Medina, NY

We made scrambled eggs for breakfast in order to get back on our WW program on Sunday, September 23. Stephanie packed up her belongings and before she left we all walked up to the local Walgreen’s to pick up Lynn’s prescription and to get flu shots. Stephanie didn’t have her most up to date insurance card so she couldn’t get one but promised to do so when she returned to Philly. Lynn and Jonny each got our flu shots and pneumonia shots (fortunately or unfortunately we are now eligible for pneumonia shots - age-wise, that is)!  The Uber came to pick up Stephanie to bring her to the airport in Buffalo and Lynn was especially sad to see her go.

We left the Lockport wall and went through its two flight lock on an absolutely brilliant day - sunny, warm and clear but not hot. We cruised for two hours along the Erie Canal which was just beautiful - a bucolic landscape interspersed with quaint villages and lovely homes all along the way.  The Erie Canal originally ran from Albany all the way to where Buffalo meets Lake Erie, a distance of 363 miles.  It has 34 locks and was opened in 1825 to create a navigable link between New York City and Lake Erie.  In 2000 it was designated a national historic waterway and now has mostly recreational traffic. It is definitely a worthwhile journey to make by boat.

We decided to stop in Medina just to explore it because we had time and it was supposed to be a pretty village. Upon arrival the bridge tender came to meet us and encouraged us to stay over night here instead of Albion, our original destination, which he said had nothing of particular interest.  So we took his advice and tied up for the night.

Walking into town we were impressed by the charm of this attractive village.  Many buildings were made of the sandstone that was quarried here which was used to build buildings all around the world including the Brooklyn Bridge and Buckingham Palace.

We strolled the village until we arrived at 810 Meadworks - a mead bar!  It was located in a historic building that had been the site of a maker of fine custom-made  men’s shirts that were favored by people like Winston Churchill, Warren Harding,  Bob Hope, Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte.  

There, Jonny ordered two flights of their locally brewed mead, a dry flight and a semi-dry flight.  For those who don’t know, mead is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water and various spices, grains or hops. It can be brewed to have beer-like qualities or wine-like qualities.  Lynn was good, ordering club soda and only tasting tiny sips of Jonny’s flights!

That evening we had a healthy dinner of lamb chops, green beans and sweet potatoes, then relaxed onboard and went to bed early.  We are truly enjoying this trip on the famed Erie Canal!

Lockport, NY

It was a cold and cloudy day on Saturday, September 22.  We waited around all morning to see if Jonny’s insulin would arrive at the local harbor host’s home to which it was being mailed.  Initially Jonny was going to Uber back to the museum where we had forgotten the backpack he carried but when the harbor host said she would happily pick it up, we decided to go ahead and leave for Lockport.

We bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets and cruised for awhile from the fly bridge until it got too chilly and we went below and cruised from the saloon. 

We wanted to take Stephanie through a locking experience on this last full day of her visit.  But when we arrived at the lock in Lockport and began to enter it, the lockmaster told us the best place to tie up would be just before the lock, so we backed out of the lock for the first time ever.  It turned out that Lockport was a charming town with a winery, Five Flights Winery (named after the original flight of five locks that has since been consolidated to two).  After tying up we walked up to the winery which was just above the lock.

Even though Lynn and Stephanie had decided that this would be their first day on Weight Watchers, they tossed caution to the winds in honor of Stephanie’s last day of vacation.  All three of us had a a flight of wine and shared a cheese plate.  It was a cool place, quite historic and a lot of fun!

Afterwards Stephanie wanted to watch Florida State play the University of  Nothern  Illinois so we went to the local sports bar to watch the game. It was also a cool place so we stayed for dinner and Stephanie and Lynn tried to be good by ordering salads.  Thankfully, FSU won handily!

We walked back to Zendo admiring the charming town of Lockport.

On our last night on board Zendo with Stephanie we watched a movie that she recommended called Baby Driver.  And still no insulin shipment has arrived...

Tonawanda, NY

The day started out calm on Tuesday, September 18 as we set out for our five hour run to Buffalo.  It was sunny and warm but after a few hours the lake got pretty rolly and the sky clouded up. We were overwhelmed by the thousands of tiny little gnats that surrounded the boat and covered the outside of the flybridge  - and this was in the middle of the lake!  As we approached Buffalo, we could see its impressive skyline.

We perused the area where we would dock if we stayed in the city but decided to push on to stay just outside of the city.  The reviews were more positive about the town of Tonawanda so we chose what turned out to be a great location there on the town dock.

We were just across from a charming restaurant and close to the dockmaster’s office, laundry and restroom facilities.

We spent Wednesday thoroughly cleaning Zendo, inside and out in preparation for Stephanie’s arrival that evening.  Once she arrived we had dinner at that charming restaurant called Prescott’s Provisions and it was the very best restaurant we’ve been to on our entire trip!  

The next day we took an Uber to nearby Niagara Falls.  Although we had all been there before, the falls never cease to impress and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride into the falls and even though we donned the rain ponchos, we walked away partially soaked.  Walking around the grounds we had a great view of the falls from all different angles.

