After NYC, life slowed down a bit…. The scenery was rural and beautiful. Sunny skies and calm waters for the most part. It took a couple of weeks to go up the Hudson River and Champlain Canal.
We stopped at Poughkeepsie, a medium sized city, the home of Vassar College and the longest pedestrian/bike bridge over the Hudson. We definitely rode our bikes a lot and ate some delicious food. But in Poughkeepsie we did a lot more!
We rented a car and got “upgraded” to the most embarrassing car that Enterprise had on the lot. A convertible Mustang! At least it was not a bright and gaudy color….
We drove to West Point. The academy was impressive and the location, up high above the Hudson, was spectacular! It truly was a “Million Dollar View”.
We went with some Looper friends to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, not the other CIA). What a beautiful place to go to school. There were signs all over campus with food related art and sayings like “Romaine Calm and Carry On” and “Take Whisks”.
The student commons had several creative pop up restaurants, like Korean Burritos and Bowls, as well as some Southern Comfort Food (which we were already missing)! It was a lot of fun!
Troy, NY was another favorite stop. We stayed at the city docks right downtown. Lots of murals scattered about, and around every street corner was another set of ornate historical buildings! My photos really don’t do the city justice….
And a big bonus!! Troy had a fantastic barbecue joint. Some of the best we’ve had!
After a week on the Hudson we came to Waterford and we had to choose…. West on the Erie Canal or North to Lake Champlain? A bunch of Loopers met dockside to discuss their plans. Most chose the Erie. It is iconic/historic, 350 nautical miles shorter than the Champlain route, and better for high draft (larger) boats.
We chose the Champlain route. Because hey…. Burlington and Montreal and Ottawa… and more canals! Wooo Hoooo! And we could actually do it in our low air draft Ranger Tug.
Only two boats chose the Champlain route. Inconceivable and See Level were officially “buddy boating”!
Soon came a turn onto the Champlain Canal and a series of small towns and villages. Most were hubs of commerce in the past, but so many of them really looked like they were struggling these days. We stayed along free walls in a lot of these places and explored on foot and on bikes. In many cases, there wasn’t much to see or do.
Fort Ticonderoga as one of the nicer, more bustling towns we visited. We anchored out near the fort and took our bikes by dinghy to the town.
They had a historical fort, lots of parks, some bike paths, a few restaurants, and faithful recreation of the original Star Trek TV set. Weird.
They also had a small museum which highlighted the mining of graphite and wood for making pencils. Remember the #2 Ticonderogas from grade school?
And to top it all off, our anchorage had warm calm waters, so we took a swim before dinner!
It was perfect!
To see our current voyage path, click on this: G&P Voyage Map
I think you made the right choice.
Love living vicariously through you two! Keep the stories and photos coming! ❤️🤗