Tuesday July 6, 2021.
Temp: 84/74, Humidity: 61/89%, Top Wind: W14 mph, Precip: rain, Miles Traveled: 25, #of Locks: 0, Lift Bridges: 7
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It was warm and humid today, with a bit of rain. At least we didn’t get hit by the big thunderstorm that went by! But wait – back to the beginning. What is today, anyway? Oh yea, we left Brockport this morning. There was a lift bridge right in town that we had to get through and we were only planning to go about 25 miles today. We didn’t get up early schmirly, but we still left before anybody else was stirring. We called the lift bridge at 8:00, and we got right through.
Almost all of the lift bridges that we’ve been through have looked like this.
Remember that I wanted to ride our bikes to the next town that was only four miles away? But we didn’t? So for today’s adventure I had convinced the Captain that we should pull over in Holley and go for a walk through the park and see the waterfall. ”Whatever”, says he. 🤦♀️. So we pulled over and tied up along the wall in Holley. There was another looper boat there but we didn’t visit with them. We just went out for our walk.
There was a nice welcoming gazebo area right here along the wall.
The garden was well tended, and the flowers were sure pretty.
I had no idea where we were going, so we found a map board that sort of helped. It looked like there were two ways to get to the waterfall. Of course I picked what appeared to be the long way. It started out as a paved bath and it was so peaceful and pretty in the park.
Then we turned down a gravel road deeper into the woods. Of course I’m thinking… oh great – we’re going down, which means we have to come back up, and Captain is going to be grumpy. It’s what he does. He reminded me that he even complains when he has to walk to get beer. He has cranky hip flexors or something, so walking is usually not comfortable for him.
We found the little valley where the waterfall is, and it was a nice peaceful and pretty area. There was nobody else around this morning, but I’m sure it gets visited a lot on nice days.
We followed a trail around that seemed like it should take us back up toward the canal where the boat was. There was this field of probably weeds, but they were all the same height like they’d been mowed and then flowered. I put my camera down low for the picture and it turned out kinda neat.
Whew! I did not get into great big giant trouble! The trail brought us out just down the canal from the boat. It was only about 9:00 in the morning, but it was toasty out here! We were sweating and thankful that there was some wind blowing. We got back to the boat and called the bridge operator to open the Holley bridge. Apparently this poor guy has two bridges to tend that are three miles apart. I asked the other looper people if a westbound boat had been through while we were walking. Yep – so the tender would be a few minutes before he’d get back to us. So we visited with the loopers and found out that they really aren’t looping right now. This is their home area, but they like to winter in Florida near where his mom lives…. in Bradenton! It’s crazy how many people we run into that have connections to the Sarasota-Bradenton area!
The bridge tender got back and let us through, then he had to drive back west to the bridge three miles away where he just came from, to let us through that one too. What a crazy job!
Even though the sky was nice and blue a few minutes ago, some rain found us! Things got a little bit soggy, but it didn’t last too long. Although, there were weather warnings on the phone for a big thunderstorm that looked like was going to pass just to the south of us. We kept hoping so!
We were certainly in an agriculture area. There were hundreds of acres of corn.
This home and out buildings were unique with their bright copper colored roofs! They were so bright!
By about 11:00, we arrived in Albion. This bridge tender has three bridges to tend, and when we called for an opening, somebody replied to tell us that he’d just gone to the one down the road, so we’d have to wait a bit. There must be a boat just a few miles ahead of us that is keeping the bridge tenders moving west just before we arrive, then we have to bring them back and have them travel west with us!
We decided to just tie up to the wall and wait.
I got off the boat and went for a stroll along the canal. I was quite a ways past the bridge looking at things when I heard the bridge sound it’s ‘ding-ding-ding’ alarm to stop traffic. UH-OH! He’s back!! So I turned around and ran back to the boat. As I ran past the tender’s tower, and elderly man leaned out and said ‘you don’t have to run! no rush!’. Fortunately Kenny had the engines running, I got us untied, and we were moving out in no time. Whew!
Here is looking into the town of Albion as we went by. Check out that bad nasty cloud! That’s what we’ve been hoping to avoid!
