Erie Canal (6/28/2015)

Although it rained all night, and I guess it stormed some (I didn't hear anything), we decided to go ahead with our plans to take the Erie Canal boat ride this morning.  It was down to just a mist, so off we went.  This is the sign we saw as we drove through town the other day, and got us interested in finding out about the Erie Canal.

We bought our tickets, then Joe and Collins were up to their usual antics.

Joe found a map on the wall that follows the path of the Eric Canal.  "The Erie Canal is a canal in New York that originally ran about 363 miles from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie. Built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, the canal helped New York eclipse Philadelphia as the largest city and port on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The canal is now part of the New York State Canal System."  "The Erie Canal is famous in song and story. Proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825, the canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east."  This canal was dug by hand, 4 foot deep and 40 foot wide, later it was deepened to 12 feet to handle larger boats.  The War of 1812 delayed the completion of it.

On a nicer day, this would be a very peaceful ride to cool off.  Today, it was plenty of cool!  Here, some of us are really concentrating, trying to absorb it all (Joe is the photographer).  Our two fair-weather buddies, Marilyn and David, are staying inside, although Marilyn did venture up to the upper deck a little later.

Here is the lock, filling with water, which amazingly took very little time.

Gates closing.

Now we are full, and floating up.

Gates opening, then going under bridge upstream.

More pictures, then Joe the Photographer running over to join in.

Coming into the lock again, gates opening.

Inside lock.

Bridge rising just like an elevator to allow us to pass under it.

Joe saw a beaver in the canal along here, and there was a flock of geese on the edge.  We finished this ride and deboarded the boat, then we all went our separate ways.  Joe and I took a drive, of course, stopped for lunch, and came upon this very nice view up the highway, nearing Lake Ontario.  Lake Ontario was completely socked in with fog.

 But I did brave the elements and stick my toe in it.  Great Lake Number Two! And we came upon a lighthouse.

We drove along the coast, even though we really couldn't see the water through the fog.  This is a beautiful part of New York -- we don't think of New York having countryside, crops growing in fields.  We passed several orchards, some peach, some apple, some cherry.

The peach trees are a long way from in-season, the apples were setting on and some of them turning red but we don't know what kind they are, and the cherries are ripe right now.  We bought a lb. each of 2 different kinds.  When we walked over to look at the apple trees, we scared up a red fox.  So two animals today.

We wandered our way back, stopped and fueled the car, and got back to camp.  Joe went passing our cherries to our buddies since we can't take them across the border.  He intends to give himself a stomach ache by eating the rest of them tonight.

And tomorrow we are leaving the country -- we are going international, to Canada!