Fairport, NY

Most of us slept in on Wednesday, September 26 after our night of birthday revelry.  It was a rainy, dreary day.  As always, Jonny awakened first and kindly went out to get bagels.  He proceeded to make a lovely breakfast of bagels, lox and cream cheese and we leisurely ate while waiting for the heavy rain to let up.  Our plan was to take a short cruise to the village of Fairport on the other side of Rochester.  But we had to wait for David’s sister Ann to bring the long-lost insulin and the backpack we had left at the museum in Buffalo.  In the meantime, we took turns walking up to the library next to the town dock that shared a building with the local Starbucks. There was a book sale going on and Addie and Lynn each bought a couple of books.  

Ann arrived around two in the afternoon with our packages and needless to say, Jonny was very relieved to finally recieve that life-saving medicine!  We had a cozy lunch of chili and salad and by 3:50 the rain had stopped and we took off for our short cruise to Fairport.  We passed under a low bridge that clearly indicated where we should go.

 We had a very fun time while underway raucously singing Jonny’s new favorite song, Erie Canal.  Here is the chorus:

      Low bridge, everybody down,

      Low bridge, we’re coming to a town.

      You’ll always know your neighbor and you’ll always know your pal

      If you’ve ever nav-i-gated on the Erie Canal!

And for the record, Jonny has been singing that song for the last 10 days at least!

We tied up at a town dock before the bridge because we didn’t make it in time for the bridge-tender to open the bridge.  If we had, we would have had a better berth closer to the restrooms and the main part of the village.  Jonny and Lange went across the bridge to check out the facilities.

Afterwards, we all went for a stroll around the attractive village of Fairport, a suburb of Rochester. It is known as the Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal and has a population of 5,353.  Fun fact - Henry DeLand, a prominent citizen from Fairport was the same DeLand who was a founder of Stetson University, became a big developer in Florida, and has a town named after him there. 

We stopped at a local bar for beers and kambucha (a new experience for Lynn) and chatted with the bartender and her husband.  He was quite the expert on kambucha and could have been a contestant in Key West’s annual Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest!

We didn’t get out of there until later and eventually found another bar where we had a bite of dinner.  It was another lively late night with good friends!

Pittsford, NY

September 25 was a dreary rainy day but it was expected to get a lot “sunnier”with the arrival of our friends, Addie and Lange who were flying in from Miami to celebrate Lynn’s birthday.  We took off for the four hour cruise to Pittsford, a village outside of Rochester.  Jonny had arranged for his insulin and backpack to be delivered to the home of our friend David’s sister who lives in nearby Rochester.  Our cruise continued through the bucolic landscape and we passed under several of the low bridges we encounter along the canal.

Addie and Lange arrived shortly after we docked at the Pittsford town dock.  We hung out on board Zendo catching up on our lives while they showered Lynn with lovely gifts including a fabulous rum that we had to start sipping!

After awhile we walked into town where our first stop was a creamery where we treated ourselves to the most delicious ice cream.  The creamery also sold other enticing items, the best of which turned out to be a cherry crumb pie that was a most excellent substitute for Lynn’s birthday cake! Since beer naturally follows ice cream (?!), we headed over to the local pub for a beer.  It had a great view of the river where we watched a number of crew teams rowing right past Zendo.

Brian, a friend of David’s (mentioned earlier), came by to meet us and visit for a few hours and we walked around the town of Pittsford with him as our guide. 

That evening, after he left, the four of us went for a celebratory birthday dinner at a very nice restaurant that, lucky for us,  had a BYOB policy on Tuesday nights.  We continued to celebrate on board Zendo until midnight, much later than we usually stay up and we had a blast putting a bigger dent in that bottle of rum!

Brockport, NY

We took our time on Monday, September 24 and left at 10:45 for a short three and a half hour cruise to Brockport.  Jonny was still trying to straighten out the problem with not having received his insulin delivery yet.  We’re now hoping to get it delivered to Rochester at the home of our friend David’s sister. The day was gorgeous and we couldn’t believe how beautiful this part of the Erie Canal is - a combination of pastoral landscapes with vineyards and quaint villages. Really special!

We were thinking of going to Spencerport but David Brayer got us in touch with one of his local buddies who advised us to go to Brockport instead and so we did.  We tied up at the village dock and walked a few yards away to the little visitor’s center/harbor office which was staffed by volunteers.  The couple on duty were very helpful and the woman offered to drive Lynn to the local Wegman’s to go grocery shopping. We wanted to stock up for the upcoming visit of our friends Addie and Lange who were coming to help celebrate Lynn’s birthday.

Jonny did boat chores and afterwards we walked into the charming town so he could have a beer at the local pub.  Brockport is quite old and quaint but lively as it is a college town with the College at Brockport, State University of New York there. The architecture was beautiful and it would be easy to to stay an extra day if we had the time.

That evening Jonny made a nice dinner of perch and salad while Lynn did laundry.  Later that evening, Lynn prepared a batch of turkey chili to have with the Kings as the next couple of days were predicted to be rainy and chilly.

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!