Coxsackie, NY (return trip via Troy)

Jonny took Archie for some grocery shopping on the morning of Monday, July 31. It turned out that a couple who we had met last year were tied up in front of us. We had never seen their boat before but they recognized us. They had volunteered with us at TrawlerFest in Baltimore. So for the next hour or so Jonny and Chuck caught up on their respective travels. They were headed north to Lake Champlain and of course, we had just been there so Jonny shared lots of advice and observations with him. 

Afterwards, Jonny, Archie and I went for a walk along the waterfront towards the Waterford lock, the first lock on the Erie Canal. It is quite impressive in that the water is rushing through with great force.

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We also stopped at the dockside office to pay for our power usage. The two volunteers showed us a world map hanging behind them. It had pins in it representing all the visitors they have had in little Waterford.  It was amazing to see scores of pins from visitors from every continent who had stopped at this little spot on the river.

Our plan for the day was to cruise across to nearby Troy, NY which is on the eastern bank of the Hudson.  We left Waterford by 10:40.  As we approached Troy we had to go through the last lock on this part of our voyage - the Troy Federal Lock. This is the biggest one yet. We were the only boat to tie up there so it was an easy passage.

As soon as we went through the lock, we were in Troy proper and we tied up at the town dock where again we were the only boat with this interesting bridge in sight.

We wanted to have lunch, explore a bit and then travel on to Coxsackie where we would spend the night on the town dock.  It was lunch time and it just so happened that the restaurant we were most interested in was right next to us on the waterfront. We sat out on the porch of Dinosaur Barbecue Restaurant and shared an order of fried green tomatoes for an appetizer and one order of ribs and pulled pork.  Jonny got his requisite draft beer and we enjoyed a delicious meal together (and even had some leftovers to take back with us).

From there we walked through Troy. What a nice surprise it was! Troy is full of architectural gems at every turn. Around the turn of the 20th century, Troy was reputed to be the fourth wealthiest city in America.  The industrial revolution took hold in this area due to the confluence of major waterways that supported water-powered industries. As a result, there is a plethora of beautiful Victorian architecture downtown and many elaborate homes in the area. 

We also passed some interesting retail stores.

We walked through the beautiful grounds of Russell Sage College. I was especially interested to see it because my cousin Sally had gone there and I had no idea how beautiful the campus was.  It was right across from the more famous Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

After a couple of hours in Troy we headed out once again - this time bound for Coxsackie, a three and a half hour cruise. We arrived by 6 p.m. and tied up at the town dock.  Archie was happy to run through the adjacent park.  We took a walk through town and because it was a Monday most everything was closed except for a cute Italian bistro. The menu was enticing but we had eaten a big lunch and decided to skip it.

Instead, we just had cheese and crackers for dinner and watched the latest episode of Outlander before calling it a night.  We did manage to catch a beautiful sunset and dramatic full moon!