Mon Oct 4: Onondaga Lake to Winter Harbor Marina Brewerton NY

In which all good things much come to a decommission ...

Well, this is it.  We headed off to our final destination: Winter Harbor.  The day dawned grey and rainy but we were like two horses headed back to the barn - there was no stopping us.  We had one more lock, E-23, and about 2.5 hours to cruise.  We let loose the lines, backed out of our slip and headed up the lake and back to the Erie Canal. 

 

My helpful window washer. The weather was actually a bit unpredictable, which gave me a chance to use my Word Of The Day - farrago....a confusing mixture!

The ride was uneventful and we took the time to revisit some of the fun we’ve had since May!  It seems both so long ago, and just yesterday, that we started back on the Chesapeake Bay.  And, even though we were there for it, it is hard to believe that we have been up the coast of New Jersey, past the Statue of Liberty, out the Long Island Sound, up to Lake Champlain and on the Erie Canal.  So many wonderful experiences and people.  I will say that, in our experience, the people of New York have been so nice.  Other than one or two bad experience with jerks (one in Kent Island, Maryland and one brief encounter in Ithaca) we have had wonderful interactions with people.  So many people walk by the boat and say “are you really from Florida”?   One tends to take for granted the traveling we have done, and it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but so many people are surprised that we are from Florida as they try to imagine what it must have been like to get all the way up here. We are lucky, we are blessed - and we are grateful.

Once at the marina we started to get organized for “decommissioning”, i.e., moving all our stuff off the boat!  We got the car and began packing clothes, tools, food, puzzles (we must have about 16 of them) and all sorts of other detritus that we’ve accumulated over the months on the boat.  We started making trips to ferry items to the car and by about 6 pm had about 75% of everything packed neatly into the back of our trusty Honda minivan.  

 

I would not want to be in charge of this Tetris puzzle...  Trying to figure out what boat goes where, based on size, when they come in and when they are going out next spring.  Yikes!

Inside the giant storage facility.

You can see the gaping maw of the warehouse in the distance - boats EVERYWHERE.

Our friends' RV - holding the place for their boat.  It's a big bus, but the boats make it look tiny.

Blue Horizon - waiting for her turn.

One more final dinner on the boat and to bed, exhausted from work, and emotions, as we come to the bittersweet end our the 2021 cruising season. 

From here we will stop being canawlers (people who work on the canal) and become peepers (people who travel to see fall color).  We are going to do some hiking in the Adirondacks, tour Great Camp Sagamore, go through Lake Placid to the Morgan Horse Farm in VT (I was obsessed with it as a girl), ride the gondola up  Killington Mt, collect some sand in Portsmouth NH, tour Salem MA, visit Woods Hole (important to my family), and get to Raleigh NC by Oct 21st in order to see Claire (who is visiting her company HQ). I know we will feel the tug of Blue Horizon - but we will be happy to be home for a bit as well.

Thanks for coming along with us on the adventure.  We will shortly follow up with one final post - the ever-popular Boating Season by the Numbers.

XO

Co-Captains M & R

Final picture of 2021.

Exactly...

Sun Oct 3: Bonus Day in Onondaga

 In which we learn more about Salt and Salt production than might be strictly necessary ...

It was a rainy day and most of the morning we stayed on the boat to wait out the stormy weather.  It is always fun to be on the boat in the rain.  The pitter-patter of rain on the roof is nice to listen to and since it is raining one feels entitled to read and drink a second cup of coffee.  However, today we ventured out to get that second cup:

In the afternoon we went to the Salt Museum that is just a short walk from the marina.  This whole Syracuse area was a major center for salt production, due to the underground brine deposits.  The Native Americans were aware of the brine wells and called it “devil water”.  In the late 1700’s European’s were exploring the area and the local natives showed them the brine wells.  Skip forward to about the 1820’s and settlers began the salt industry by boiling brine to make salt.  