We went through more pretty farmland with some neat barns and old buildings. The elderly man was the bridge tender, and he opened the next two bridges for us. He got there before us, so we didn’t even have to call.
When the landscape opened up like this, it felt like we were in an irrigation ditch again.
There were even some orchards. And we have seen SO MANY Canadian Geese! I guess they can’t get home with the border closed. 🤷♀️
There is only one place where a road goes UNDER the Erie Canal, and we went over it today. You could go right on by and not realize it, but I was watching for it.
I found this picture on the interweb. This isn’t us of course, but it gives an idea of what it looks like!
More farms. This one had a neat old barn and a nice small wood cabin in front of it.
After seven lift bridges and two extra wall dockings, we reached our destination of Medina. I got my ears on and ready for docking procedures.
This is Medina. Fortunately, there was only a couple of boats here, so there was no issue getting a spot with power. We were looking forward to some air conditioning, because this heat and humidity were not comfy.
We cooled down for awhile, then I decided that I better go take a stroll. We checked out the Google to see if there was any place that we really needed to check out, and most watering holes are closed today. Darn. How can a place have Taco Tuesday if they aren’t even open on Tuesdays?!
On my walk I found this house where the sign said that a gal named Frances Folsom lived here in the mid 1870’s with her grandmother. When she was 21, in 1886, she married President Grover Cleveland. Wait. What? Was he already president when she married him at age 21? I need to ask the Google. Hang on… I’ll be right back.
OMG – it’s true! Here’s what Mr. Wiki says:
A long-time close friend of Oscar Folsom, Grover Cleveland met his future wife when she was an infant and he was twenty-seven years old. He was fond of her, buying her a baby carriage and doting on her as she grew up. When her father died in a carriage accident on July 23, 1875, without having written a will, the court appointed Cleveland administrator of his estate. She attended Central High School in Buffalo and Medina High School in Medina, New York. Cleveland proposed marriage to Frances in the spring of 1885 when she visited Washington D.C. with her mother. They were married on June 2, 1886 in the Blue Room of the White House. Cleveland was aged forty-nine, Frances, twenty-one. She remains the youngest wife of a sitting president in history.
This is the St Mary’s Catholic Church. It was magnificent. I couldn’t get a good picture of the whole building, but it is made of Medina Stone. It’s not super duper old, built in 1902, but I love this stone! It is a type of sandstone.
Discovered around the time of the digging of the Erie Canal in the 1820s and accepted as a superlative building material, it was quarried for over a century in Orleans County and shipped world-wide for architectural masterpieces. Find it in Buckingham Palace, Brooklyn Bridge, the NYS Capitol, thousands of homes, earlier in cobblestone streets. It has strength and integrity, plus unmatched beauty in many shades.
Awe – some pretty pink coneflowers!
This is the First Baptist Church, built in 1872 of Medina sandstone. This stone is more white and tan and dark than the reddish tint that so many of the buildings have. But it has a red door!
This is just an old stone house that I have no history on.
Another neat old square brick house.
This old house was getting a make over. What a pile of work, but won’t it be beautiful?!
Medina has a huge railroad museum, but I din’t go in. It was pretty neat that it was in an old building that looked like it had been a railroad station. I’ve read that there is a very large collection of scale model trains there.
This building said it was Medina Cold Storage. I don’t know if that is what it is now, or used to be, but it was neat no matter what.
I finally found the little tiny visitor’s center! I didn’t bother them since I was ready to head back to the boat for some coolness.
And, here she is!
Meanwhile, we took a look at what is happening back at home in Florida. The storm Elsa is now a cat 1 hurricane, and should be passing Sarasota just offshore.
Wind and rain, and hopefully no tornados! We’re praying for safety for our friends and neighbors, and hopefully our home’s power won’t be out for too long.
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From here in Medina, we are just 5 lift bridges, two locks, and 34 miles away from Tonawanda, the western end of the Erie Canal. We’re thinking we’d like to go all the way there tomorrow, but the weather around here is calling for more rain. The high temperature for tomorrow is predicted to be a little bit cooler, with lotsa chance of rain. Thursday looks cooler and even wetter. We might just have to sit around in Tonawanda for a couple of days. I know you can get wet going to Niagra Falls, but I don’t really want to go in the rain!