071: Erie Canal Part 3: Side Trip!

We left Brewerton on June 2, 2024 and headed west.  When we got to the Three Rivers junction, instead of turning to starboard to head up to Oswego, which was our original plan, we turned to port.  We had heard that the “Western Half” of the Erie Canal was the prettier half so we just decided to see for ourselves.

 

Interesting lawn ornament on the way:

Our first stop was the town of Baldwinsville and a tie up on the western side of Lock E-24, not a ton to see, but the BBQ restaurant at the Lock is excellent, and watching the lock gate mechanism work from “up top” is worth the stop.  

 

The next day we decided to take a side trip to Senaca Falls, so we turned to port again and headed down the Cayuga and Seneca Canal,passing this cool aqueduct on the way:

Senaca Falls is the birthplace of the U.S. Women’s Rights Movement having hosted the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848; it is also the inspiration for the town of Bedford Falls in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  Right before you get to the town you have to go through a unique double lock.  CS Locks 2 and 3 share one infrastructure.  You go up in Chamber 2 and then move into Chamber 3 for another ride up.  When the gates to Chamber 2 opened, we were a bit surprised to be face to face with a wooden sailboat (he of a port tie going east, us with a starboard tie going west).  Having once owned a wooden sailboat, I knew that Hygge, our Ranger Tug 29S, was the more maneuverable vessel, so we powered up the bow and stern thrusters and slid out of the sailboat’s way. 

 We tied up to the town wall and toured the town and had lunch.  Later Nancy went to the two women’s museums (I cleaned the boat).  Highlights included our impromptu tour of the beautiful Trinity Church which borders the Canal (a friendly parishioner asked us if we wanted a tour as we walked by it), and a bike ride over to the Sauders Amish Grocery Store for some wholesome food provisioning (though the “Hot Pockets” in the freezer section was a bit of a head-scratcher).   

 Trinity Church:

An old mill, now home to a Woman's Museum:

Tie up at Seneca Falls:

After our Seneca Fall visit we elected to take Hygge down to Ithaca by way of Cayuga Lake, staying at Allan H. Treman State Marina Park.  At Ithaca you can tour the Botanical Gardens at Cornell University and visit its word-class Ornithology Lab (but closed for renovation for us) and trails, as well as hike multiple gorge trails.  After our Cornell visit, we rented a car to go to the Watkins Glen State Park.  Hiking the Gorge Trail there is amazing.  Other tourists notwithstanding, we felt like we were on an expedition with Indiana Jones searching for a lost golden idol:

 

 

 

We then drove to the Corning Museum of Glass which was incredible if not somewhat overwhelming (you could spend a week there). 

On our drive back to Ithica we couldn’t pass up a stop at a historic covered bridge:

And we couldn't pass up one more gorge trail hike at Buttermilk Falls where we saw nature play out in front of us, but like Marlin Perkins in the classic TV show “Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom” we did not interfere.

 


On the gorge trail:

After two days in Ithaca we came back up north fifty-three n/m to Lyons back on the Erie Canal.  Lyons has a nice welcome wagon group headed up by 83 y/o Bob Stopper who met us the next morning and took a picture of us at the lock.  I was proud of myself that I resisted the temptation to take the short walk over to McDonalds for a large fry, I’ve gained too much weight on this trip as it is.

Dave

Odometer: 2,452 n/m's