrandAdventure❤

Thanks Ram!

Thank YOU, Vivian!!

Thank YOU Gerald!

Thanks as always, Brooke! And thanks as always for watching.

You are most welcome, and thank you very much for watching.

Thank you so very much! We are happy to have you along.

You're most welcome Joanne, and thank you for watching.

No doubt about it, John.

Thank you very much! I wish we had the time to devote to the museum, but with only two nights in Button Bay that wasn't a possibility.

Thank you Don! It felt GREAT to get back out on the water! I'm really looking forward to some time paddling salt water at our upcoming stops in the Canadian Maritimes. I had such a good time out on the lake that I even went so far this week to order an upgraded seat for that boat from a kayak shop in Maine that we won't even get to until August.

Thank you Jim! And thanks so much for watching.

Thank you very much, Shawn! We're having a blast. Montreal is a world class city, you are correct. But the traffic is world class, too.

Thank you very much, Barbara, and thanks for watching!

We will be there in August. First, we're rolling through 4 Canadian provinces.

Thank you Paul!

Thank you Norm!

Thanks! We're having a great time in Canada. Sure, it comes with its own limitations, but so does everything else.

@@GrandAdventure ENJOY !!!

@@PeterSalts thanks! I actually did go to Fiddlehead to meet a viewer and his wife, just didn't film it.

Thank you Jon!!! But I'm just a fellow pupil.

Fortunately for us, as visitors for a couple of nights we are subject to neither.

Very much so, Jesi.

Thank you, and same to you!

Lake Superior is the prettiest of the Great Lakes, in my opinion. We especially loved the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in far northern Wisconsin.

@@GrandAdventure when visiting the Apostles go by kayak?

@@thomashendron4356 you bet, Thomas, if you get the right window of weather and wave conditions as we did, kayaking the sea caves is a must-do: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y89lfdqS1LqRdmw.html However, the crossings between islands are a big undertaking and can be dangerous with quick weather changes and very cold water, especially when paddling solo. For that reason I stuck to the sea caves located on the mainland (yet still within the National Lakeshore), and didn't venture onto the islands themselves other than a ferry ride with the truck to Madeline Island. We were camped nearby in a municipally-operated campground in Washburn.

@GrandAdventure thanks for pointing me to Apostle Island episode. Another great place to park/camp/paddle/explore

@@thomashendron4356 our pleasure.

You'll get that opportunity, MTL. Hopefully sooner than later.

With a beam of only 22 in, yes it can be tippy if you want it to be, Bert. But it is not hard to control that at all.

Thanks Gord! I didn''t comment on the flakes because I didn't know what kind of tree was producing them. But they were some sort of spring shed from that species of tree. And they gave the Basin Harbor staff a nearly endless cleanup job. Funny that you mention sailing at Bird Key in 1990, for that's precisely when and where I took my first windsurfing lesson. My ex-wife's mother had a place in Sarasota at the time, and we were visiting when I decided to give it a try. The early 1990s were the sport''s heyday, but you've already identified the two primary factors that led to its demise: the high cost of equipment, and the steep learning curve. For different wind conditions you needed different size boards, masts, sails and booms. My quiver eventually grew to two boards, two masts, two booms and four sails, but there were large gaps in coverage that could've been filled by even more equipment. I largely bought used but still had about $5,000-6,000 into it, at a time that I was just beginning my career and really couldn't afford a pot to piss in. I never did perfect my jibe, although tacking was no issue. The real fun began once I nailed my water start and began using a harness. Getting up onto a plane, raking back the sail to close the gap, and getting into the footstraps such that you could push your feet laterally to counteract the lift generated by the fin was a rush like few others. People eventually gravitated to kiting. I understand that it's somewhat easier to master than windsurfing, but that innovation took over after I had largely abandoned windsurfing already. Ironically, sailing conditions were better in the Northeast than in Florida, which we moved to in 1996. More wind from more consistent weather fronts passing through. Florida is dead calm for much of the year, with only light breezes insufficient for the relatively small sails of a windsurfing kit. We had also bought our first sailboat, a tiny used 20' O'Day that we kept at a marina on the Lake Champlain Islands, as an effort to get my new family involved in my sailing addiction, so time on the water was primarily spent on a boat instead of a board. We towed that boat to Florida when we moved to Anna Maria, but quickly realized that it was too small for Tampa Bay and even more so for the Gulf, so we upgraded to a used O'Day 25 and eventually a used Hunter 34 before our time sailing ended when we moved to landlocked Utah. By the time we got to Utah, though, my windsurfing skills had rusted and my equipment had become outdated, so it just sat hanging from the ceiling in my garage because I didn't have the heart to get rid of it until we downsized to go full time in the RV. I tried to give it away, even posted it online for free, but I didn't even get a spark of interest. It eventually took up space in the 30-yard dumpster that we filled.

