The Erie Canal

Last weekend, Jason and I joined my dad in Syracuse, New York to do the Erie Canal leg of his boat trip back to Charleston. What an amazing trip! Neither of us really had any idea of what to expect... Jason had never been to that part of the country, and I had been to Syracuse once when I was in high school (to visit the university, not the canal). I think the whole experience was incredible and a great way for the two of us to just get away from things for awhile.
We met Dad at the Brewerton Boatyard, just outside of Syracuse, on Friday night. After some yummy New York pizza, we went to bed early to rest up for a long day. The first task of the trip was to cross Oneida Lake before heading into the Erie Canal. It was a pretty lake, and we were able to see the beginnings of fall in the trees.
Leaving Brewerton on Saturday morning.
Oneida Lake... you can just barely see the mountains through the haze.
It was so nice to get away and be "Jason and Amanda" again, and not "Daddy and Mommy". We haven't had anything longer than a night away together since before Jackson was born, almost 4 years ago. It was desperately needed!!

The "dug" canal... this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

It was a short trip before we made it to the canal. The canal consists of two parts: approaching from the west, the first is the actual "dug" canal, and the second is the Mohawk River. The dug canal is narrow and has a speed limit of 10mph, and you get a sense of being far away from any sort of civilization. The original towpaths where the mules pulled the barges are still visible, as are old dams and lock structres. The Mohawk River is a bit wider with no speed limit, but it seems just as isolated.
Mohawk River
You can probably tell that we had a variety of weather while we were there. The first day was pretty chilly, gray, and damp. The second day started clear, clouded over and rained, then warmed up and cleared again. Our last day, thankfully, was almost warm and sunny... we got to see typical northern fall days.
We traveled through 21 locks in 2 1/2 days to get to the Hudson River on Monday. We stopped the first night in Little Falls, the second night outside of Schenectady, and on Monday, we were in Troy, right outside of Albany. We flew out of Albany that afternoon. It was like nothing I have ever done before, and I would love to do it again. I know that I have a ton of pictures posted, and I might bore you to death, but humor me... it really was beautiful up there!