Lyons, and Fairport

And it really was a "Main Street" town if we ever saw one! This was the sign that greeted us as we pulled into Lyons dock which was followed by Jack, a local caring townee, who gave us the scoop on the restaurants, movies and highlights.  During the early canal days, Lyons was a major exporter of peppermint; hence, this   town boasts Peppermint Days and Peppermint Winter Wonderland as major Lyons events.  This was a very welcoming town, bending over backwards to make our stay enjoyable.  The firemen even invited us to use the firehouse for showers.

The H.G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil importer of peppermint oil

Lyons National Bank great architecture

Main Street in Lyons

County  Courthouse in Lyons

Enjoying some local beer samplers in Growlers

 Lyons is part of the Mural Mania that we see all over the Erie Canal.  They have some great ones!Check out their website if you want to see some Erie Canal history.  www.muralmania.org

We enjoyed our stay in Lyons and were equally  happy with our stay in Fairport.  While not as homey as Lyons, it is more upscale with lots of shops, restaurants and active businesses. There were many families riding bikes along the Erie Canal Trail and then eating ice cream by the gallons in the local ice cream shop by the canal.

Fairport, NY

Fairport, NY

The liftbridge at Fairport  is in the Guinness Book of Records for several reasons.  One end is higher than the other, it is built on a slant and no two angles on the entire bridge are the same.  The sixteen liftbridges begin in Fairport and end in Lockport.  The bridge operators are polite and lift the bridge whenever we asked them.  There are no locks in this part of the Erie Canal, only liftbridges.

Fairport Liftbridge

Onward to Brockport....

Seneca Lake - the largest of the Finger Lakes

Cayuga Seneca Canal

Cattle along the Canal

After leaving Seneca Falls, one of our favorite towns, we continued eight miles and one more lock to the end of the Cayuga Seneca Canal, arriving at the 38 mile long Lake Seneca. This lake is deep, 605 feet at its deepest part which is so extremely different from our travels through shallow Florida and the ICW.  The water is crystal clear,  twenty feet looks like three feet. Over forty wineries line the shores and make for a very picturesque journey.

We decided to go to Geneva on the northwestern shore of Seneca Lake as they offered a free dock with power and you know we like free.  We were the only ones there for the night and enjoyed the walking trails along the lake.  The city of 13,000 has interesting architecture, colleges, shops and good restaurants.  We were glad we stopped there.

Geneva business district

Geneva architecture

more Geneva architecture

Love those murals!

Tony M in Geneva-just us and a fisherman

Modest Lake Seneca homes

Wineries line the shores

Waterfalls along the lake

Long walk back up those stairs when you forget the ketchup!

Car murals are ALL over Watkins Glen

There are no towns to tie up in and anchoring in 605 feet of water is impossible so our destination in Lake Seneca was Watkins Glen which lies at the southern point of Lake Seneca.  This was the first marina we had to pay for since we left CT and were very critical of it - we are getting spoiled by better town facilities that don't charge- but they were the only game in town so we bit the bullet and paid our cash $40.  We walked around on some of the same streets that the original Watkins Glen Grand Prix took place on. It began in 1948 on a 6.6 mile track over local public roads. For the first few years, the races passed through the heart of the town with spectators lining the sidewalks, but after a car left the road in the 1952 race, killing one spectator and injuring several others, the race was moved to a new location on a wooded hilltop southwest of town. The sidewalks have plaques of all the winners embedded in them.  Kind of cool recognizing some of the winners we've heard of over the years (including Paul Newman!)

More murals

And more murals

I've heard of this guy!

An Indian presencehere

We walked to Watkins Falls in hopes of spending an enjoyable morning exploring the Falls.  We did not expect the "No Pets" policy.  A worker who was leaving felt sorry for us and drove all three of us up the back way where dogs are allowed.  We thanked her up and down and began the trek down to the falls.   The walkways and bridges were built in the 30's as part of a public works project. We observed the combination of natural beauty and man made stone work, resulting in an amazing fantasyland setting.  It was worth the walk -everyone should visit this beauty.

 Watkins Falls

 

Watkins Falls

Watkins Falls

 Back up the Lake to the Cayuga Seneca Canal and back to the Erie Canal!  See ya!

Herkimer to Seneca Falls

Lock 17

All through the Erie Canal the locks operated the same by swinging open the doors to let boaters in - Except for Lock 17.  This special lock is not only the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal (40'), it is one of only two locks in North America where the entrance gate is lifted above the boater.  We watched the gate as it pulled up over the canal and then we motored under it, water dripping on us from the gate.

