This session was cranked out super quickly because we’ve covered a bit of ground…errr…water in the last 7 days. We had gotten used to lingering for awhile in each spot, but we’re not planning for that to happen during this leg of the journey. Anyhoo, here we go!

I’m not sure what I expected to see along the Hudson River, but had heard that the scenery would be gorgeous. I’m happy to tell you that this is no lie. The river is wide and sprinkled with old lighthouses and historic river towns.

We traveled for three days north and west from NYC with our good friends, Kevin and Ginger Rash. The plan was to stop in small town marinas each night. We found both rustic and modern amenities along the way. 

Our stay at Croton, NY was the first stop. This marina had a beautiful view and we found a couple of other loopers tied up there.  Ginger and I walked into town with instructions to find a place for dinner. We found that AND a bakery as we are over achievers!

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 On the move the next morning, we encountered more beautiful scenery and weather! We made our way to Kingston and tied up along the Maritime Museum which uses short posts instead of cleats to secure lines. Being unfamiliar with this “old way” of tying up, we weren’t sure how safe it would be but it seemed to work as we did not come united and float away.

Just FYI, Kingston, NY-was settled by the Dutch in 1652 and was actually New York’s first state capitol but was burned down by the British in 1777.  It had many industries but evidence of the boat building trade is still prominent in and around the Maritime Museum where we tied up. The section of town within walking distance has storefronts reminiscent of what I would call old UK-style shop windows. A couple of cool shops and great restaurants were enough to keep us busy for the night we were there. 

Our next destination was Donavan’s Shady Harbor in New Baltimore, NY. Donovan’s is a top-notch marina with a pool and great restaurant called The Boathouse Grille. We pulled in on a hot, hot, hot day in time to wash down the boat and take a quick dip in the pool–just before a storm rolled through.

The whole marina lost power for a few hours but never fear! That’s why we have a generator. It kept our air conditioner going long enough for us to shower and head out to dinner. Whew!

At dinner, we were seated before I spied a familiar red flag in the bar. Turns out the owner of Donovan’s Shady Harbor marina and Boathouse Grille is a big ‘ol KC Chiefs fan! How cool is it to travel to New Baltimore, NY and find quality football fans? 

    Because this fantastic marina offered not one, but two courtesy cars, we were able to drive into Coeymans just down the road for dinner one night and onto Waterford, NY to do a bit of exploring the next day. 

 Kevin and Ginger watched a boat traverse one of the many locks we will be taking on this leg of the adventure. It can be difficult to describe how locks work and seeing one in action makes the concept all come together. After lunch, we followed directions to check out Cohoes Falls, another place we never heard of and were happy to see. 

Cohoes Falls are the second largest falls next to Niagra Falls (which we plan to visit in the near future). They were gorgeous! Sitting very near to the falls was a gigantic old textile mill that has been turned into loft apartments. I’m guessing that the falls powered the power plant which provided power to the mill. 

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 After a day of exploring in the marina courtesy car, we had a nice dinner and headed to bed early so Tom could take our guests to the airport at the ungodly hour of 3:45 in the a.m. It was so good to be able to share a bit of this adventure with good friends!

     We spent one more night at Shady Harbor before taking a short cruise to Waterford, NY. This time by boat. On our way, we had to dig out our lock-maneuvering skills to traverse the one small lock. We excelled at this and prepared to take on (8) locks through the next leg of the journey.

   Sunday morning, after hitting the farmer’s market located just outside our dock, we started up the canal towards Schenectady, NY. We made our way through 6 locks in a very short amount of time on this rainy, gray day. We landed in the famous city of Schenectady, Ny, a town I actually have heard of but never thought I would visit. 

     At the top of this very post I started that we planned to be on the move each day. In this lifestyle, however, weather is our guide for our daily plan. Currently, it is raining. It has been raining and will continue to rain and we are sort of sitting tight (in a very safe spot, Mom) as there are flash flood warnings and lock closures ahead. Time to explore Schenectady!

More to come.

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