In order to give Ben’s mom and dad a small taste of the trip (since it isn’t going to be all symphonies and fireworks), we left the marina for a small trip up the canal, to go through two locks, have lunch, and return to the marina. It was a perfect day for a short loop, sunny and warm, with little or no wind.
We passed by a nice old, classic boat, rafted up with a newer one, just enjoying a nice day on the water.
Stepping back in time…
Photo from marinas.com
We went through Lock 8 and Lock 9 going up, and then turned around and went back through Lock 8, going down, before stopping for lunch.
We tied up along the upstream staging wall for Lock 8, and enjoyed a nice picnic on the sundeck before calling the lock master to arrange to enter the lock to head back to Mohawk Harbor. We had a great time sharing just a little taste of what it’s like living on the boat, going sedately through some beautiful waterways, and seeing the brute industrial nature of the locks that once passed significant commerce through the heartland of New York State.
June 7-8, 2019 – We had been planning, since before we began our Loop trip, to have Ben’s mom and dad come down to visit us along the Erie, since that would be the closest and most convenient part of the trip. Having been confronted with ‘no room at the inn’ when we got to Waterford, it was apparent that banking on another of the free municipal waterfronts as a link-up point might be an iffy proposition. Instead, we made arrangements at the Mohawk Harbor Marina, which is in the center of a new residential/entertainment/shopping district being built on the Schenectady waterfront.
On the way, we stopped at the Schenectady Yacht Club, for a pump-out. The gentleman at the dock pointed out a structure from the original Erie Canal, that was actually an aqueduct that ran over the Mohawk River, rather than being part of it as it is today.
Hearing about some history of the original Erie Canal
A bit further on, we pulled in to the marina, through a tiny channel flanked by a concrete wall and a steep bank of rip-rap stones, to a very nice modern facility where our friends on ‘Here’s to Us’ were also docked, along with a couple more high-end trawler yachts.
Some serious passage-making vessels fore and aft
It turned out that the Albany Symphony Orchestra was going to play a concert on Saturday night at the amphitheater right on the edge of the marina, so early the next day when the other boats cleared out, we moved our boat back closer to the stage that had been erected. We wouldn’t actually get to SEE the performers, but we would hear them just fine.
Our view from right behind the stage
When mom and dad arrived, we got them situated on the boat where they could relax, and we took their car to the store to re-provision. By the time we got back, the tiered grass areas of the amphitheater were starting to fill up, making a nice vibe as we fixed dinner.
Sitting on the sundeck, sipping wine, eating dinner, while listening to live classical music. (We actually found a picture that shows us from the crowd perspective: https://www.instagram.com/p/Byh3K4Vgzvi/ )
We all agreed, this does not suck.
But wait, there’s more…
Since a symphony concert by itself isn’t quite enough, when the concert was over, there were fireworks over the river. Now that’s how to end a show.
Sitting on the front deck for a good view of the fireworks
