Erie Canal, feels like home

Erie Canal is looking familiar to us. The locks and the scenery feels like home. This is us leaving the Erie Canal after Lock 23.

We exited the Hudson River by the Troy lock. The first stop was in Waterford. It is home to the highest set of locks in the world. We visited the town and had a nice dinner downtown. They have a nice park at the lock. The Welcome Centre was very welcoming.

We are doing twenty-three locks on this part of the canal. Now we feel almost like at home. No more saltwater, no more tides, and the vegetation is familiar. Feels like home!

Our first stop was at Riverlink in Amsterdam. The first day we did nine locks and 255 ft of elevation. They were relatively easy. We stopped right in town. The railway tracks run by here but it didn't disturb us. We had a rain day there so we explored the town. They have a beautiful park on the water's edge that extends onto a bridge. This bridge carried stagecoachs in this location. Pioneers looking for fortunes out west.

We also walked the downtown core where they have window displays in the real Amsterdam style. Their displays are more modest and only manequins.

Our second stop was in Ilion. We did eight locks and we are now up to 355 ft. elevation. We spent the night at a small marina. It is walking distance to town. It was a holiday so not much was open.

The next morning as we did our second lock we started descending. We went upto 420 feet in Rome. Now we are going down the rest of the locks until Lake Ontario.

Our third stop was in Brewerton. We stayed at Ess-Kay. It was a very friendly stop. Loved the green space there. We sat out on the grass and other boaters joined-in. We used the courtesy car to drive into town. We had a girls night out. It was our first on the Loop.

The following day, after lock 23 we turned onto the Oswego Canal. The Erie Canal continues to Lake Erie, but Luc and Sylvie's boat cannot clear the bridge. The Oswego will take us to Lake Ontario. We arrived early in the city of Oswego. We fuelled-up and are now ready for the Lake Ontario crossing. It is 55 miles of open water. We had a delicious meal right next to the marina. The following day, we visited Fort Ontario. It is built in a five point star configuration. Not certain what was the purpose of this but it is a pretty compound.

We walked in the city and they have interesting architecture. Samuel de Champlain was first to land there in 1615. And the city continued to be an important port.

Well this is our last day in the USA. This has been awesome but now we are anxiously headed home. First we must cross Lake Ontario. Let me tell you about that in my next blog. Here is our journey so far. What an adventure!