The Champlain Area Trails Travel Writing Contest entry, “Falling in Love” is not the story of a romance between two people, but two people falling in love with the Champlain Valley. Jean McMahon and her husband vacationed in Willsboro upon hearing advice that this area of the Adirondacks was a beautiful ‘undiscovered jewel.’ After only one visit they were already prepared to make this their retirement home, and thankfully they found a perfect fixer-upper farmhouse. They have now spent fifteen years with the Champlain Valley as their home and have integrated perfectly. McMahon gives a very well-rounded view of life in the Champlain Valley that makes me happy that this is my home too.

A Year in the Champlain Valley

McMahon describes the many activities she and her husband partake in throughout the seasons of a year in the Champlain Valley. She mentions places in Willsboro, Essex, and Westport including Turtle Island Café, the park at Beggs Point, and the fairgrounds. The McMahons attend plays at local schools, events at the Whallonsburg Grange and Pok-o-McCready, and dinners at local churches. Outdoors they hike the many trails of the Adirondacks, go out on Lake Champlain in the summer, and ski in winter. As well as just admiring the beautiful nature around them as it changes throughout the year, the McMahons also cultivate their land and sell some vegetables at a stand.

Below is an except from “Falling in Love” as well as a beautiful picture from the McMahon’s backyard. Be sure to read all of the other stories in the contest and don’t forget to vote for your favorite to win a $250 prize!

“…The following summer a neighbor suggested we climb one of the mountains we could see from our back porch – its name was Rattlesnake. (Somehow I never thought to ask if there were any snakes up there, but we never saw or ever heard of any!)  We made the climb with some friends and when we found ourselves upon its rocky ledge top we looked down.  The five-mile-long bay sat below us, beyond that a finger of land with a marina on it, and then the wide and blue lake framed with the rolling hills and farms of the Vermont Valley, and the Green Mountains beyond.  “Look!” my husband pointed out – and far below on the lake edge of the finger of land, we recognized a tiny white house on the edge of a green postage stamp of land. Was it really ours, and in this beautiful lake surrounded by mountains? We asked ourselves. We still couldn’t believe we were here…” [Continue reading “Falling in Love.”]

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