Erie Canal Day Three and Four

When we left early Friday morning the temperature was only in the mid 60’s and the skies were overcast.  Happy it was not as warm.  We went through four locks  and planned to stop Sylvan Beach just before Lake Oneida.  It was early when we arrived and we had read the lake could kick up in a west wind (which was predicted for Saturday) se we decided to cross the lake and ended up at Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton NY.  We traveled 63 miles today and tied up at around 3:30pm The marina was right on the Erie Canal and they were very friendly and even offered a courtesy car and would you believe it was a Mercedes, a vintage one, it was a  1987 Mercedes with over 200,000 miles on it.  We had to take advantage of the car so we drove to a high end grocery store by the name of Wegmans, it was about 7 miles out of town and it was very nice.  We bought some already prepared Chinese food for dinner along with other staples that were needed. 

One of many old railroad bridges.

A few of the many work boats used to maintain the canals.

The admrial waiting to be lowered.

Sylvian Beach.

Sunset at Winter Harbor.

Saturday morning was not as early of a departure, we left at 6:45 and cleared the last of the locks #23 that we needed to traverse on the Erie Canal and made our turn to start the Oswego Canal.  We did 7 locks before we ended the day and arrived in the town of Oswego NY, that is right on Lake Ontario.

Both John and I agree it is easier to lock through a lock that is going down as opposed to being raised, the ones today were all gong down.   We have not enjoyed the Erie Locks as much as we did the locks we had done previously on the rivers as we headed south last fall. 

Since it was only 1:00 we decided that we would try and go another 50 miles and go on to Cape Vincent which is the beginning of the St. Lawrence River.  We listened to the weather and the waves on Lake Ontario were less than one foot today and forecast to only keep increasing over the next few days.  When we got past the break wall for the harbor and were out several miles we both came to an agreement that it was to uncomfortable for a five to six hour trip and came back into the Oswego Harbor and tied to the city dock where you only pay a fee of  $20 for the night.  The dock was floating and old and the water was pretty bumpy but once we were all tied up I sure did not want to move again.  The way I think of it we had already docked 8 times before with all of the locks we went through, so I had had enough, after all I am the Admiral and that counts for something. 

Sunrise Winter Harbor.

The highway bridge which was just past the lock.

Lock Doors closing behind us.

Waiting to go down.

Once we got down the lock was leaking a bit.

Small rapids just past the lock.

Entering the last lock.

Our last lock.

We took a walk into town and John went to visit the Maritime Museum while I checked out the town and shops.  John said the museum was interesting and I enjoyed the town although it was mainly composed of bars.

New York Canal system.

Looking at the Lock 8 from the land side.

Looking at the our last lock from a bridge we passed under.

The orginal Oswego Canal.

Some neat painting's from 1936 depicting American History in the region

Did not expect to find one  that mentioned Fort Mackinac here in Oswego.

1943 Tug that saw action on D-Day in WWII, still operational.

Tug is mostly original, one improvement was Radar that was
installed in 1967, it took up a good portion of the pilot house.

The Pint Replica which we last saw in Frankfort, MI on day 5 of our Loop

Looking out to Lake Ontario.

After dinner on board we were off to bed early because we wanted to go back out into Lake Ontario early am in hopes that even though waves were forecast to be 2 foot tomorrow, they would be less.  Quite often it is calmer earlier in the morning.  Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

Time for bed,

Mary & John