Surprise: A Taking Unawares {Intuition Diaries}

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV)

We were surprised to see this airplane moored along the Erie Canal.

We had a nice respite in Ithaca. We woke up to fog, but it lifted early enough so that we made our way back across Cayuga Lake and to the canal. You may not be aware that the Erie Canal has changed it's route over the years. The original canal way used to go through Syracuse, NY. Now it uses existing rivers and lakes to connect the western half of the canal to where it intersects with the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. 

After leaving Ithaca, we worked our way through the Cayuga-Seneca Lock 1 to  the Seneca River. We passed an old part of the canal that used to go over the Seneca river.

The abandoned aqueduct that used to
carry the canal over Seneca River.

We made it to Baldwinsville, where it would be our last night with electricity for a couple nights, so we charged up all our electronics. Les caught up on our laundry and I cooked. I made turkey burgers with celery and apple in them, with a side of some spicy baked beans with green chilies, fresh pineapple and pure maple syrup, instead of brown sugar. Then I cooked the rest of the ground turkey into taco filling for later in the week. My big surprise of the evening was homemade chocolate mousse that actually chilled and set in the cooler. 

Yumilicious!

This morning, I woke up with the sun. We wanted to get an early start, in order to visit the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. Our plan was to cross Onondaga lake and work our way into the inner harbor, then ride bikes to the museum. 

Lock 24 at Baldwinsville

We made it to the entrance of the little canal that takes you into the harbor, and the area was cordoned off with ropes. Big equipment blocked our way and the water was shallow. None of our guide books prepared us for this obstacle. We went back to a little marina, and they were unaware of any reason for the entrance to be closed, but also didn't offer us any solution for getting in either. 

We regrouped and had lunch in the nearby town of Liverpool at The Retreat, a nice dinner club type restaurant. After lunch I walked around the town, while Les got a haircut. Then we stocked up on some more ice and supplies at a local IGA. We got back to the boat a bit disappointed about missing out on the museum, but determined to enjoy the rest of the day. (As you can guess, I was the most disappointed.)

It was the one thing that I specifically asked to plan the trip around, besides going to Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, which is on the itinerary for Saturday. We hope to find a museum later down the canal that gives us an overview of the history of the canal.

Lock 23

We had a nice cruise to our next destination. We passed through Lock 23, and then we noticed the Hold Fast II moored along the canal. We stopped to say hi to George and Jane, and decided to get gas at the marina. They invited us to consider staying there, but I wanted to get to the lake to possibly swim. (The canal water hasn't been very enticing for swimming.) 

So we pushed off from the dock to find a mooring for the night in Brewerton. We drove by the docks around 4:30pm, which looked out on lake Oneida. The free docks were near rowdy restaurants, so we passed them by. Once on the lake, we both had the same idea of anchoring out on the lake somewhere. 

In fact, we decided to push forward the throttle and make our way to Sylvan Beach (25 miles ahead) for the night. We anchored out by 6:00pm. We had nachos for dinner and watched the sun set. What a nice surprise. Most likely we wouldn't have gone this far, if we had been able to get into Syracuse.

And now we can spend more time on the beach and at the amusement park tomorrow. I may surprise myself and even ride the 1950s era roller coaster.