Lily, A Dog's Life Aboard Moondance: The Erie Canal has a Lot of Locks!!!

Kingston, NY Kingston Municipal Marina July 6, 2016

We made it to Kingston before 2 and quickly tied up because it was in the low 90’s and the Admiral was dying in the heat…Had to get that A/C on fast including a fan on the salon floor for ME!

What a great day on the river despite the heat!!! Saw so many great sites; West Point, The Culinary Institute, Vanderbilt and Mill Mansions, Bannerman Island Arsenal (looks like a ruined castle) Mount Saint Alphonsus Retreat Center, Marist College, Walkway over the Hudson, “The Maid of the Meadows” or Esopus Lighthouse, and the Kingston Lighthouse at the entrance to Rondout Creek into Kingston. NY’s capital prior to 1777 when the British burned it to the ground. From our view at Kingston City Municipal Marina, the town looks charming! Lots of pretty trees, buildings and artwork which mom loves!!! I love the grass is so close and it feels so good on my hot feet since it’s under shade trees!!!

Bear Mountain Bridge

West Point from the water

Some of the small buildings along the Hudson

Constitution Island across from West Point

Trophy Point at West Point

More West Point

Bannerman Island Arsenal

Newburgh, NY

The Culinary Institute of America

Vanderbilt Mansion

Another tiny home along the Hudson

Mill Mansion

The Maid of the Meadows or Esopus Lighthouse

Rondo Lighthouse by Kingston

Our Views from Kingston Municipal Marina

The Rondout area of Kingston's Waterfront

This photo showed up on Marine Traffic of us Moving???

Waterford, NY Waterford Municipal Marina July 7-8, 2016

It was an easy day finishing up our trip up the Hudson…the bad news is we had the tide against it most of the way so we were moving even slower than normal. UGH! Beautiful serene sights all the way to the Erie Canal which we arrived in a massive downpour in late afternoon. We had to wait it out before we could dock. It was a pretty little marina right before our first Eric Canal lock. We barely made it in time to get cleaned up before Judge Hall arrived. Mom did get me fed first. They were so excited to see Courtney…It’s been far too long!!! He took mom and dad to dinner in Waterford at McGrievey’s. They had a fantastic dinner and brought me some leftovers. YUM! We are so hoping we see Courtney and Carolyn in FL next year with Isabella.

The Honorable Courtney Hall and Mike going on an Inspection tour of our boat

Waterford downtown

Courtney and Mike...Here come the Judges...

Waterford was celebrating their Bicentennial

Saugerties Lighthouse

Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

The Troy Lock on the Hudson

Amsterdam, NY Riverlink Park and Cafe July 8-9, 2016

We met two other sets of loopers here last night and are following them through the 12 locks on the Erie Canal. We are all going on to Amsterdam tonight with them, so we are looking forward to getting to know them better. Dad is talking to them on our other radio as we go down the Erie. One couple started the loop last year from Door County, WI in August and the other one started in MI, so they are almost finished. Ben and Jane on Jammin Jane retired very young and even they are loving it!!! They said they want to repeat parts of it again and do some areas they didn’t get to… They have a tall, leggy, field Springer Spaniel, Davy Crockett. He’s another beauty like me!

So far, we have timed the locks perfectly including the Flight of Five that took us approximately 2 hours to get through…It raised us the equivalent of a 15 story building!!! What a system!!! Incredible…except for the dead fish and some other dead critter, we couldn’t identify because it was so bloated…GROSS!

On all these locks M & D caught a rubber coated wire to run a line through and hung on that line plus an extra line off the side if needed…or the last two, they just grabbed the grubby lines and hung on for dear life…so happy they have their working gloves for this job!!! Even for me who delights in eating goose poop…these walls and lines are disgusting! By the end of the day we had raised the equivalent of a 24 story building!

Made it to Riverlink Park & Cafe before 4 PM. We understand that we will be entertained by “Rat Tail” a 80”s cover band tonight if the thunderstorm doesn’t rain it out! Heard mom talking to Jade, who works here to beware of skunks when it gets dark…Oh Joy!!!

They deserted me to go to dinner with Ben, Jane & Rhonda and Scott Joiner, on “Mucho Gusto”, a cat that has been following the rest of us for the past few days…

What fun they had telling tales at dinner!…Bob & Liz Skinner on their trawler, “Know Sew Easy” joined us for drinks…

Since they are predicting rain off and on were heading about 30 miles north to St. Johnsville Marina. It should be a bit easier with only 5 locks to navigate.