Brockport, NY

Distance traveled:  35nm
Total Distance:  199nm

We made it to the Brockport Lift bridge, but were 15 min too late to go through the bridge.  There are 2 in a row, that we'll do tomorrow morning.  Our goal for tomorrow is to get to Pittford by lunch where we will meet my brother, Glenn and his wife, Pat.  Plan to stay overnight there at least one night and maybe two.  Glad that we were able to get there by this weekend so can see them when they don't have to be working.

We went through the Lockport locks - which are about 25' deep each.  It's amazing how quickly the water went down.  These locks use cables attached from top to bottom so was easy to have a line go around it.  I used the boat hook to keep the bow away and Phil used his one hand with a leather glove on it to keep the stern away. The western end of the Erie Canal has many lift bridges and we went under 11 today.  Just for the fun of it I'm taking pictures of all the lift bridges that we go through.  They have a lot in common.  On one side is a tall tower building the lift bridge operator is in and on the other side of the canal stairs. Most of the lift bridges were made by a company in Cleveland, OH, our hometown.  Here is the Exchange St. Lift bridge (LB) in the up position and in the distance is the Adam St. LB as an example.

Exchange St LB and Adam St. LB

At the Brockport LB, there is a sign across the canal in a park that talks about the lift bridges.  I thought it was interesting and if you click on it, I think it will enlarge enough for you to read about it too.

Lift Bridge sign in Brockport, NY Park

About 11am we stopped at Medina, NY as they were the first place to have free showers.  The last one that we had was Monday!  It's amazing, but when you both need a shower - you don't smell it as much.  I did wash my hair yesterday morning in the galley sink as I just couldn't stand THAT one more day.  The Medina city showers are very nice except the spray from the shower is weak but very hot.  It was nice to warm up as this morning started off cool until the clouds went away.  It ended up to get up to 70F according to our thermometer we had by the helm.  We also walked up and down town.  Phil was patient enough for me to go into the "Nine Whole Yards" quilt shop.  It was very nice and they had fat quarters on sale, but I didn't buy as this boat has enough on it as it is.  Unfortunately, the knitting shop must have gone out of business as it was one that I was interested in going in.  We also had lunch at Zambistro's as recommended in Skipper Bob's book.  It was good.  Phil and I shared the fried fish dinner and the Mickey Mantle Hamburger.  So we were on our way @ 130pm and got to Brockport at 515pm.  Here is a picture of us docked on the wall for free.  Very picturesque don't you think??  The canal bridges and locks close down at 5pm, so missed it by 15 minutes.  That's ok - it's fine here except the traffic going over the metal bridge is a little loud.  I'm sure Phil and I will be using our ear plugs for sleeping.

Changes on south wall west of Brockport LB

We have noticed some typical boats indigenous to the canal it seems.  House boats that vary in size, typically small, but I do have one that if very big for what we've seen so far.  And here is a picture of a canal boat with a tug docked next to it. 

Very large house boat

Typical size houseboat - unusual paint job and pontoon boats

Tug boat and Canal boat from a Museum

After we got to Brockport, we walked about Main street, had Pierre Ice cream cones, visited the local liquor store for a bottle of Pinot noir wine for Phil, and then to the grocery store for just a couple items.  These were at the most 1/2 mile from the boat.  We finished up the evening with spaghetti, reading a book and being on the computer. 

Tomorrow we will go through more lift bridges, and then lock 33 and lock 32 before we get to Pittford, NY.

Hope everyone at home is doing well.  We are doing well and look forward to seeing Glenn and Pat tomorrow.