Traveling up the Hudson River to Kingston, the river took on more of a canyon experience.  The banks were more dramatic and the villages were smaller and yet, the train from New York City was still evident as we ran north.

    

    

    

From the river on our starboard was the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and shortly after on our port was West Point Academy.  West Point’s campus covers over 16,000 acres and has around 4,500 cadets.

    

    

As we passed West Point, we were entertained by their helicopter training as it circled over our boat.

    

This part of the river was our deepest water (150 ft) to date on our cruise.

    

Sights along the banks were mansions, castles and light houses that are unusual for a river setting.

    

    

The entrance to Roundout Creek included a haunted ship, a wooden sailboat school, a nautical museum and a vintage tugboat.

    

    

Upon entering Kingston we were pleasantly surprised by the Kingston Multicultural Festival underway and the small town was packed!

    

    

    

    

Along with other loopers, we docked at the city wall adjacent to downtown.  We enjoyed our traditional gathering with Tim and Tricia on “Patricia Ann” , Ken and Karen on “Island Girl” , and the next day Rick and Deedy on “Rejoice”, followed by BBQ ribs at the Ole Savannah Southern Table.  (A “Southern Table” in New York?)

    

    

    

Moving up the Hudson River once again presented us with logs, lighthouses, and the train.  The water was as calm as we have seen and we enjoyed a pleasant day’s ride.

    

            

Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina was on the river where we were greeted by several loopers.  Even though we find ourselves with loopers at almost every stop, it is always fun to see another one pull in.

    

We gathered for our daily ritual at the tables Brian (owner) had set up for us.  Herb brought homemade peach cobbler and everyone else brought snacks to share.

            

Brian likes to “cut up”…….

    

Brian also owns The Boathouse Restaurant next door, where he treated the loopers to “baby beers”…….(not really beer at all)….

    

    

While in New Baltimore we borrowed the courtesy car for a trip to Walmart and the Post Office to mail a package to the grand-kids.  This package was “pirate themed”.  We also toured the town, which didn’t take long!

    

We hung out with old looper friends and met new ones while waiting on the weather to clear enough for us all to continue our travel north to the next stop – The Erie Canal.

        

    

Being “weathered in”, we found new ways to entertain ourselves.  Tim added “T-Rex” and Santa was happy to have a friend for a few days.

        

Another meal at The Boathouse…..

    

Brian cutting up again…….another selfie for our collection……

    

    

Bru and Sandy invited us to join them on “Coconuts” for gumbo and after the lengthy lay-over at Shady Harbor, we began preparation for an early morning departure.

    

Another well anticipated part of our adventure is the ERIE CANAL.  We pulled out of New Baltimore once again heading north.  Albany is the capital of New York and was much larger than most of the little towns we see along the rivers and canals.  The port was busy and the architecture and scenery kept us (and the camera) occupied.

    

We passed the Albany Yacht Club……

    

Notice the U-Haul truck atop this building…….not sure how they managed that!

    

The town of Waterford is the start/finish port on the Erie Canal.  It is a popular stop for loopers but we hadn’t traveled far so we continued on……

    

AND FINALLY HERE WE WERE – the fork in the road – THE ERIE CANAL…..we turned to port and awaited our first of seven locks for the day.  There are a total of 35 locks on the Erie Canal.

    

There were other looper boats already waiting at the Welcome Center.  Normally there is a fee for entering each of the Erie Canal’s locks but the entire system is now free in celebration of their 200th. anniversary.  You see here a statue honoring the original horse-power for operating the locks – a mule.

    

In the seven locks we enter today, we will rise 169 feet in elevation in less than two miles.  The first five locks are called “The Flight”.  This sequence of locks is the largest lift in the shortest distance (only 1.5 miles) of any system in the world.

    

    

    

These are the muddy, slimy cables we attach our boat to at each lock.  There were thousands of tiny mussels in this one!

   

It was beautiful scenery and perfect weather along the way…….

        

    

    

Everything associated with the Canal System is painted a vivid blue and gold – the locks, tugs and work boats.

        

We saw bald eagles…..(if you look real close)…..    

“One” of these is not real!

We were in need of some much over-due rest and relaxation, and we would arrive in Schenectady in anticipation of a well appointed Yacht Club.  But much to our dismay, we found this instead.  We even wondered if we had arrived in the wrong place – but no, this was The Schenectady Yacht Club!  It was surreal indeed!

View from our starboard-side (left photo), view from our port-side (right photo)…..

    

Although we showed disrespect for this place at first, it turned out to be the most serene and pleasant surroundings that did allow us to decompress…..

We left the serenity of Schenectady and were back into the throes of the locks on the Erie Canal…..

Our first reminder of the day was of how blessed we are to be on this trip….

    

We saw wooden boats and the abandoned Adirondack Power Plant.    

We ran upon this bridge, which we had not appropriately researched and realized it looked REALLY low.  We have a 19′ 6″ air draft and at first glance Ron read “19 foot bridge”…..  “Expletives” from Ron!!!  After Karen took a second look at the charts – it read “19.7” – the Point 7 meant all the difference in the world…..we cleared….with an inch to spare!

