Lock Blasting

I have spent the last few months spending more time thinking about Lock 19 on the Erie Canal than I could have ever imagined. Lock 19 was the culprit that kept us from moving forward on the canal and the reason for our dawdling pace. Every day we checked for emailed updates from the Erie Canal gods, scoured the internet for canal news, and waited with baited breath for the construction on Lock 19 to finish. 

We managed to tear ourselves away from staring at our email in order to got back to the boat Sunday night in Ithaca. Since Lock 19 was still closed, we decided we might as well take one more day to enjoy the gorgeous gorges in Ithaca and take advantage of Justin's car to check out Treman State Park.  

Once again, we were treated to beautiful waterfalls and picturesque flagstone paths. 

On hiking days, we wear pink. 

Sputnik and Apollo would have loved hiding in here. 

I didn't see any bridge trolls here. 

It was a hot, sunny day, perfect for dipping our toes in the water and playing with the tiny fish swirling around the river. 

I named all of the fish pictured Shianne Jr. 

Believe it or not, nobody dropped their tablet in the water...yet...

The hike we chose down the gorge ended at a swimming hole beneath a waterfall. The water was freezing, but Shianne and Makenna were thrilled to splash around. 

No, we didn't take Dumbledore over that waterfall. 

After a little while, I was shivering and ready to move on, but the rest of the crew was content swimming for the rest of eternity. I knew the younger crew members would not be interested in a two-mile hike back to the car when they could be swimming, especially when the entire hike was uphill to the top of the gorge. (The whining alone would be enough to destroy anything in its path.) So I decided to take the hike alone and drive back to the swimming hole and pick everyone up.   

This was the beginning of the uphill hike. By the end I was way too sweaty for a selfie.

The next day it was finally time to leave Ithaca. The little marina had been a great home to Dumbledore; it was safe, quiet, picturesque, and there were even recycling bins to dump the many used cans of Coke Justin leaves anywhere he goes. 

The weather was beautiful again on our trip back up Cayuga Lake, and we were once again impressed by just how deep the lake was. 

4/13 is my birthday!!

I bet your homework spot isn't this picturesque.

We stopped at a beach about half-way up the lake and enjoyed the small patch of coastline that was seaweed free, then swam all the way back to the boat to jump off and play in the deeper water. 

Everyone at the beach was admiring Dumbledore, and rightly so.

At the northern edge of the Lake, we turned right and re-entered the Erie Canal, continuing our trek as far as the open locks would allow. 

Who decided to number locks? I think they should have names like people or boats or hurricanes.

Since we didn't have a car and our younger crew members wanted to maximize swim time, we decided our next stop would be Cross Lake. 

On the way, we had our first full rainy day. Once again, I was thrilled to be able to drive from inside, instead of standing bundled up in the cold on the sailboat. But those crew members who weren't responsible for driving got the chance to pursue other rainy day activities. We broke out the Knex and before long the stuffed animals were in for the rides of their lives at their very own amusement park. 

Luckily, the weather cleared up when we reached Cross Lake, and everyone had a blast swimming and relaxing.

Makenna performing a routine anchor check.... The anchor was indeed still there. 

That evening, since we were only a short 20 minute drive (by car, it was an eternity by boat) from their house, my parents and brother stopped by for a delicious dinner of crab legs and corn. 

Shianne is 2% of the way towards becoming and evil crab villain.

And then, it happened. 

Justin was casually checking his email when the message came through. Finally, the construction on Lock 19 ended and the entire Erie Canal was open to boaters! We didn't believe it at first. We kept expecting a second email to appear saying "Just kidding! The canal isn't actually open and you'll never get to the ocean. Mwuahahaha!" But that second email never came.

That meant it was time for us to move. 

As much as we enjoy the canal, our entire crew has traveled along it before. We're ready for something new, like the ocean and New England. Our younger crew members in particular are itching to see whales and dolphins. (Or maybe even a shark! From a distance, of course.) 

That night, instead of relaxing in Cross Lake, we decided to push on to Baldwinsville and Lock 24. I grew up in Baldwinsville, and I always like to visit my old childhood haunts, but this trip we didn't have the luxury of time. It was more important to keep moving towards places we had never seen before. 

I spent a lot of angsty teenage years here.

The next week, while certainly still fun, was focused on getting as far East as possible as fast as possible. Most of that travel time was limited by the working hours of the locks. Lock 24 was one of the few that stayed open late, and when we arrived in the car Sunday night, we were there just in time to lock through. 

Just about every lock after this opened at 7:00 and closed at 5:00. These were not our ideal travel hours, but we made it work. (I consider any day on the boat where you have to wake up before 9:00 a travesty.) Justin and I would roll out of bed and lock through each morning, doing our best not to use the bow thrusters and wake Shianne up. (Don't try waking up a sleeping preteen. It's more dangerous than poking a hibernating bear.)

We made our way across Oneida Lake, and this time were treated to pristine and calm waters, unlike our first crossing. At the far end of the lake was the small town of Sylvan Beach, where we could swim in the endlessly shallow water and eat dinner at the local family restaurant, Eddie's. 

Shianne's face just does that sometimes. 

My parents were excited to meet us again, and my mom regaled us with tales of her childhood at Sylvan beach and meals at Eddie's Restaurant. 

Mom probably didn't have to wear a mask to get into the restaurant when she was little though. 