The small salt museum is housed in an old “Block House” , which is a big building filled with a long oven for boiling salt water in large copper kettles to make salt.  According to exhibits in the museum, Salt was made for many years using the “active heat” method - boiling water; first wood from local trees and then once the railroad came to town, with coal.   As wood got scarce and coal got expensive the salt production moved to a “passive heat” model using solar heat to slowly evaporate water and leave salt (the most common method used to day to make table salt).  It was a nice display and once again we learned about something important to the early years of the US and something that previously we knew nothing about.  Of course, this ties right into the Erie and Oswego canals because, guess how they shipped all the salt?  On the canals of course!   Another interesting fact is that during the civil war the salt production was so important that the whole area was controlled by the US Army - one important advantage the North had over the South was salt production.  Salt production continued until the 1940’s when cheaper salt from other parts of the country put the last salt producers out of business.

 

 (As an aside - when we were cruising through salt water, every day the sides of the boat would be covered in dried salt.  Rick thought he might be able to scrape it off and market Rickies Icky Salt...  What do you think?!)

Rain continued for most of the day and we went back to the boat for a great dinner and another episode of Ted Lasso!   

Sat Oct 2: B’ville to Onondaga Lake Park Marina

In which we make our last exploration stop ….

Our children gave us this handy calendar, so we know what day it is.  Why outhouses?  *shrugs* Possibly something to do with the size of the boat ‘head’??  It’s now October so we have a new picture to view and ponder. 

As you faithful readers know, we are winding down - but are making one last stop at Lake Onondaga, because someone told us it was a sweet little marina. Compared to Lakes Cayuga or Seneca, Lake Onondaga is an itty bitty thing - only about 4 miles long.  It was just a short trip from B’ville so we left about noon after a leisurely morning and arrived at the charming Lake Onondaga Park Marina at about 1:30.  

Thus far all of our learning has been based on the white male colonial perspective, and it was time for  a change.  Fortunately, near the marina we found a wonderful source - The Great Law of Peace Center.

This area was once home to a thriving Native American population made up of the “5 nations”:  the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Cayuga peoples. These tribes formed the the Iroquois (the name the French gave them) or Haudenosaunee Confederation.  They lived in the area peacefully together, starting in the 1400’s.  We are continually amazed by this culture - it is the oldest representative democracy on earth.  The colonists had no frame of reference to create a democracy, having never seen one, so Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay proposing a structure for the future American government based on how the Iroquois lived. The United States even borrowed the Bald Eagle and bundled arrows (take a look at the seal of the USA below) symbols from these Native Americans. Also, as mentioned in an earlier post on the Women’s Rights movement, the matriarchal Iroquois society provided an example of a culture based on equality.   It is hard to truly understand how important these Native American peoples were to us as a young nation and then to learn about how badly we treated them.  Once again, during our travels we have had the privilege to really learn about history where (and how) it happened.  

     

Saturday afternoon was just delightful with a light breeze and temperatures in the low 70’s.   We took a long walk on the walking trail that rings the lake.

Early color

I really need to know what populations are reading this warning sign at the very top and the very bottom... ???

The big park beside the water is starting to set up its drive through Christmas display.  Guess we are going to miss that.  It's fun that it will be seen from boats as well as cars.

 

These last days on the boat we are focused on 'drawing down' our food, and organizing things into what will stay on the boat, and what will go into the car.

And that's the Current Situation (sorry - it's hard to read).

Fri Oct 1: B'ville

 In which we answer the question no one asked ...

So little to report from B’ville that we are going to tell you the names of the 11 Finger Lakes, since so many of you (zero) asked:

Otisco 

Skaneateles

Owasco

Cayuga

Seneca

Keuka 

Canandaigua 

Honeoye 

Canadice

Hemlock

Conesus 

Our destination tomorrow, Onondaga Lake, is sometimes called the 12th finger lake. And Oneida Lake is sometimes called the ‘thumb’.

And, unless you want to hear the details of washing our underwear, that’s it for today!

Thurs Sept 30: Ithaca to Baldwinsville

In which it is the beginning of the end ...

 As we leave Ithaca, Cousin Lynn waves us off from a dock on the east shore, and captures us heading back north - toward the end of our trip.

 

The lake was calm and cloudy, this time around - with the occasional rain shower.  The days a chilly now, and we are finally wearing long pants and jackets.  (hoorya!). After traveling back up the length of Cayuga (Cooga, the locals inexplicably say) Lake we had intended to spend the night tied up at the CS-1 lock, but we arrived at the lock early in the day so we decided to push on to our old friend, Baldwinsville.  

