TWO GREAT HOSTS
THANKS FOR ALL THE LAUGHS AND GREAT TIMES WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
KELLY YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB ON THE BLOG AND CANNOT WAIT FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT..
LOVE
DAN AND SALLY

Friday, July 6 and Pictures from July 4

WHEW . . . we DEFINITELY have your weather!  Went for a 7 a.m. jog and it was HOT!!!  We headed out to Lake Erie by 7:30 and it felt fantastic; getting the breeze off of the 72 degree lake.  After 9 hours of travel, we went 115 miles and are now at beautiful Geneva State Park Marina in Ohio on the south side of Lake Erie.  Wonderful shopping at the ship's store, too :)

As promised here are the pictures to accompany yesterday's post. Enjoy!

One picture from July 3.  Leaving the last lock of the Oswego Canal the night before entering Lake Ontario.  Notice how the canal is higher than the river to it's left!

July 4th, 1st Mate Danny, and Captain Dave leaving the Oswego Harbor, ready to cruise Lake Ontario!

Boy, we thought the ocean gave us a BIG WAKE!!!  This is on plane during the 3-4 footers!

Danny enjoying a big splash in Lake Ontario :)

Dinner overlooking Niagra Falls on the 4th of July!

Niagra Falls from the Canadian side

 

Wednesday, July 4 & Thursday, July 5

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY AMERICA!!!

*Please note . . . as we are now in Canada, I cannot access the data on our phone (which is where all our pictures are).  Therefore, today you are getting the blog without pictures.  Friday night we will be back in the good ol' USA, so look for the picture walk to go with our two days as follows.

We left early this morning to tackle crossing Lake Ontario.  The weather channel indicated winds to be a reasonable speed of 10 mph, and the dockmaster at Oswego Marina said we'd have no problem running the WHOLE south end of the lake (we were thinking of going to Rochester, NY, but it turns out that would only get us a third of the way, and would only take a few hours).  Getting out on the lake at a bright and early 7:30 a.m., we thought we'd have calmer seas until the day got going.  BOY, WERE WE WRONG!!!  We had 3 to 4 footers for our first hour of our journey!  Poor Sally had to crawl up the stairs as she got out of bed.  She was trying hard to get those "sea legs" on :)  Dave put the boat up on plane and that seemed to help, but still things were a little crazy on board!!!  After that first hour, things calmed a little, so that we could walk around a little easier :)  Enjoyed a nice 140 mile cruise.  We ran the boat on plane for 5 of the 9 hours . . . the Cummins (engines) were as happy as can be :) 

Arrived in St. Catharine, Ontario, Canada.  Two friendly Canadians from the marina gave us a hand docking and telling us a little bit about the area.  Including that Niagra Falls was only 15 minutes away . . . hmmm, 4th of July in Canada might not be so bad afterall :)  After we called customs (which for those of you who know our passport story, not only did they not need to SEE our passports, they didn't even ASK for the numbers . . . UGGH!!!), the guys walked around the marina to talk with the Welland Canal (which is what we needed to do the next day).  They found out some interesting and frustrating information.  It turns out that a pleasure boater had been waiting to go through the canal since 11 a.m. (it was now 5 p.m.)!  The canal is a very busy place with many freighters going through, so when the canal masters want to take a pleasure boater they will, but not until THEY are ready.  We decided that we would get up bright and early, and that maybe that might help us out.  The whole Welland Canal can take anywhere from 10-12 hours to get through.

However, for tonight, we needed to celebrate our nation's birthday.  So we got a cab to bring us to Niagra Falls (Canadian side).  If you haven't been there, you might be surprised to know, like we were, that it reminded us of a small Las Vegas with some VERY impressive falls.  We ended up getting some great photos and finishing the evening having dinner at "The Keg" in the Embassy Suites (our cabby driver recommended it and I would HIGHLY recommend it, too)!  We were right next to a huge window overlooking the largest part of the falls, and as we were finishing up dinner we watched a SPECTACULAR display of fireworks.  Since we were looking across the falls to the U.S., we could see fireworks going off everywhere . . .soooo cool!!!  Wow, who knew celebrating the 4th of July in Canada could be so awesome :)

Thursday, we woke bright and early and tied up at the canal wall by 7:30 to wait our turn to go through the Welland Canal.  Dave went to the phone booth where you need to call the canal masters to tell them that you're there.  They were very nice to talk with and thought we would be entering the canal by 1:30 at the latest.  From what we understood, that amount of wait is common, so we waited.  After a few hours, Dan decided to step off the boat.  As he was doing so, the phone in the booth started ringing.  Soooo, Dan decided to answer and low and behold it was for us!!!  (We'd still be sitting there if it weren't for Dan :)!!!  Turns out the Coast Guard was going to go through the canal and we could go through with them!  So we were off and in the canal 15 minutes later.  The canal consists of 8 locks.  The first 7 are approximately 1 mile apart, with locks 4, 5, and 6 flight locks (literally one lock opens to another ... incredible engineering!).  So, we began our journey at 10:30 (but actually it began at 7:30 when we first started waiting)  and ended at an impressive 4:30 p.m. (I wonder if that's a record?)  At the end of the canal is Port Colborne, Ontario, and that is our home for the night.  Until tomorrow . . . with pictures :)

    

Monday, July 2 & Tuesday, July 3

Monday was a day to regroup.  We cleaned the boat inside and out to make it shiny for our next crew, Dan and Sally!  Krystina even helped put on new fender covers :)

Look closely; who's REALLY wearing the new fender cover? :)

After our cleaning was done, we took a dinghy ride.  Ended up getting pulled over because we didn't have our registration numbers displayed (hard to do, when we JUST received them in the mail before coming on this trip).  Turns out in New York, you need a fire extingisher, anchor, whistle, AND flare kit in even a dinghy!!!  We told the sheriff we were from Wisconsin, and weren't used to such rules:)  He was a great guy, and let us go if we promised to go back and get our fire extingisher!   

