Fort Edward, New York

After a fun jazz-filled weekend, we left Schuylerville on Monday, June 26 bound for Fort Edward, NY.  We left at 9:35 for the two and a half hour cruise which would have taken even less time if we didn’t have to go through two locks.  But they are always interesting and in this area, never busy.

It was a cloudy day with a just an occasional sprinkling of rain.  However, when we arrived at the town dock in Fort Edward, it started to pour cats and dogs.  Jonny got soaked but he got us securely tied up right next to a ladder.  The nearby grounds were very pretty with lots of informative signage describing the town’s history.

Shortly after we tied up, our friends Liz and Steve Kemper arrived as planned. We hadn’t seen them since the last boating season and we are always happy to spend time with them. They are the couple we charted the trawler with last year when we cruised the San Juan Islands in Washington.  Once they tied up, we walked into town to have lunch at the local diner.

By then it had stopped raining but on our way back to our boats we got drenched again!

We all spent the rest of the afternoon hunkered down and preparing our contributions to dinner later that night.  Around supper time, they came over and brought a new card game they wanted us to learn called Shwoosh. It was a fun game and even Jonny, who is known for not liking games, enjoyed it.  We had a late dinner together sharing our bounty of pork loin, kielbasa and homemade cole slaw and potato salad.  We even had Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for dessert!

We decided to stay an extra day since we are not in a hurry.  On Tuesday mornings I have my Spanish lesson and Liz and Steve took their leave to continue their journey.  It was great to catch up with them and to hear about their travels and upcoming plans.  We’ll be with them again in July when we share an Air B&B with them at the MTOA Northeast Rendezvous in Greenport, Long Island.

We had a very relaxing day on Tuesday working together on the MTOA website redesign and reading our books.  Jonny had already explored Fort Edward a bit with Archie and he wanted to show me some of the most interesting parts. So in the afternoon we walked over to a site where quite a few very old buildings had been assembled to create the village setting of the original town.  

The next picture is where Solomon Northrop, the man featured in the book and movie, Twelve Years a Slave, lived for a while in an apartment.  He was a free black man living in the north who was kidnapped and brought to the south where he lived as a slave for 12 years before he was able to escape.  The movie was excellent and I had read the book which he wrote himself which was even more moving.

Fort Edward was important strategically and historically due to its position commanding the Hudson and Champlain River valleys.  It was the site of a fort as early as 1709 and later it was taken by British forces during the Revolutionary War.  The village itself was incorporated in 1849. The population of the village is currently around 3,375.  It is a pretty place with many attractive and well-maintained homes and very friendly people.

After exploring the area we stopped at the local brew pub for a beer and met the the owners, a couple who were both retired Marines. On the way out we met another retired couple both of whom were engineers who worked on nuclear submarines. I was suitably impressed to meet two women who had successful careers in clearly male-dominated fields -  very impressive achievements!

That evening we had a cozy dinner onboard with our favorite chicken Nona and the leftover potato salad and cole slaw.  Next stop is Whitehall, the last town on the Champlain Canal. 

Schuylerville, NY

We had a short day of cruising on the Hudson on Friday, June 23. We left Mechanicville by 8:55 on another perfectly sunny day with highs in the 70’s. We went through locks 3 and 4, both of which went very smoothly with their convenient hanging lines.

We arrived at the Schuylerville Yacht Basin by noon and tied up comfortably (but unfortunately) next to a roadway overpass.  We had stayed here several years ago and liked the location because it was just a few miles from Saratoga Springs.  That afternoon we caught up on chores (laundry, repairs, etc.) and spent some time relaxing as we had a busy weekend ahead of us attending the Saratoga Jazz Festival.

On Saturday morning the driver we had engaged picked us up and we loaded his trunk with our chairs, umbrellas, lunch and beverages.  We had our heavy duty boat raincoats as well as lighter ones. We were prepared for the worst and very glad we had upgraded our tickets from the lawn to the covered pavilion.  It was already raining when we left and it continued to rain all day long.

But the “show must go on” and all the acts performed on time and with great enthusiasm.  The first act was the Cindy Blackman Santana Band (Carlos Santana’s wife on drums).  They were excellent and followed by Jonny’s all-time favorite, the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdez and his quartet.  They were even better! So much so that Jonny wouldn’t leave to see another of our favorites, pianist Emmet Cohen, who was playing on the smaller stage. We see Emmet Cohen in Miami fairly frequently so it was OK. 