There still isn't much tree color - but we try to appreciate what there is.  Mostly it's just a long boring day. 

We tied up on the free wall just before 5 pm, making this one of our longest cruising days ever.  We will stay here tomorrow to do laundry and get started on preparing the boat for winter storage.  Now that we are almost done, it turns out we are ready to be done!

In order to stretch our legs we got off the boat and walked over to the post office to mail some postcards, and then stopped by Olive's Eatery to pick up dinner.

Olive's is adorable - and fully ready for Halloween!

We watched an episode of Ted Lazzo (we are in love with this show!) and watched a dramatic cloud display on nature's TV. Especially well thought out was the way the single ray of sun illuminated the white church spire.

 

Sat Sept 25 - Wed Sept 29: An Ithaca Adventure

In which we squeeze all the juice out of Ithaca ...

Our first priority in Ithaca was to visit their famous Famer's Mkt - and we were not disappointed!  The market has a permanent covered pavilion and features more than 100 stalls - fruits, vegetables, prepared foods (we had wonderful breakfast burritos), wines and apple ciders, meats and many other food items. This is the first mkt I have been to where there is an 'origin' rule - only items from 30 miles or closer are allowed.  I love that!

Ithaca’s Farmers Market

Farmers Market Pavilion

Who knew there were so many types of garlic?

Melanie’s Cousin Lynn Leopold

On Saturday afternoon Cousin Lynn took us on a tour.  We had only a vague notion of this area, and we certainly had no idea how beautiful it is.  This area and the Finger Lakes  where formed by repeated glaciation cycles of the past 100,000 plus years.  The last glaciers melted away about 10,000 years ago and as they retreated they left large long valleys that filled with melt water creating these beautiful, deep, long lakes.  Subsequently erosion created numerous gorges riddled with waterfalls all through Ithaca and the surrounding area.  The underlying shale erodes in a very unique pattern creating deep, narrow valleys - the many hiking trails allow an up-close appreciation.

                    We had seen this sign all around town.  Now we understand!

 

 

The CCC build many bridges and trails in the 1930’s and 40’s

Swimming Area with a waterfall! What fun on a hot summer day.

Look close and you can see the back side of water

On Sunday we rode our bikes to the center of town and Ithaca Commons, which is an outdoor shopping and entertainment area.   We did some exploring, and our part to support the local economy.

On the commons - a local with his not-very-talkative girlfriend.

For lunch we had a reservation at Moosewood. I grew up with the Moosewood Cookbook and was really excited to found out it originated in Ithaca.  In 1974 the Moosewood Collective was a small group who opened a vegetarian restaurant and published the now famous cookbook. It was really the first vegetarian cookbook to be popular - in fact the James Beard Foundation has listed it as one of the ten best selling cookbooks of all time!  They have published many wonderful vegetarian since then, and the restaurant is thriving.  We had a wonderful lunch of spicy Asian noodles and squash carbonara pasta.   Very enjoyable and when we got the check we were surprised at how inexpensive it was.  I guess that with no meat the dishes are cheaper to produce! What a treat. 

Of course lunch needed to be followed up with something sweet so we headed to the local ice cream shop, Purity Ice Cream.  Lynn introduced us to Purity  and we were dazzled by the Chocolate Black Raspberry Truffle.  Rick, who, as a Rohrbach, has done his fair share of ice cream consumption, said “that is probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had”.  High praise indeed!

We were having such a nice time on our visit that we decided to stay for two more days.  The weather was perfect - cool and sunny during the day, with a blanket or two required at night.

 

On Sunday evening we went to Lynn’s house to cook dinner.  She gave us a tour of her 9 acres of heaven with a small home nestled on the hillside above the lake.  We had a lovely evening talking about the extended Bradley family, with Lynn and I looking over old pictures, and revisiting events and people from our shared history. 

The view from Cousin Lynn’s house!

One day we visited South Hill Elementary, where my mom did her student teaching in Ithaca after graduate school at Cornell from 1954-57 as a Ford Foundation Scholar. It was fun to see her old stomping grounds, but we did not anticipate what a HILL South Hill would be, and we almost had a heart attack trying to get up it with our bikes...

