Rome to Canada

9/24/19

We tied up yesterday afternoon at Rome, NY, the highest point on the canal, and the place where the work on it was begun in 1817. There was a tour of Ft, Stanwicx, a recreation of a pre-Revolutionary War fort. It would be a good place to visit with grand-kids to give them a feel for life in the early days of the country. The barracks are low ceilinged and dark, and despite the thick log walls and large fireplaces, they would have been frigid in the winter. The fort is surrounded by serious defenses, including a ring of pointed logs planted in the earth, the razor wire of its time. It was built at Rome because in those days it was a strategic portage. Growing up in New England, with reminders of colonial times and the founding of the country in forts and buildings and graveyards, American history was very real to me. But reading Jill Lepore’s excellent history, These Truths, I’m aware of what a whitewashed and limited view of that history I grew up with, and I’m a little embarrassed by my ignorance.

We left Rome at six this morning. Watching out our porthole I saw the entry into the first descending lock of our passage. Cruise life has settled into a pleasant routine. We’ve shared meals at tables for eight with most of the passengers. There are brief hints of political differences, but everyone politely backs away from them. There are movies and lectures (no better than the first, but I’ve gotten used to his style) and there is a great deal of sitting and watching the water and the shore from inside and on the deck. Yesterday afternoon Jay and I were sitting in a sheltered part of the bow when the rain came pouring down. We watched the rain until the wind shifted and our perch was in its path. It was quite lovely to watch the rain on a boat.

We had rain on and off this morning, including on our passage through Lake Oneida, which was beautiful. It was a pleasant change to be in a big body of water after the narrow passage through the canal. This afternoon, at Three Rivers, we left the Erie Canal which continues on to Buffalo, and entered the Oswego Canal. Tonight we’re docked at the mouth of the Canal, in the town of Oswego, and tomorrow morning we’ll head out into Lake Ontario and the Canadian border.

9/26/19

Sadly, my entry from yesterday was lost to spotty internet service, so I’ll see what I can remember. We explored Oswego as far as the laundromat – just a few blocks from where we docked. I have an odd feeling of separation from the places we land, something different about boat travel from travel by car or train. I’m not sure what accounts for the difference – perhaps it’s partly that the pace and mode of boat travel seems so different from what’s happening on land, perhaps also it’s because we travel with the same group of people, our own little boat tribe. Going ashore is different from getting out of a car or stepping off a train.

The boat left Oswego at 4:00 in the morning and headed out into Lake Ontario. The captain managed a quiet departure, without firing the noisy thrusters. But even without the noise, the change in the boat woke us. The lake was not especially choppy but the open water was very different from the confines of the canal. We slept until dawn and woke to a cloudy but beautiful sunrise, with pink clouds over the grey water. The lake is huge, you might even say great. We crossed northeast towards the entrance to the St. Lawrence River, an area called Thousand Islands – and yes, it’s where the dressing was created. The Thousand Islands are not dramatic, but it is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been. I tried some photographs, but I don’t have the skill to capture the beauty and complexity of the place. The islands come in a wide range of sizes. We were told that to be counted as an island an outcrop had to be at least a foot square, stay at least a foot above water all year, and host a bush or tree. We saw quite a few that just met that criteria, but also plenty of large islands with communities of grand houses. Perhaps it’s the variety that makes it so pleasing. A small island with a single modest cottage is just a short boat ride or swim across from a very substantial island with half a dozen impressive homes, and nearby is a tiny island with the required single tree. An aerial view would capture the complexity, but it would miss the variety of the uses people have made of the islands.

There were two tours, the first of Singer Castle and the second was Boldt Castle, both on islands of their own. I got off at Singer Castle and followed the tour for a few minutes, but I was more interested in the beautiful grounds and view than in the grand, but rather strange “hunting lodge”. I skipped Boldt Castle entirely, but Bruce and Maggie and Jay and I had a pleasant stroll though the little town of Alexandria Bay where we cleared US Customs. The rules for ship travel are a little different from air travel, requiring that you clear customs as you exit one country and again as you enter the next. Alexandria Bay was our last US port, a cute little tourist town with a half dozen streets of restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. We found an artists co-op, and I bought a few cards with prints of local scenes to send to the grandkids.

We set out this morning at about 3:00 (thrusters and all) for a day’s sail up the St. Lawrence, passing through seven locks. These locks are huge by comparison to the Erie and Oswego Canals, and the St. Lawrence Seaway carries serious boat traffic including tankers that dwarf our little home. We won’t reach Montreal until noon tomorrow. It’s grey and rainy, and we have our first chilly weather. A week away from home, I’m missing Charlie and Hazel and our beautiful hill. But I’m excited to be on the Canadian leg of the trip, and not at all tired of cruising. Even though I have so few responsibilities and commitments at home, it’s pleasantly liberating to have even fewer.