Canal warehouse for navigational aids- Herkimer, NY

 After the comfortable dock at Canajoharie, Herkimer was a bit of a disappointment.  The New York Thruway was about 100 feet away with all of its rumbling trucks and speeding cars.  The canal warehouse divided the highway from us. Next to the warehouse was a restaurant and souvenir shop, Gems Along the Mohawk,that  boasts they house 50 vendors from the area. They did have lots of "stuff" and oddly enough, the world's largest tea pot. 
It was 136 years old, 57 inches tall, 58 1/2 inches wide, 492 pounds filled (who could lift it?) and could hold 58 gallons or 972 cups of tea

World's Largest Tea Pot

Lots of flotsam in the river

Baldwinsville Lock 24

Could this be an ad for next year's Super Bowl?

From Herkimer we stayed in Sylvan Beach, crossed Oneida Lake and then stayed in Brewerton.  These are all great stops, aging but interesting.  We locked through Lock 23 and 24 and held our breath as we went under a 15 1/2 foot bridge-we clear 14 1/2 feet but we weren't sure about the measurement because of the heavy spring rains.  My job was to stand on the propane box on the bridge, peer over the canvas top and then guestimate if we were going to  make it.  Fortunately, my guess was right on and we had inches to spare- whew!
Lock 24 brought us to Baldwinsville where we enjoyed their wall with power, the absence of the trains and a welcoming town.  Too bad it wasn't Thursday night or we could have enjoyed the concert from the Budweiser Amphitheater across the canal..maybe on the way back!

Just so you don't miss the turn!!

Baby bald eagles

The Cayuga-Seneca Canal

We wanted to explore the Finger Lakes and that's possible by taking a left turn off the Erie Canal and using the Cayuga-Seneca Canal (C/S Canal)  to get to either Cayuga Lake or Seneca Lake.  The other Finger Lakes are all stand alones. We locked through the first three locks on this C/S Canal  on our way to Seneca lake and arrived at Seneca Falls, a delightful, very attractive,  town.  While once a prosperous mill town,  it is now suffering from the manufacturing withdrawal.  Most storefronts are filled and tourists can be seen walking around town.  The village boasts a Museum Trail consisting of five museums.  We visited two and were pleasantly surprised at their quality.  The Women's Rights National Historical Park preserves the importance of the 1848 First Women's Rights Convention where the reformerss wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, outlining their desire to vote, speak in public, hold office, attend college, own property and the list goes on.  The other museum was the Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry, explaining the history and rise and fall of Seneca Fall.  Besides dockage, the village provides boaters with electricity and water, immaculate restrooms and showers and laundry facilities- I think I may move in here!  We could have also used the Community Center if we were so inclined to have a workout--we skipped that workout since walking Buddy is our daily workout!
Overall, Seneca Falls is a very attractive place to live.  The homes are well kept, the town offices are interesting, the library was helpful to us and the numerous parks were great places to walk in.  Too bad it's so cold here in the winter.

Beautiful Trinity Church from the water welcomes us to Seneca Falls

Amelia Bloomers invented more comfortable clothes for women.

All contributors to the first Women's Rights Convention

Train station turned into town offices

Seneca Falls with wall on right for boaters to tie up to

Interesting sculptures in one of its many parks

Seneca Falls Main Street

Seneca Falls Community Center

On to Seneca Lake!

Waterford to Canajoharie

After going through the first seven locks on the Erie Canal, we decided to call it a day so we eased over to the wall at Lock 8.  Many of the locks have free walls to tie up to, some with power, some with just beautiful scenery.  Lock 8 was scenic but the noise from the 100+ freight cars does NOT add to the tranquility of the area. We chatted with the lockmaster who through our conversation we discovered that his daughter lives in Newtown---another small world meeting!  We took this photo of him with the rainbow in the background...had to be all of our lucky day!

Dave Eipert

This beginning part of the Erie Canal is made up of the Mohawk River which is relatively narrow with plenty of trees lining its bank.  Surprisingly, there are few houses on the river as many do not use this for vacation homes.

Floating down the Mohawk River- notice the gold Looper Flag!

Canajoharie is famous for Beechnut

Canajoharie, the home of Beechnut (as in baby food and gum), was our next stop for the night.  The town supplied us with a new dock with power and water just because they like us-how nice is that!  Beechnut has recently moved out to a new facility in another part of the county so no one has lost their jobs.  They left behind the aging town that is trying to reinvent itself. They are working hard to modernize it.  It offers a wonderful library with an interesting art museum, housing Winslow Homer oils and watercolors and other artists from this region.

Canajoharie getting a well deserved face lift