Stupid Hill - actually there were 3-4 streets of this nature.  Grump grump.

The next day we walked all around Cornell.  We had learned our lesson about hills, so we rode our bikes to the base of the Cornell hill and took a bus up to the university.  It's a lovely campus.

The famous clock tower. And the requisite ivy-covered walls.  It's a Ivy school, but also a ag-school - so they claim to have a different sort of vibe, since the grow the ivy!

It's almost literally an ivy-tower, as it sits up above the common folk.

Since I collect libraries, the first stop was the A.D. White library, also called the Harry Potter Library. I'm still heartbroken that the Peabody Library in Baltimore was closed, and I was so worried I wouldn't get to see this one - but we waltzed right in!

 

This was originally a personal library, and it feels that way - very cozy and intimate.  There are even a couple of arm chairs in front of the fireplace! Seats are by reservation only, and very few students can fit.

We have been on several college campuses during this boat sojourn, but there were never any students. Cornell was in full swing, with lots of activities and students, and it was strange, but heartening, to see. Our next stop was the I.M.Pei-designed Cornell Johnson museum as I was interested in a current exhibition - Women Making Their Mark.  Interesting as that was, the real treat was the 360 degree views of Ithaca from the 5th floor!

You can almost see our boat!

 

For our final stop we walked the top of the gorge on the north side of campus, and then hiked the south Cascadilla gorge back down to our bikes. All bridges now have metal mesh surrounding them in an effort to keep students from suicide.  That breaks your heart, doesn't it ...

It would be remiss not to mention the Cornell and Ithaca College rowing teams, who were on the river by us early every morning and late every night practicing.  They work so much hard on their boats then we do on ours...

A final visual treat from Ithaca!

Fri Sept 24: Seneca Falls to Ithaca Allan Treman State Pk Marina

In which we collect another Bradley cousin ...

Off to Cayuga Lake and Ithaca!!  We had a longish cruise to get from Seneca Falls to the Allan Truman State Park Marina in Ithaca - about 5 hours - so we decided to get an early start.  (Hooray...)  We cast off the dock at 8 am and headed to the stair step lock CS2 & 3 to be lowered down to the level of Cayuga Lake.   The lake is about 31 miles long and we cruised from top to bottom on a beautiful, sunny day.

 

Early morning farewell to Seneca Falls.

Here I'm trying to give you a better idea of what a double lock looks like. In this first pic we come out of Lock 3 directly into the full basin of Lock 2.  You can see from the waterfall how far we have come down, but you can see if continues to fall so we have to go down another 25 feet.

Looking back here, you can see the doors into 2, above them the doors into 3 and above that the doors out of 3.

The lake is a BIG expanse of sky and water - we are not used to that, having been hemmed in on canals for a long time now. We are also not used to being tossed about in rough water - fortunately the water calmed a bit after we reached the first bend in the lake.

You can see us, the tiny blue dot, on the longest of the finger lakes. Below is a picture of all 11. As the glaciers receded they left long thin gouges that look like claw marks. The Iroquois have a legend that the Finger Lakes were formed by the fingers of the Great Spirit as he drew them across the earth in the days of the creation.

 

 

This is the second deepest of the lakes - and the deepest water, 400'+, that we have seen!

Once tied up at the peaceful marina, Rick makes the terrible tactical error of feeding the birds.  This will lead to bird poop on the boat later on, and much swearing.

Our engine was barely cool when Cousin Lynn Bradley Leopold showed up to have dinner with us on the boat!  Lynn, at 80, is the oldest of my gazillion cousins - my brother is the youngest of the first cousins.  In fact, seeing Lynn inspired me to update the Bradley family tree - which will keep me entertained for many hours.

We had a LOT of catching up to do, since I last saw her when I was 8!  She was married to Carl Leopold, the son of famous ecologist/conservationist Aldo Leopold (author of A Sand County Almanac), so much of her life has involved ecology, sustainability, environmental efforts and birding!

The Great Spirit put on a nice show for us during dinner - a great welcome to Ithaca.