Sat Aug 21-Thurs Aug 26: Stuck In Schenectady

In which life starts to resemble a movie - and not in a good way ...

We sort of hoped (this is back when we had hope) that the locks would open Aug 21, but with Hurricane Henri on its way, and flooding rain expected, the canal authority sent out a notification that all locks would remain closed until further notice.  Awesome ...

Being skeptical, we rode our bikes from Scotia about 3 miles up to (mythical) Lock 8,  to see for ourselves.  It was an impressive sight. The dams in this part of the canal have movable top sections and on this dam they had been removed and water was pouring out right next to the lock.  This lock will not be functional anytime soon.  Again - awesome...

The old lock controls - still in use. Wish they could be used for us.  TODAY.

With resignation we moved the boat across the river to the Mohawk River Harbor marina.  It is a small basin off the main river and out of the current/debris flow.  We liked the idea of being in a safer, more sturdy marina in case Henri came in as a strong storm.  It's a good thing we weren't still in Long Island Sound, where they were preparing for a direct strike.

Mohawk Marina is part of a big complex of buildings, next to a Casino.  They are charging us a LOT, given that there is no shower or laundry.  There is, however, a small outdoor amphitheater and as we pulled in a band was warming up for the Saturday night concert with a rock and roll cover band!  The boat was directly behind the stage and, while we couldn’t actually see the performance, we could hear it loud and clear. Normally the idea of being held captive to loud music and a crowd would make my blood run cold. But it turned out to be nice to see/hear normal summer life going on, and to have a front row seat without having to be in the crowd. Sadly the cover band's interpretation of Eric Clapton seemed to rely heavily on long screechy guitar riffs.

If you look to the very back left you will see Blue Horizon 

Sunday morning we rode over to the Schenectady farmer’s market.  It was a nice summer market with great produce - fresh corn and tomatoes, and wonderful baked goods that we couldn’t resist. There seemed to be little we could resist, actually - and I like to think we helped the local economy.  Which could really use it.  It probably counts on the 4 colleges in the area, none of which have been open for the last 1 1/2 years.

For several days we remained upbeat - we can always find something to do, and Schenectady has some hidden (some VERY hidden) gems. The market was a great start.  Then there is Union College, founded in 1795, which has a pretty campus and the only 16-sided building in North America - the Nott Memorial Building.  It's like a building you would see in Florence, Italy.  

The Stockade Historical area cries out for a walking tour. There are some wonderful buildings, some as old as 1680.

 And if you are into trains, you would love this place:

Part way through the week we hunkered down for the storm/rain, but it never really opened up as Henri went a bit further east than originally projected. Most of the time it was bright, sunny and hot-which is just what you look for when trapped in a concrete basin.  Our plight did not move the canal authority and locks 8-15 remain closed until early sept…

We ate this artery-stopping French fry bacon poutine, thinking we might die and end it all… 

160+ hours later we have given up on life, much less on keeping track of what we are 'doing' and writing about it in the blog.  No point in all you (4) readers dying of bordeom too.   Basically every day has started to seem like a new, and terrible, movie adaptation:

We started out in a cute rom com travel adventure, where we were exploring a new city and trying new things - like Two for the Road. Then we added the disturbing Groundhog Day element of waking up every day in the same unchanging place. Soon there was a dash of Hamlet where we overthought our life choices and the meaning of life. Occasionally we would try to amuse ourselves by bursting into song over everyday things, like in Enchanted.  About the time I became convinced that all life in the planet had been wiped out by a meteor, Rick decided we were in The Dome-unable to escape or communicate outside of our fishbowl. Today we have arrived at the understanding  that we are in one of the awful Saw movies, and will have to chew our arms off in order to escape.

160 hours +  This is what we feel like drinking…