We Left Catskill this morning at 8:00. It was our first full sunny day in quite some time. We are hoping we are back in our “good weather bubble again.” High 79 and low humidity. Ahhhh.
Right away we passed another unique lighthouse on the Hudson River. I never tire of different lighthouses.
Albany, the capitol of New York, was off to our port. This tired battleship rested along their docks.
The city is a contrast of old and new. My sister, Kitty, was born here. Yeah Albany!
Today we left the Hudson River behind and entered the Erie Canal. Salt water, tides and currents are gone. Unfortunately, locks are back. Lots and lots of locks.
Lock #1, also called the Federal Lock, is in Troy, NY. We had planned to stop in Troy, but no one was at the dock area to tell us where to stay so we pushed forward. Here comes our first lock.
Five boats locked through and it only took about a half hour to pass.
Right after leaving the lock it was time to leave the Hudson and enter the Erie.
The Hudson goes straight and we stay to the left to enter the Erie. We had originally thought that we would visit Lake Champlain and Montreal, but the time and distance has made us decide to move on up the Erie.
Waterford was our stop for the night. They have been closed to pleasure boaters for the holiday weekend as they had an event where old steam engines were here for the public to view. They said they had 2,000 visitors.
Nice name, caught my eye!
From Waterford you take a short walk up the hill and buy your Erie Canal pass.
This is Lock #2 as it looked at its origination.
This is the old canal as it sits next to the “new” canal.
We bought a 10 day pass for $50 and will stay at several free town docks.
My parents and grandparents were originally from Lockport, NY which is located on the Erie Canal. We will not travel that far on the Erie, but it was fun to see Lockport being honored as part of the New York Canal System. I have many, many childhood memories there.
The Great Loop 