Over the last week we made it up the Hudson River to Waterford, New York, but not without a few headaches…of course! In our last post we left you at our anchorage in Haverstraw, and this week we had a goal to make it to the entrance of the Erie Canal. Why? Because my grandpa would be visiting in his RV to take in all the Erie Canal history alongside us. The only issue? We still hadn’t received word if the canal was open yet.

From Haverstraw we made our way up to the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson where we stayed at the Cornwall Yacht Club. The members were extremely helpful and beyond welcoming during our stay. Ripley, however, got herself in a little accident Tuesday night where she split her ear open. After a full night of constant bleeding, we realized she would require a vet visit for sutures to close the wound. Aside from it being an all-day affair at the emergency vet where we reluctantly had to put her under anesthesia, she came out looking better than before with plenty of pain meds to get her through the week.

Because our Wednesday cruising plans were shot, Thursday was a full 8-hour day moving north to Catskill, New York, where we dropped the hook for the night. If Ripley’s incident wasn’t enough for the week, we noticed a large chunk was missing from our dinghy motor propeller and needed immediate attention. Luckily Evan could order one from Amazon, but now it’s on our list of spare parts to keep on hand. Thank goodness there was an ice cream shack not far from our anchorage to end the day.

Finally, on Friday we rallied for a second 8-hour day up to Waterford, New York, which is the intersection where you have to decide if you’ll take the Champlain Canal or the Erie Canal up to Canada. As luck would have it, we received word Friday morning that the Erie Canal was officially open after weeks of flooding and repairs. We had always hoped that we would be able to take the Erie Canal, as it’s a shorter distance to Canada compared to the Champlain route, and this year is the canal’s 200th anniversary.

Luck was in our favor yet again when we pulled up to the free wall in Waterford with only one spot left where we fit right in. We spent the weekend recharging after a long week, spending time with my grandparents, and learning more about the Erie Canal. Right next to lock E-2 sits the original Erie Canal which was special to see considering they’re celebrating 200 years of the canal this year. We have the Erie Canal to thank for changing the scope of our nation’s development and we’re ecstatic to ride through such a monumental piece of history.

We’re looking forward to the 22 locks ahead before we head north up the Oswego Canal. Heading into the Erie is our first time heading west on this journey! Cheers to continuing the
adventure!