Sunday July 4, 2021.
Temp: 75/60, Humidity: 45/93%, Top Wind: NE9 mph, Precip: none!, Miles Traveled: 14 on bikes, #of Locks: 0
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The advantage of staying in one place for more that one night? Sleep-in day!! AND…. breakfast! It was really nice to just get up whenever we wanted, and then the chef made pancakes and bacon. It was nice to have a sit down breakfast for a change! Too bad I didn’t have any bubbly for mimosas, because the weather was perfect for it. I sat outside for awhile and it was beautiful. The high temp on the survey for today was 75. That’s awesomely perfectly comfortable in every way.
We saw a few kayaks meander by, and then a few sculling craft. These crazy toothpicks were barely wide enough for a normal size butt!
After breakfast, we got down Speedy and Speedo, the electric bikes. With this high wall that we’re tied up to, it wasn’t a big lift to get them down from the hardtop. My idea was to ride to the next town along the canal trail. There is a really nice wide trail that follows the canal all the way to Buffalo! I thought it was about three miles. Woops. It was seven. 😳. But we finally found ourselves in Pittsford. There was a cute little area along the canal, and a few boats were here. The only thing open was a gelato shop. There is a brewery here that I was hoping would be open, because after SEVEN miles, I certainly owed my buddy a beer!
We walked around a bit and looked for town. It was over a bridge to the west just a bit. This sign said that this section of the Erie Canal originally opened in 1822.
We found a neat old Federal style hotel building that was built around 1812 to serve the canal.
One item that was on my “check-it-out” list was the Village Bakery in Pittsford. I looked on the Google, and it generally is open on Sunday – so we went to scope it out. YAHOO! It’s open until 3:00, and it was 2:30. Whew!
We went in and each ordered a samich and an iced latte. Everything was so good! I had a turkey bacon samich on a croissant. 😋
Unfortunately, they didn’t have much for baked goods available this late in the day, so we didn’t get anything to take home with us.
There were some beautiful flowers along our walk.
A neat old brick building, built originally in 1842 as the village school.
Then it was the Masonic Lodge. It is now a private residence.
One of the many churches that we saw in town.
This is the Town Hall, built in 1890. I liked the brick work and the variety of intricate designs in the brick.
More beautious flowers! Check out these tropical centerpieces!
Back at the waterfront, Kenny was impressed with the apparent conversion of the silos into condos!
Back to the trail.
Pittsford has a really nice promenade along the canal, and there were a lot of people out and about, enjoying this beautifully perfect Fourth of July weather.
This is what much of the trail looked like. It was mostly this really fine gravel. There were a few places that were paved. One thing I didn’t get pictures of was the waterfowl. There were Canadian Geese and ducks every once in awhile, and they were NOT afraid of people running or walking, or bicycles zipping by. They were sitting ducks. There was even a momma duck with about eight babies that we squatted in the middle of the path, and none of them even flinched as we went by.
I tried to get a selfie of us riding, and got hollered at by my wingman. I’m a total clutz, and he was sure I was going to end up in the canal. He was right… I don’t ride this e-bike with one hand very well, that’s for sure.
This little wooden gnome tree was cute, and was surrounded by inspirational painted rocks, so on our way by the second time, I stopped for some pics.
‘Never underestimate yourself’. ‘Seriously, it does not matter what they think’. ‘You got this’. ‘Make the call’.
’Disappointments can be openings’. ‘You matter’. ‘Go where your heart leads’.
So after 14 miles on the Erie Canal, our butts are toast. Even with our big butt seats on our bikes, we are not used to putting miles on! So we chillaxed for awhile and I wrote some stuff for you to read. Then I went to see if there was anything open in Fairport. I found this house, which is totally fitting for July 4! Let Freedom Ring!
Ah ha! The Moonlight Creamery was open, so I bought two double scoop bowls of ice cream, then walked super fast back to the boat.
After ice cream settled, we walked up to the Fairport Brewing spot. They only had six beers on tap, and not much else, so Kenny had a hazy IPA and I had a diet coke. It was a neat old historic building that once had been a gas station. The owner told us that under the wooden floor, there was still the old garage lift that was too expensive to remove, so they just built a floor over it.
Next door was the Green Lantern / Cellar Door. I think it might be an Inn?
What a cool old building! If it was in black and white, it might be a good Munster’s house!
The historical info board outside said that it was built in 1876 by the DeLand family. They also contributed significantly to build the Baptist church across the street, as long as the doors of the church and the doors of the mansion were directly across the street from each other.
Here is the Baptist church.
I found a mule named Sal that works on the Erie Canal. He let me have my picture taken with him. ☺️
I think tomorrow we will continue west on the canal. It is forecasted to be about 90 degrees again. Several things will still be closed here in Fairport for the official holiday, so we might as well move on. Maybe something will be open in the new destination. There is a lift bridge right here in town (the one with all different angles) that opens on demand, but only starting at 7:00am, so we can’t leave any earlier than that. The story on the bridge? Reportedly, it is in the Guiness Book of Records because one end is higher than the other, it is built on a slant, and no two angles on the entire bridge are the same. 🤷♀️