    

We passed through several cities and communities, Amsterdam being one.  Our friends on “Island Girl”, Karen and Ken, were docked there….we waved as we went by…..

    

This shows the water level change at one lock….

    

….sights along the way…..I enjoyed seeing another pace of life…..these were different locks which show the local folks enjoying the canal on their time…

   

We passed and were passed by other boats enjoying the canal system….

    

and just “weird” stuff along the way…..

    

We arrived with another looper boat, “Coconuts”, at St. Johnsville Campsite and Marina.  It was another walk back in time.  The sign above the office read, “A Redneck Boat Club”……but it was a clean and quiet park along the Erie Canal.  St. Johnsville is the mid point in the Erie Canal System.

    

We couldn’t help but laugh when we asked about fuel and a “pump out”.  You see, when boating (similar to traveling in an RV), you have fuel tanks, fresh water tanks, and “not so fresh” tanks (waste tanks), which have to be pumped out frequently along the way.  (TMI?)  When we inquired about their pump out facilities, the harbormaster brought her tractor, carrying the “tank” right up to our boat and for $5.00 we got a pump-out.  (The more traditional systems work like our sewer systems back home!)….

It was a short walk to the small town of St. Johnsville.  There are few amenities in town and most of the buildings looked like someone abandoned them years ago.  There was a pretty little Methodist church offering free snacks!

    

We were on to Rome, New York today….

        

Before noon, along the Mohawk River, we arrived at the dreaded “LOCK 17″…at least dreaded by Karen!  We waited with nervous anticipation for our turn to lock through.  It was a large, intimidating lock.  We had heard the turbulence was bad, it was deep and UGLY!  Then it was our turn…..

It was the only lock I had trouble holding Kara Mia against the wall.  Not only scary – but embarrassing – when “your” boat is the one swinging out into the middle of the lock!  It took all I had but I was able to complete this lock without getting loose or getting near another boat!  The rest of the locks would prove to be doable for Karen.

    

Scenery after lock 17 was gorgeous.  We saw climbers repelling, homes hanging off the cliffs of bluffs, churches, communities, and clear glassy waters…..

            

We would pass the cities of Little Falls and Utica, where other loopers were docking for the night.  With no room for Kara Mia, we continued on….

    

We tried several other marinas, one had been damaged by storms and another’s bridge was too low for us to get under.  It was getting late, we were tired and getting nervous.  Maybe this would be the night we would drop anchor?  Eventually we would arrive at the city dock of Rome, New York.  It was rustic, some places would not allow you access to land from your boat, some had no electricity.  We chose a spot where we could get off the boat, but we would have no water or electricity.  We interacted with the locals on the dock and were most nervous about going to sleep that night.  On our way in we took out Rob’s new rod and he was not happy but after fishing his rod off of our props and giving him a bit of Jack Daniels, he was calling us “brother”.  After visiting with Gary, who was fishing and drinking and dancing right near the back of our boat…..we were even more nervous…..but we were tired and exhausted so we secured as best we could and went to bed.  I think it was still daylight – but a “reasonable” hour for a boater with no air conditioning, no running water, no security……

    

Next morning, in the safety of daylight, we walked around the park.  There was a beautiful walking trail.  The trees trying to get over the dam were impressive, the river was calm and beautiful…..    

        

….we were happy to be on our way….

The voyage to Brewerton  was an easy one with only 2 locks and beautiful weather for the Lake Oneida crossing.  We have left the Erie Canal and entered the Oswego Canal on our way to Lake Ontario.  Soon we arrived at Ess-Kay Yard and Marina where we enjoyed several days.

            

At Ess-Kay we were joined by several other loopers, some from an adjacent marina.  We re-provisioned at the local Walmart while using the marina’s loaner vehicle (you never know what you will be driving).  Bru and Sandy (on Coconuts) joined us for dinner at Waterfront Tavern where Karen hit the lottery.  However – it wasn’t enough to pay for dinner.

        

Another evening we had dinner at Mariachi’s Restaurant – we had to get our Mexican food fix.  It looked a little sketchy but once inside, it turned out to be a good choice!

    

Friends from “Sea Jamm”  and “Island Girl”  came over in their dinghy from Winter Harbor Marina for docktails……

        

When a storm blew through, everyone rushed to tighten lines but we forgot our dinghy was not tied down and it blew off.  To be safe we tied it to a tree.

    

It was a damp, dreary, chilly day, but it was the 40 MPH winds that kept us docked in Brewerton for another day.  Our next travel day will require 8 locks and Karen was not keen on locking in high winds!  As “First Mate”, it is Karen’s position to hold the 20 ton boat by a cable that is secured to the lock wall.  A muddy slimy cable at that!  High winds and turbulent water are not in your favor.

We hung out at the boat most of the day and Karen fixed some comfort food for dinner – frito pie!  Not fancy but it was pretty good!

    

Before settling in for “looper’s midnight”, we noticed people in the boat next to us scurrying around and we went outside to find the most beautiful sunset.

    

…..tomorrow on to Oswego……

After the weather delay getting out of Brewerton, we were finally on our way to Oswego and Lake Ontario.  But – there would be eight locks over a 30-mile distance – to make for a long day.

