7 days in July with Ice cream and Bingo

Sunday to Sunday                                                    Most Recent Posts:
June 28 – July 5, 2026                                           June in Vermont
Moose River Campground                                      Flat Tire Slows Trip
St. Johnsbury, Vermont

July only looked slightly different than June.  My weeks often consist of two days of hiking and 2 days of kayaking.   I hang around the river here over the week-end to let the workers have the lakes and trails.

I had a beautiful day on Keiser  pond. 
I went there for the 2nd time hoping to see the hatched baby loon.  But no luck.  The parents were there but not the baby.  No idea what happened.   It’s sad though.

Here’s some of the beauty I did see.

I heard well over a dozen birds but these two were the only ones I saw

Easter Phoebe

Red Winged black bird

One of the hikes I did this week was on the local Rail Trail.  I used to carry a bicycle with me but I found I’d rather walk or hike than ride and getting the bike on and off the bike rack was too difficult for me alone.    The nice thing about Rail Trails is that they are like interstate highways, wide and flat or with a gradual slope unlike the mountains of Vermont.

That’s not to say there is no slope.

Every  Monday evening at 7:00 the St Johnsbury Band performs on the courthouse lawn and one of the local businesses provides free ice cream.   It’s such a wonderful small town tradition.  There were a lot more people than this picture shows but most of them were behind me or in the ice cream line.

Here’s the ice cream line.   3 flavors to choose from.  2 scoopers so the line will move along.  1 scoop per person but they are big scoops

My second kayak trip was to Lake Hardwick.  The beginning is at the put in of course.  Turns out Lake Hardwick has some sort of invasive water plant here at this end of the lake so you have to put in to it and head the other direction.  You can sort of see it at the end of the ramp and further out in the lake.

Kind of a hazy day.  I didn’t see much at all on or around the lake but the quiet beautiful environment was wonderful  The Lamoille River is on the other end of the lake and turned out to be the best part of this paddle

I had just come around the bend into the river from the lake when I saw what looked like a telephone pole in the middle of a marsh.

A closer look revealed an osprey platform.

Complete with resident osprey.

Not sure you can see this clearly but I thought it was hilarious.   As I was paddling back the 50 mph speed limit sign looked like it had been set for the river.   Obviously at this spot the road is right there but still, It struck me as  funny.

This handsome green heron was another highlight of my paddle.

There’s the stuff in the lake.  Now all I have to do is get this kayak back on top of the car.  I always wish I had a paddling buddy at this point.

 

Another thing that has become a dangerous weekly habit is a stop at the too near to the campground Milkhouse Ice Cream.

I could easily go there every day if I weren’t afraid of the consequences especially given that I also have ice cream at the band concert every Monday.  Milkhouse doesn’t have only 3 flavors, it has dozens.  Two big signboard lists of flavors.   I didn’t count them but there are a lot.   Wish I could sample every one before the summer is over…..well every one except the ones with coffee ice cream.

Here I am last week.   Two scoops on a cone.

There is never not a line.  I just  love the cow!

And this week, two scoops in a cup.  doesn’t it look like the cone scoops are bigger??  My mouth is watering just looking at these pictures.

Speaking of food.

I took myself out for breakfast  this week to the Kitchen Counter in downtown St. Johnsbury.

I call this the farm breakfast because it’s what David used to make for us one day every week-end.  His had the worlds most flakey made from scratch biscuits.  I miss them and him.

The campground had a bingo game on the 4th of July.   I LOVE bingo.  Not the serious kind that costs a lot of money, but this kind at $1 for 3 cards.  Last month I won 3 of the 9 games.  YEA!!!

This month, for the first time since I’ve played at Moose River, I didn’t win one single game.  Boo hoo!

There was also a char broiled roast beef dinner potluck on the 4th.

Carmen and Linda, two work campers, organize all the food people brought.

The right cake for this day.

Yes this all happened in one week.  It didn’t make me tired at the time but retelling it did.   I may have to increase the number of days I hike and kayak to keep up with all this eating and ice cream.