This high school class ring is dated 1922. It is from the same K-12 school where my grandchildren attend,... and the ring belonged to my father,... their great-grandfather!
Yesterday on
Red Pine Mountain Mountain Woman invited bloggers to write something about special men in our lives. So, I have been thinking about this post for some time,... a post about my own father!
Below you see my father, on the left, sometime in the early 1950s working for the local power company. As you can see, it was when times were simpler. Note the wooden poles and cross arms.
The power company was sold and consolidated with a large electric company. My father took his ability to climb poles and work on the wires to the local telephone company. Here again he's shown at the left in this photo. This was taken around 1957.
After he began to get a bit older and decided that he should no longer be climbing poles he went on to drive a school bus and then served as a local town highway superintendent. For a man who only graduated from high school he did well in his life and provided a good life for my mother and me.
This photo above is my favorite one of all the ones I have of my father. It shows him as I will always remember him. A man who loved his rural community, his Adirondacks, in his hunting jacket and cap... and his gentle smile. He and my mother had built a log cabin, and he was known as a woodsman. There was a saying years ago when he was still alive,... "you could drop him on any mountain top in the Adirondacks and he'd walk out in three days,... he could have done it in two days but he took the extra time just for the enjoyment of it!"
It's with great pride that I dedicate this post to my "daddy"... I will always love you, and I miss you terribly. You were solid gold.
As I have a fear of heights so to take the tour through the gorge, along walkways won't be happening! But from overlooks near the highway I was able to get these photos for you. What do you think of those waterfalls, Betsy from Tennesee? 
The river looked lovely as we drove by... And soon we arrived at the new ferry across Lake Champlain at the site of the Lake Champlain Bridge . The bridge is now gone and soon construction of a new bridge will begin. If you check that link you will see the original and majestic bridge. Now this is all that remains...
And now that the ferry service is established,.... the Bridge Restaurant, for now called the "No" Bridge Restaurant, welcomes New Yorkers back to the Vermont side of the lake. 
For a great breakfast (or any meal!) visit the Bridge Restaurant in West Addison, Vermont. Say hello to owner, Lisa, and enjoy some eggs over easy,... my favorite! After breakfast we continued north to Burlington, dropped off our donations to Goodwill, did grocery shopping and arrived back home by mid-afternoon. A great trip for a late winter day.
This photo above is my favorite one of all the ones I have of my father. It shows him as I will always remember him. A man who loved his rural community, his Adirondacks, in his hunting jacket and cap... and his gentle smile. He and my mother had built a log cabin, and he was known as a woodsman. There was a saying years ago when he was still alive,... "you could drop him on any mountain top in the Adirondacks and he'd walk out in three days,... he could have done it in two days but he took the extra time just for the enjoyment of it!"
To read more about Champ and the area, visit Paranormal Encyclopedia, The Lake Champlain Land Trust, or many other sites on the internet. Perhaps Champ is a first cousin of Nessie?