We passed through some quaint villages and started to stop at the Farmer’s Market in Phoenix, but the waterway called.  We had eight boats in our first lock this morning – a record for us!  The rest of the day we had six boats in a row traveling and locking together.

    

    

    

There were interesting waterfalls and dams at each lock……

    

Ultimately we got to our destination – Lake Ontario and Oswego Marina….

    

    

Docktails were well deserved by the six looper boats after the eight locks today!

Girls being silly – very happy to be in slips #4 and #5.  (Ron got the “rear” view!)

   

The next morning several boats left for either Clayton, New York – further down Lake Ontario – or to cross over to Canada.  We took a walking tour of Oswego and Fort Ontario.  The star-shaped Fort Ontario, known as the “Guardian of the Northern Frontier”, was built in 1755 on the ruins of three earlier fortresses that date back to the French and Indian War.

    

    

The rest of the day we did laundry, blogged, built a new bike, and finished off the frito pie!

    

…..tomorrow “O’Canada”…….

As we leave Oswego Bay this is the last of the U.S. we will see for a few weeks.

    

Our crossing of Lake Ontario would be more than 50 miles at this point and would require us placing a yellow quarantine (Q-flag) on the boat before entering Canadian waters.  The waters were calm today, so we made good time at 30+ mph.

    

    

We crossed the United States – Canada border on Lake Ontario and were soon at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River near the Thousand Islands.  Our destination was Kingston, Ontario the first capital of Canada.  It is at the end of the Rideau Canal that starts in Ottawa.  Both the Rideau and Trent Severn Canals were started nearly two hundred years ago as an alternative passage through Canada for hiding shipments and military movement from the United States.

    

As we passed the outer islands we were impressed by the number of windmills producing energy.

We entered Confederation Basin Marina with the yellow Q flag.  Only the captain may depart the vessel before you have cleared customs.  Nothing can be removed or taken aboard until after you have cleared customs.  Upon docking, only Ron could leave the boat to check us into Canada.  Once on land, you call customs and respond to a series of questions (passport #, boat info, cargo, destination) that includes how much alcohol, tobacco, fruit and firearms we had on board.  If they are satisfied with your answers they issue the boat a # that is to accompany it until safely back into the U.S.  If they are not satisfied, they board your boat for inspection.  At that point, you remove the yellow Q flag and hoist a “courtesy” Canadian flag for your duration in Canada.

    

The marina was near the heart of Kingston, which was a vibrant city.  The water was clear and the marina was clean.  It has a reputation of being a good entry point into Canada for loopers.  There were several there.

    

    

These towers were strategic defense emplacements years ago and they still dot the coastline today.

Across Kingston Harbour we could see The Royal Military College of Canada.  It was established in 1876 and is Canada’s only military university –  equivalent to our West Point.  This university serves all branches of Canada’s military (Army, Air Force, Navy…….).  Canadian military officers can, and do, serve in multiple branches of service.

On the other side of the marina is Kingston’s City Hall.

    

Kingston was not only an important water port, but also a major rail hub.

    

The downtown area was active for a Sunday evening.  Even the local toy and game store was holding game tournaments.

    

There was a European flavor to Kingston with alleys that wind into interior patios of the downtown blocks.  That is where we found “Chez Piggy” and shared the Chef’s seafood platter.

    

    

    

Kingston sunsets………long daylight hours….

With the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, we go to bed in bright daylight and we wake up in bright daylight…then sun rises before 5:00 a.m. and sets after 9:00 p.m.

    

Since Karen is still a Texan at heart, signs of Texas always catch our eye.  Such was the case here in Canada where we found other loopers from Port Aransas, Texas.  Robert and Carolyn have a fun story of how they named their boat “Sauvy B”.  On a recent trip to New Zealand they were sampling local wines and when they ordered a Sauvignon Blanc the waiters didn’t understand at first but finally said, “Oh, you want a Sauvy B” – a much more fun boat name than “Cabernet” or “Chardonnay”.

    

We left Kingston early this morning for the nearly 40 mile trip to Picton.

    

Picton is a small unincorporated community with a population of less than 5,000.  It was a short overnight stay on Picton Bay for us.

    

    

With little time to spare, we docked and walked up the hill to explore a bit.  We visited several small shops and stopped at The 555 Brewing Company for a snack.

    

    

Yes, the squirrel is black (a lot of Canadian squirrels are black)!  And yes, that is a gang-plank to that boat – they board from the picnic table!

    

There were only 2 looper boats this day, Kara Mia and Phanthom.  We met Herb for docktails and then walked up the hill again for dinner.  “The hill” was long and steep!  We had sandwiches and fish & chips at County Canteen and then headed back down to the wall where we docked.

    

    

Before heading out early the next morning, we walked the hill again to The Lighthouse Restaurant at Picton Harbour Inn.  Breakfast was hearty with lots of local flavor!

    

    

    

Then we were off to Trenton, another 40 mile trip, this one through the Bay of Quinte…..

    

Random Stuff:  Restroom doors and dance floors………whatever……just sayin’……