We spent most of the time at our seats in the pavilion though we did see a couple of the acts on the smaller stage (with a limited number of covered seats).  The crowds were a lot smaller than expected, most probably because of the rain.  We left before Snarky Puppy, the main act on Saturday night, as it had already been a long day and we were ready for a break.

Oh, and as you can see, we brought Archie. He was the only dog we saw in the two days of the event - only service dogs were allowed  - but we were surprised that there weren’t more there.  He was well behaved and seemed to enjoy (or at least tolerate) his first concert experience!

On Sunday morning, we awoke to sunshine and it stayed that way all day in spite of the prediction of thunderstorms. Jonny took Archie for a long walk down a nearby trail.  We are in a very interesting  part of the country next to the original and historic Champlain Canal.

Our driver picked us up at noon and this time we traveled lighter.  We arrived just in time to see the first main act of the day, Pat Metheny.  The crowds were much bigger than the day before with people sitting all over the lawns between the two stages.  We meandered back and forth between both stages throughout the day.  Of particular enjoyment were some of the (new to us) acts on the smaller stage including a young women named Samara Joy, a great jazz singer, and an Afro pop band called Jupiter and Okwess who had us on our feet dancing!   Also, we definitely enjoyed Bonnie Raitt, the main act on Sunday night.  We saw several more acts on both days but the ones I mentioned were our favorites.

The weather was beautiful all day until the concert ended and people were walking back to their cars, when all of a sudden we had a torrential rainstorm.  We had to wait for our driver who was running late so we found shelter under an overhang until he arrived just after 9 p.m.  We were very happy to get back to our cozy abode on board Zendo!  It had been a very busy and fun two days and we were ready for a little tranquility!

Mechanicville, NY

Jonny had a conference call on Thursday morning, June 22, so we didn’t leave Coxsackie until 9:50.  It was another beautiful sunny day cruising on the extremely calm Hudson River.  As usual there was very little boat traffic as we headed for the free town dock in Mechanicville.  

We cruised past Albany and Troy, much bigger than the little towns we’ve been staying in.

We had to go through three locks before reaching Mechanicville. Federal Lock was the first one. It was just before where the Erie Canal splits off from the Hudson.

Federal Lock was followed by the first two locks of the Champlain canal system.  All three lockings went smoothly for us as we reacquainted ourselves with the process.  Interestingly, the Federal Lock, the biggest of the three, had no lines hanging down to hold.  We had to set our own. But the locks on the Champlain canal had hanging lines that we could grab onto.

Archie wasn’t sure he liked the locks. He was whining a bit and wanted to be right next to us. I guess being at the bottom of a narrow “canyon” with tall, dark, slimy walls was not his cup of tea.  He felt much better as we rose to land level and he could see grass and sky!

We arrived at the Mechanicville town dock by 4:30. It was a very nice set up. Not only was the docking free but there was electricity and water, as well as restrooms with showers (though we didn’t use them).  All this in a very pleasant park setting with lots of grass, trees and benches.  Somewhat surprisingly, we were the only boat on the dock, maybe because it was still mid-week.

After one of our favorite dinners of escarole (from the farmer’s market) and beans (cannellini), we walked into town.  We weren’t too impressed with Mechanicville, charm-wise, but it did have Walgreen’s and an auto parts store, both of which we used to stock up on some needed supplies.  Of note, Mechanicville is the smallest city by area in the state of New York.  Its name is derived from the occupation of early residents and it has a population of around 5,000.  

That evening we watched a couple of episodes of The Wire before going to bed. We were slow to the draw and missed this series when it was popular.

The next day we’ll have a short cruise to Schuylerville where we’ll stay for three nights.  It’s eleven miles from Saratoga Springs and we have tickets for the Saratoga Jazz Festival on Saturday and Sunday. We’re excited to go because there are a number of great performers like Bonnie Raitt, Chucho Valdez, Snarky Puppy and some of our local favorites like Emmet Cohen.  Unfortunately, rain is predicted so we upgraded our tickets from lawn seats to pavilion seats.  We haven’t been to a festival like this for years, so it should be fun!

Coxsackie, NY

We decided to take the morning of Wednesday, June 21 off from cruising in order to visit the Olana State Historic site, a house museum and landscape in nearby Greenport, NY.  We found a driver to take us there (surprisingly, Uber and Lyft are not much available in these parts).  What a wonderful “find” Olana was for us!  It was the home and property of Frederic Church, one of the major figures of the Hudson River School of Landscape.  He bought the property in 1870 and over time acquired 250 acres where he designed “landscape paintings” throughout the grounds.  He planted thousands of trees to create wooded areas that would open up to fabulous meadow and river vistas that looked just like the scenic paintings of the Hudson River School of Art.  

