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Aug. 31 - Waterford, NY

Completed Our Loop
Canal Welcome Center Dock

It may not be the great loop, but we completed the small loop today. We left Waterford on June 18, heading west on the Erie Canal and today we have returned, coming down the Champlain Canal...889 miles. We have gone through 103 locks, crossed a great lake, seen some amazing places and met a lot of wonderful people. By far our favorite places were the Thousand Islands and the first half of the Rideau Canal. The beauty is indescribable...it's a place you just have to see and experience to truly soak in the beauty. Pictures capture only one small part of it at a time. The water, the islands, the trees and the wonderful smell of fresh air and evergreens are memories I will keep forever. It's hard for me to find the words to do the experience justice. 

We enjoyed the larger cities of Ottawa, Montreal and Burlington with their farmers markets, shops and restaurants, but all the little towns in between were just as great. The real gems of the trip were the beautiful anchorages we found: Shanty Island, Morton Bay, Valcour Island, Kingsland Bay and Partridge Bay...each were a vacation in themselves. The thing that made this trip even better was the absolutely incredible weather. We were able to sleep with the windows open and woke up most mornings to temperatures in the 50s or 60s. The afternoon temperatures were in the mid 70s to low 80s. We had to keep reminding ourselves it was summer.

Our trip from Mechanicville to Waterford today was very short...only nine miles. We went through our last two locks on the Champlain Canal and have the Troy Federal Lock to go through when we leave here. We'll definitely be glad to be done with the locks. It felt nice to be back to a familiar place where we already know where things are...like Don & Paul's Cafe. Their special on Friday is a fish fry, so we went there for lunch. We met another couple (Pat and Wayne) on the dock from Texas, who are heading up the Erie Canal. It was nice to see someone else from home. Laura and Bill on Kindred Spirit III, who we met in Kingston Ontario, also arrived today. So we all got together this evening on Envoy to exchange stories. We'll spend the weekend here...hiding from the holiday weekend craziness on the water and start heading down the Hudson on Tuesday.

Coming into Waterford

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