“The Plan” is constantly changing and as the Erie Canal reopened, we decided to skip Canada for this trip, as we were getting late into the season for warm weather boating. Instead, we continued west on the canal.
Our first step was to lower our boat height, as there were now some low bridges in our path. Kenton took down the radar and satellite dish, and we collapsed the bimini top to transform our ‘sedan’ into a ‘convertible’.
The weather cooperated, and we had unobstructed views of the lovely Western Erie Canal as we headed toward Buffalo.
We made stops in several small towns along the way, such as Baldwinsville. We would tie up to a wall of the canal, wander and visit with locals, tourists and other boaters, and spend the night before moving on to see more of the canal.
The humor, good will and whimsical nature of the area was delightful.
We saw egrets, heron, bald eagles and a few Canada geese, apparently waiting for test results before they would be permitted back into their homeland.
We traveled a beautiful path through locks and more small towns.
Pittsford had fun places to explore as well as the last of the low bridges, so that is where we put our convertible top back up.
The canal got narrower and very twisty. Around every bend there was something new to see.
At the wall in Middleport we had ‘docktails’ with another boat couple who gave us good local advice for the next leg of our voyage.
In the morning we continued along the canal
and went through the very last lock – which was a double!
We caught up with our new friends and followed them to the end of the Erie Canal, where we said good-bye (for now).
Then we navigated the strong current and swirling waters of the Niagara River to reach our next marina. The friendly dock master loaned us his car for the afternoon so we could drive over to Niagara Falls.
The rapids and waterfalls were amazing!
Next step in “The Plan” is to take on Lake Erie!