After a relaxing cruise, we headed back to the boat.  Turns out Dan and Sally were in town and on their way to visit us!  We were so happy to see our new guests :)

We found out that Dan was VERY interested in continuing our journey by taking the Erie Canal westbound through the whole state of New York.  However, in order to do this, we needed to make sure we could clear all of the bridges.  That required team Dave and Dan to create a way to make sure the biminy, and radar arch could successfully be lowered.  Through MANY mosquitos, and another hour of work on Tuesday morning, they had accomplished their task!

So after a tough "good-bye" to the girls :( Krystina and Jacqui were off to the airport and we were underway to go WEST on the Erie Canal!

According to the sign, we needed to travel 192 miles, or a little over 3 days, to make it to Lake Erie.  Some sights we saw were:

Beer gardens!

EVEN, private planes!  {Thinking of you, Andrew :)}

Beautiful homes with waterfalls :)  AND boats!


As we enjoyed this beautiful ride on the Erie Canal, we came to our first bridge.  Dave and Dan wanted to make sure all of their time-consuming measurements were accurate (or at least within an inch like they thought).  HOWEVER, to all of our disappointment, someone was off a whole FOOT . . . and we're pretty sure it wasn't Dave and Dan :)  We thought maybe the pool was high, but when we talked with the first lockmaster, he said the pool was actually down 3/10ths of an inch!  So, there were inconsistencies in what our books were telling us vs. what we were actually measuring.  What to do?  The bridge we were most worried about was another day away.  What if we didn't fit under it . . . then we'd be a total of 4 days behind.  Soooo, after much discussion, we decided to play it safe and turn around to take the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. 

Sorry Dan, northbound to the Oswego Canal (notice the brown sign in the background once again?)

Lock 1 of seven on the Oswego Canal . . . down we go!

Wow, quite the interesting exit from Lock 1!  We even get a car bridge lift :)

Cool falls as we lock through #2!

We end the day in rain, but we are successful in pulling into Oswego, New York, at 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 1

Dave and I enjoyed a nice long walk in the pretty town of Sylvan Beach this morning.  When we got back, Krystina and I did INSANITY ab work out . . . whew, was I tired!

We then decided to do a little backhome boating, by anchoring out in front of Sylvan Beach and jumping off the boat!!!

We enjoyed a brunch of pancakes and fresh blueberries, and then hit the "high seas" of Lake Oneida.  It was a very windy day, so it was like crossing Lake Pepin in great winds . . .VERY FUN!!!  It turns out the lake was actually only 20 miles long, so it only took us about an hour and a half to cross. 

We ended up pulling into Ess Kay Yards in Brewerton, New York, for the night.  This was the night for refueling and a pumpout, but to our discovery, the pumpout on our end wasn't working :(  Ethan, one of the boatyard owners, and Dave, put their great minds together, and after two hours, everything was in ship-shape :)  Just a note, Ethan fit into spaces on this boat that Krystina couldn't even get into!  He actually crawled into the side wall of our boat . . . you'll have to ask Dave to tell you about this story!!!

This is the town where we are planning on doing our crew change.  Krystina and Jacqui will fly home Tuesday and then our good friends Dan (best man in our wedding and Dave's childhood friend) and his wife, Sally, will be joining us with the next leg of our adventure to Detroit.

Since we're one day ahead of schedule, we'll be able to leisurely take our time getting the boat cleaned and restocked.  We're also thinking of taking the dinghy out to Lake Oneida to find a beach to do some R & R :) 

Saturday, June 30

Most of today we were on just the canal; no river.  So for most of the trip, this is what we saw: 

Looks like the backwaters of the Mississippi!

A few guard gates and bridges.

As well as a couple of spillways here and there.

At lock 20 we were RAISED for the last time.  Check out the clearance under that bridge . . . definitely a tight squeeze!

Since that first lock in Troy, we've been raised a total of 420 feet!

 

Rome, New York, is where the first shovel was put in in July 4, 1817 to begin digging the Erie Canal.  The Mohawk River comes in at this town to feed the Erie Canal.

Here at lock 21 we are lowered for the first time.  

We go through lock 22 which brings us to Oneida Lake; a 32 mile long lake between the eastern part of the Erie Canal and the west.  The crew is happy to take a rest from all of the locks!  We stay at Sylvan Beach which is a resort town.  Looking at the beach, it reminds us of Ft. Meyer's with all of the boats anchored at the beach! 

 There is also an amusement park on the waterfront.  We found the arcade to be the most fun!

Friday, June 29

Another beautiful day for a morning walk.  Crossing the bridge over the canal, we see our boat :)

An 1892 schoolhouse converted into a beautiful home on the canal.

After running some errands to the local grocery store, ACE hardware :), and even a McDonald's for breakfast! . . .  we twisted up the engines and were on our way; westbound on the Erie Canal.

Went through 5 locks today, including the lock with the highest lift of 40.5 feet!

Lock 17 is one of the highest lifts in the WORLD!  It's so high, that there's a guard door, instead of gates to open to the lower pool.

Heading in!

Guard gate is closing!

Captain Dave takes a break after that!

While Skipper Krystina, drives {picture is actually from the Hudson River, but she did drive today:)}

We stop for an ice cream break and a little shopping (the girls) in Little Falls, which is right after Lock 17.

The girls' treasures!

We ended our day at a quaint little marina in Ilion.  Tomorrow, Onieda Lake!