The next day we finally reached Lock 19. As we scooted through, we were not surprised to find construction vehicles surrounding the lock, many of them frozen in mid-motion. 

Not the prettiest lock, but definitely a beautiful sight for us.

We had a couple of things picked out to see along the canal, but our biggest priority was speed. We stopped in Little Falls because it was the farthest we could conveniently go before being stopped by a lock. 

The Erie Canal we've been traveling on is technically not the same one originally built a hundred years ago. The canal has since been re-built to accommodate large, modern power boats like ours. But the town of Little Falls kept a small part of the original canal for people to walk through and explore. 

It would be difficult to take a boat through here now.

The modern Lock in Little Falls was an unusual one. Incredibly tall, the lock had a door that lifted vertically like a garage instead of horizontal doors that opened like a gate.

We were right above the number 7

 Shianne, Makenna and I got off the boat to check out the lock up close and watch Dumbledore pass by from above. 

Next to Lock 17 in Little Falls we discovered an island covered in rough rocks, perfect for climbing. We didn't have the cool climbing equipment some other visitors did, but we managed to have plenty of fun clambering through tight crevices and looking out over the surrounding scenery. 

Now how to get down?

Shianne and I went up climbing first, just as the sun was setting. But then our exploring went a little too long and it got darker a lot faster than I expected. I had purposely left my phone at the boat, assuming there would be too many opportunities to drop it off a cliff, so I couldn't use it as a flashlight. I thought the way back down would be easy to find, but everything looked different from the top. Before long, we couldn't even see the path along the ridge and I had no hope of finding the way back down on our own. After stumbling around in the dark for a few more minutes, I decided we would either have to sleep out on these rocks and wait for the sun to come up or get some help. Instead, we shouted for Justin to rescue us. 

He begrudgingly came up with his own flashlight and led us to safety, then we waited until it was bright and sunny the next day before attempting to climb again. 

I had to fold myself in half in order to fit through here. 

Rock climbing is much easier when you can see where the rocks end. 

On our way to Little Falls, we passed the town of Herkimer. We had planned on visiting the Herkimer Diamond Mines, but because we were doing everything we could to push through locks quickly, we were not able to stop the boat in the town itself. Instead, we decided to bike back from Little Falls to Herkimer, but that idea was thwarted by a flat bicycle tire. Instead, we managed to find the only taxi still running during the pandemic who agreed to take us to Herkimer and back. 

There might not be real diamonds at the Herkimer Diamond Mine, but we had a lot of fun finding sparkly pieces of quartz and stone to take back to the boat. We paid our admission, were each given a hammer, and were wailing on rocks for a few hours before we realized we had just paid to do an afternoon of hard manual labor.

It only took twelve years for Shianne to discover how a hammer works. 

Makenna may or may not be planning to use her hammer for nefarious purposes.

Justin found the real treasure: a place to sit. 

Everyone collected their sparkly gems and made our way back to the boat. The next couple of days were not terribly exciting; Justin and I drove while Shianne and Makenna did their homework, played board games, and practiced their instruments. 

Justin was getting his butt kicked. 

The entire canal was her audience. The fish particularly appreciated it. 

We don't need a horn on our boat.

We raced through the canal as fast as we could, pushing our engine past its normal maximum of 7 knots all the way to 7.2 knots. We were hoping to get to the last set of locks on the canal, known as a "flight" before the canal closed at 5:00. These locks are very close together and it takes about an hour to go through all of them and reach Waterford, marking the end of the Erie Canal. We hoped we were going to make it through Thursday night, but unfortunately we didn't reach the first lock of the flight until 5:45. Instead of pushing on that evening, we had a peaceful dinner and took a walk as the sun set. 

Oh, dam!

Gratuitous sunset photo. Feel free to steal this and make it your background.

As we were relaxing on the boat that evening, Justin got another email. Apparently, one of the guard gates in the flight was broken, and they would be closing the flight for construction starting at 9:00 the next morning. That meant one of two things: either they would let us lock through to Waterford before the construction started or they wouldn't, and our carefully managed schedule would need some considerable re-calibration.

Justin and I woke up obnoxiously early the next morning, and right at 7:00 we radioed the lock operator, desperately hoping to be let through. 

A groggy voice answered the radio. "Yeah, sure, we'll lock you through in a minute." That possibly hungover voice was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard. True to its word, the unseen lock operator opened the lock doors, and we were on our way. 

Please keep your tray in the upright position for the duration of the flight.

I ran around the boat like a crazy person, trying to get everything we needed for the weekend together and helping Justin drive through the locks. 

I will not miss lock line slime. Gross. 

While I was running around downstairs, our younger crew members were able to sleep in a little bit. But when they did get up, they were able to help us get through the last few locks. 

The best boat captains where nightgowns. 

And finally, we made it. The very last lock in the canal. 

There should have been fireworks and t-shirt cannons. 

We pulled up to the dock, jumped in the car my parents had left for us, and made our way back to Buffalo. That weekend, we found out that there was more construction needed than we thought, and the locks in the Mohawk Valley closed completely. Had that sleepy lock operator at the beginning of the flight not let us through, we would have been stuck for a weeks. And so, dear lock operator dude, I dedicate this post to you.

tl:dr: We left Ithaca and made it through the Erie Canal to Waterford.