Tuesday morning the lock opened at 8:00 am and we were in the first group to go through. The first few locks are referred to as the flight of 5, as they are all less than a mile apart and you go through them in quick succession. After getting through those 5, boats started dropping off at different spots. By lock 11, us and ‘Grand Life’s were the only ones going through.

We had been aiming to dock at this park just after lock 10 but when we got there it was full. So we went up lock 11 and tied up along the wall on the other side. The lock master told us about a 100 year old Italian restaurant just up the road that he said we should try and recommend the lasagna. Didn’t have to tell us twice 😄.

We headed over there with ‘Grand Life’ for dinner and I did get the lasagna. It was pretty darn delicious!  When we got back to the boats the sun was just setting, and while I thought it was quite lovely, a little bit later the sun said “hold my beer”.

The only drawback to this spot was that there was a train crossing right here. So several times in the middle of the night we were woken up by horn blasts.

Wednesday morning we set off continuing through more locks. The Erie Canal has 35 in all. Locks 12-14 had super low walls at the top. It felt like we were going to spill out of the bathtub!

Lock 17 was the tallest one on the canal, with a lift of 41 feet. It is also the only lock where the gate is lifted straight up and you pass underneath it.

We were aiming for Little Falls Canal Harbor for the night, where there was a nice free dock, but once again it was full. So we went through lock 18 and came to Ilion Marina. The wall here was a little higher than we like, and Don had to help Skia off and on the boat.

It had been drizzling on and off all day and by the time we got set up it started pouring. Trying to eat up the rest of our supplies on the boat, it was the perfect day to have soup and grilled cheese for dinner.

Thursday was a nice sunny day. Going through six more locks we came to Sylvan Beach. There was another free wall here, this one actually had space for us and the wall was a nicer shorter height. It was a cute little town with a small amusement park set right along Oneida Lake.

This was the biggest lake we’d have to cross along the canal, and while today was nice and sunny today, it was also very windy. We took Skia for a walk, saw how choppy the water was and were glad to have decided to wait a day.

Friday was much less windy and Lake Oneida was flat as glass. We stopped at Winter Harbor Marina for our final fuel up. From here the rest of the locks are more spread out and we only went through 2 today. We came to Baldwinsville where there was a nice floating dock. We planned out the rest of our stops and figured out we’d be back to Buffalo on Monday!

Saturday we got up and got moving. Another nice day we went through 5 locks and arrived at Newark. There was a nice dock here as well along a park. There were also two other Ranger Tugs docked in front of us. The park had a nice mural of the Erie Canal, with some painted descriptions of how it came to be.

Sunday we pulled off the dock in the morning and continued on. When we got to Fairport there was an asymmetric bridge with one side being higher than the other. With no physical signs along the water, the chart listed it at 15 feet. We stuck to the high side but as we were going under halfway across the mast struck the bridge. It broke the light and cracked the fiberglass at the base.

Don was able to get it lowered and we got out from under the bridge but the damage was done. Two freaking days away from being done. Raging mad doesn’t even begin to describe my state for the rest of the day. When we got to lock 33 they wanted to get our information about it. Then when we got to Spencerport and had to wait for a lift bridge, they wanted us to fill out an incident report, which took longer than it needed to because the lift operator had to drive down to the next bridge to open it and then come to open this bridge. I was beyond annoyed by this point.

We finally made it to Holley and tied up for the night. This morning the bridge opened at 7am and we followed two other boats through. Once clear they went a lot faster than us though and we got stuck at the next lift bridge. Again the operator was working two bridges. So we had to wait for her to go open the next one for the other boats and then come back to open this one again.

Luckily this was only the case for the next two bridges past this one. Then they started opening pretty much upon our arrival which was nice. Coming into familiar territory, we finally arrived at locks 34 & 35 in Lockport NY, the last two! I’ve seen them throughout my life many times, but from down in a boat they looked very tall.

As we were coming up the first chamber we had some special visitors ☺️.

Once through both locks, we were able to dock just around the side of lock 35. We went up to the street and came out right at one of our favorite local places.

Don’s Aunt was waiting for us up there as well and we all got to enjoy one final stop on the Loop. Lake Effect Ice Cream is always good, it’s just hard trying to pick which custom flavor to get. Conveniently they offer a Flight of 5 flavors, so you don’t have to struggle with your decision as much 😄.

After a delicious stop, we set back off towards North Tonawanda. Today is exactly day 300 of the Loop!

Coming into the North Tonawanda area was really fun in the boat. It was neat going by places I’ve only been by car before. Exiting the Erie Canal, we came out into the Niagara River, around Tonawanda Island and back to the Niagara River Yacht Club, officially crossing our wake!!!

We had the best welcoming committee too! My dad, Don’s mom, Uncle, Grandpa, Joy and Claire. It is definitely nice to be back 😊.

We unloaded some things off the boat and then went to dinner at Mooney’s.

This past year has been quite the adventure! In 300 days we went 6,290 nautical miles, through a total of 128 locks, and met a whole bunch of great people! It is definitely a trip we will never forget!

For now, on to our next adventure, getting ready for our wedding in September! 💍