We had a very good lunch at a restaurant called Savor which was part of the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.  

Afterwards, we returned to Zendo to rest and later on we went into Buffalo to start exploring the city.  We had some unique cocktails at Buffalo Proper, a very cool cocktail “lounge” that we had learned about in a New York Times article about Buffalo. 

From there we walked though some of the interesting parts of downtown Buffalo which has a lot of impressive architecture.

 We took an Uber again to a funkier part of town where we had to have Buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar, the birthplace of that “delicacy.”

On Friday we went back into Buffalo to visit two museums, the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery just across the street. We had a delicious lunch there and managed to walk through a good part of that museum to see some great modern art and an exhibit of the works of the sculptor Robert Indiana, famous for his LOVE statues.

From there we rushed over in time for a two hour tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House Complex. This was a very interesting tour of a site with three houses designed by Wright.  The complex includes a range of options from a somewhat modest home to one more opulent and all in his inimitable Prairie style.  Even Stephanie enjoyed her first exposure to this iconic architect. 

That evening we had leftovers from all our previous meals and then went for a walk in our “neighborhood” heading over a bridge to North Tonawanda. Our side was the quieter, more residential side. The other side was livelier with more commercial establishments, live music and ice cream which we treated ourselves to.  This was to be our last night in Tonawanda so we could have the following day to cruise with Stephanie.  She and Georgio have clearly been enjoying their time together!

Dunkirk, NY

We awoke to a gorgeous sunrise on Monday, September 17 but delayed our departure from Erie until the wind died down a little.

 Then we made our way to Dunkirk on a beautiful sunny day.  We had calm seas encountered and very little boat traffic.

We listened to the Slow Burn podcast about the Bill Clinton empeachment and its start with the Monica Lewinsky affair.  These podcasts are fascinating and help make the cruise much more entertaining and informative.  Jonny kept calling marinas all along our route to find the cheapes fuel prices but we missed our opportunity for the best prices which were in Pennsylvania.  It turns out New York has very high taxes on fuel,  which shouldn’t have been a surprise to us. 

At first we were going to anchor in the Dunkirk’s harbor just inside the breakwater.  But once we decided to buy fuel at the marina called Holiday Inn at Chadwick Bay, we thought we would just go ahead and stay there as well (plus the nearby anchorage had no attraction to it).  It turned out that the marina was not all that attractive either but the dockhand was helpful and friendly and it was a calm and secure place to stay for the night.

We learned that a local restaurant had a special on buffalo wings that evening so since the price was right and we were getting close to Buffalo we went for it. Dinner was OK and afterwards we walked through the town (or city) of Dunkirk which has definitely seen better days.  At least 35% of the storefronts on the main drag were closed up and as far as we could see the town had few, if any, redeeming features (though there were a few attractive buildings)!

That evening we had a fabulous sunset and watched the Emmy’s (not a great show).  We were looking forward to getting to our next stop in Buffalo where Stephanie would be flying in to spend a long weekend with us!

Erie, PA

We began a long day of travel on Sunday, September 16 bound for Erie, PA.  But first we stopped at the town dock in Ashtabula to take advantage of their free self-service pump-out. Since we didn’t explore the town the day before, we decided to take a few minutes to do so.  It turned out that Lynn’s negative first impression of the day before was ill-advised.  Ashtabula was really quite charming with attractive architecture, cute shops and interesting restaurants.  It touted its designation as America’s Main Street Winner in 2018. We strolled along its Bridge Street and stopped for coffee at a cool coffee shop.  Jonny liked the featured grind so much that he bought a pound for the boat. 

From there we proceeded on our cruise on a beautiful sunny day with flat seas. It was a perfect day to be on the water!  As we approached Erie, PA, we saw a schooner leaving the harbor and a lighthouse guiding our way in.

To approach Erie, one has to enter a very long and extremely well protected harbor.  It was easy to see why this is such an important port. We thought we would tie up at the city dock and explore the town for a couple of hours but discovered that it was only for commercial traffic, i.e. the local ferry.  So we made our way to Wolverine Marina where they told us we could tie up for $5 per hour.  The dockmaster turned out to be a very friendly woman who oriented us to the town and eventually waived the fee.  

We walked up the broad main street of the town that led away from the waterfront in search of a brew pub that had been recommended by a live-a-board at the marina.  Erie is a small city that looks like it is trying to become more attractive but is not all the way there just yet.  But it does have potential and some of its architecture is quite beautiful.

It also had some interesting historical and funky murals.

Many stores were closed because it was Sunday but we managed to find a cool place called Voodoo Brewery that was open.  Jonny chose it because of its extensive array of beer that they brewed themselves.  We settled into comfortable Adirondack chairs in their outdoor courtyard and enjoyed a relaxing hour.

From there we returned to Zendo and headed out to a beautiful and extremely well-protected anchorage in Presque Island Park which forms the outer perimeter of Erie’s harbor.  The few boats that were already anchored there left by sunset and we were alone in an idyllic spot.   There were no houses and only a small marina with lots of sailboats.  Jonny went for a swim and we enjoyed dinner on the aft deck and watched a fabulous sunset.