@@GrandAdventure Great account, Marc. How interesting, you got your start at the very same time and place as I did and learned from the same instructors. I believe there were two men and a woman and they owned a shop on Siesta Key. We must have crossed paths at some point. You also covered the third reason for the sports demise... not enough wind often enough. Only in the winter months did you get any kind of frequentcy. You saw it too! Driving over the bridge from downtown Sarasota over to Bird Key and seeing those aficionados skimming the crests of whitecaps along the intercoastal below. We were captivated! 😃 I got to the same skill level as you did. I didn't quite master the jibe. That took allot of practice and you had to be very dedicated to get out as often as you could. But then there was reality... how to do that on a regular basis and still work to earn a living... the fourth reason for the sports demise... not enough time. If you could get the jibe down, then the physical exhaustion of continual water starts was not nearly as much of a factor. But the exhilaration, as you detailed, was the real draw.... adrenaline junkies. My mother's father, my grandfather, owned a villa on Siesta Key at Gulf Haven. After my grandfather passed, my mother and her sisters inherited the villa. They kept it and eventually my Mom bought out her sisters. So I always had a place to stay during the Christmas and Easter holidays. Sorry to hear that you used your old rusted equipment as a covering for the big dumpster. You never really gave up on the dream... but time and accommodation with your new family gave way. How interesting that your interest in sailboarding eventually migrated into sailing that took you to those places ending at Ana Maria Island. And eventually skiing drew you to Utah. Gord

@@gorrdd yep, it sounds like we were very much in the same place at the same time, both physically and in skill development. Skiing was always my true love, since early childhood. Everything else was secondary. Even living in Florida, freelancing as a ski journalist got me onto the hill ~30 days per year. Things like windsurfing were an off-season substitute. But it eventually got to the point where I was tired of flying to ski, or dealing with the emotional roller coaster of New England weather. So in January 2005 I packed up a U-Haul and pointed it west.

@@GrandAdventure Indeed, Marc. Sounds like you made the right choice. But returning to New England and the Chaplain Valley was no doubt long overdue. I could see you really got into it, with all the beautiful scenery and landscape views and images that you shared. Right up my alley... The one thing with all the weather we have been having, is that everything is really green and well hydrated this year. Even the mountains around LA has a level of verdant growth this year, and not all dried out and tired looking. How is Montreal? I expect there has been allot of construction since the last time you were there. The last time I was there was in 1967, at the World's Fair. I was born in Montreal, lived in Dorval until I was 6, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1956. Gord

@@gorrdd Montreal has grown by a ridiculous amount, Gord, even in the past 25 years. It doesn't take long to escape, as we were surrounded by nothing but farmland 15 miles south of the city on the South Shore, but in the urban and suburban areas the traffic is absolutely insane. For some inexplicable reason (most likely cost) nearly all of the freeways are only two lanes in each direction, even the ones added relatively recently. Couple that with substantial construction to repair severely neglected asphalt, and you have a mess on your hands.

You're much too kind, Tucker, thank you for your generous offer. We don't have anything formal scheduled. We're now in Canada but will be swinging through NH in August.

@@GrandAdventure I would love to hear about your ski patrol days in VT. I'm on patrol in NH at Cannon, and I'm sure we'd have some good stories to share.

@@tuckerg1975 indeed we would. I've spent many good days (as well as many frigid and bulletproof days) at Cannon. I was patrolling at Jay Peak back during the 80s and 90s. In 2005, though, we relocated to Utah and I've been an Alta pass holder and regular ever since. Speaking of which, Alta's 2024-25 pass prices go up if I don't buy by June 12th. Just got the email. Dammit! 😁

We're big fans of NRS, including their paddling gloves.

We appreciate the feedback, but we have a number of reasons why we do Premieres: 1. An entire social community has sprung up around our Premieres. We typically have about 100-150 regulars attending each one, and they've all gotten to know one another very well through the chat room that plays alongside the video. They look forward to 9pm Eastern on Wednesdays the way that folks used to, say, gather for a new episode of M*A*S*H. We would never take that away from them, and they'd probably kill us if we did. They're our most loyal and regular viewers, and we do it for them. 2. Publishing regularly, at the same time on the same day of the week each and every week, gives some consistency that many viewers, and KZfaq's algorithm both seem to appreciate. 3. Premieres allow us to build anticipation for each episode. Remember that old Heinz ketchup commercial...

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you very much!