Church also designed and built a fabulous Persian-inspired home on the site. It embraced a variety of architectural styles with every room positioned to provide another grand view of the grounds. Each room was filled with his and other artists’ works and it was furnished with all the original furniture.

We took a guided tour of the house and grounds led by a very knowledgeable guide who considerably enhanced the experience. We highly recommend a visit to Olana!

Upon our return to Zendo we ate leftover pizza for lunch and left the marina at 2 p.m. bound for Troy,  NY. It was the longest day of the year and we knew we had plenty of time for the five hour journey. But just after an hour on the water, Jonny realized that he had left his credit card at the restaurant the night before. What to do? We could cancel the card or we could return and retrieve it from the restaurant.  For a variety of reasons, we chose the latter option and returned to Hudson much to the surprise of the other boaters there.  Jonny and Archie quickly walked up to the restaurant, grabbed the errant card and we took off once again - this time at 4 p.m.

This change required us to revise our planned destination for the day and we decided to go to Coxsackie (pronounced Cooksacky), a village on the west bank of the river.  It was described as having a free town dock and a farmer’s market on Wednesdays.  What more could one ask for!  So we took off following the current that was in our favor and reached pretty Coxsackie by 4:45.  We were the only boat on their long and easily accessible floating dock next to a big, lovely, grassy park. As promised, the park was hosting its weekly farmer’s market where we happily stocked up on escarole, snow peas, strawberries and cherries.

Archie enjoyed being able to run through the park’s extensive grounds and managed to indulge me for a quick photo op!

We wandered through the charming town and eventually made our way to a riverside restaurant for drinks and nibbles.  The place was hopping and a band was playing nearby. It was quite enjoyable. 

Back on board Zendo, Jonny spent time inflating additional fenders since we would be going though twelve locks in the next couple of days.  We ate a few more nibbles for dinner and had a quiet night onboard.  A gaggle of teenage girls in their bathing suits were celebrating the last day of school jumping off the dock to go swimming. It was a joyful sight!

Hudson, NY

We took our time leaving Marlboro on Tuesday, June 20 because I had a Spanish lesson and Jonny took Archie for a long walk.  We had a shorter cruise planned for Hudson, NY, on the east bank of  the Hudson River, so we left at 10:50 for the five plus hour cruise.  It was another beautiful day, sunny with perfect temperatures in the 70’s.  And how relaxing it is not to have to worry about rough seas!

We passed a couple of the unique Hudson River lighthouses along the way.

And periodically, long trains sped along the river banks on both sides heading back and forth from NYC to the many towns lining the shore.

We arrived by 4:10 and pulled up to the dock of the Hudson Power Boat Association with the help of some friendly boaters there.  The current on the Hudson is strong and all the marinas are right on the river so it can be a little tricky to dock when the current is at its peak.  As indicated by the name, all the boats were power boats, not a sailboat in sight.  The guys were super nice, all “regular” guys, an adjective that Jonny makes fun of me for using but I feel is very descriptive!

The vice commodore, a fellow named Frank, was eager to show us his trawler and invited us aboard to regale us with some of his boat purchasing adventures.  He was the president of his union and originally from Queens. He now has a home in Hudson as well as one in Fort Lauderdale where he owns another good sized power boat.  We invited him onboard Zendo and had a fun time talking with him.

Once we got settled we walked into the town of Hudson which is really quite impressive. Our original plan was to briefly explore the town, have a drink and then return for dinner onboard. But we were so entranced by Hudson, its architecture, leafy streets and attractive shops and restaurants that we took our time exploring.

We walked all the way up to the lovely town green which was surrounded by very impressive churches and the town hall.  

We were especially intrigued by the name of this one -  Rock Solid Church.

By this time, we were hungry as well as thirsty so we decided to stop for a light bite.  We were surprised to find that a number of restaurants are only open from Thursday through Sunday. Apparently, Hudson is a very popular weekend destination for NYC folks. Therefore, many restaurants take advantage of that phenomenon and limit the days they are open. We managed to find an appealing restaurant called Savona’s Trattoria and Bar where we had pizza and salad in their shady outdoor patio. Note the picture of the serviceman on the lamp post outside the restaurant.  The streets of both Marlboro and Hudson were lined with photos of service men and women who had lost their lives in the line of battle. They were very moving remembrances and we are becoming more aware of seeing them in other towns we’ve visited along the river. 

Afterward we had a comfortable evening onboard.  We had made plans to visit the Olana State Historic Site the next morning before continuing our cruise up the Hudson.