Friday, July 19: Amsterdam, NY

Date:                           July 19, 2013

Day on the Cruise:      95

From:                          Crescent Boat Club, Crescent, NY
                                       
To:                              Riverlink Park, Amsterdam, NY

Statute Miles:              33.0 SM

Time:                           5.50 Hrs

Cumulative Miles:       1,980.0 SM

On Board:                  Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut

Tonight we are at Amsterdam, NY

Amsterdam is West of Schenectady, which is the home of General Electric Company. Amsterdam was founded in 1710 by some Dutch settlers. It became a town in the early 1800's and its growth was heavily impacted by the development of the Erie Canal in the 1800's. Carpet became a very big product that was manufactured here, with Mohawk and Bigelow being two of the big companies that made the product in this town. Today all of the carpet mills have moved out of the area, and the old buildings along the Canal are derelict dinosaurs that are reminders that this is very much a part of the rust belt.

An old mill along the Canal at Amsterdam. Note all of the broken windows!

An old abandoned power plant along the Canal at Amsterdam. 

Another scorching day! Day 6 of the current heat wave in this region. It reached 96 today with the heat index well above 100 degrees. They have had like 14 days above 90 this year, which is very unusual. We ran the generator and AC in the cabin today, and kept the pets inside.

The trip over to Amsterdam today involved going through 4 locks. We have now come about 36 miles on the Canal and have transited 9 locks on the waterway. The Erie Canal is still following the Mohawk River. The River has narrowed since we entered it yesterday. We ran through a lot of no wake zones as we passed many boat clubs where boats are docked on the side of the Canal. We also passed some rowing shells that were in the channel. We had to go very slow by these fragile boats so as not to swamp them. We continue to surprised at the few boats that we are seeing going West bound. I guess they are all in front of us!

We left our slip at Crescent Boat Club this morning. Look at all of the water plants floating or growing along the dock!

Part of the Crescent Boat Club

Part of the Crescent Boat Club

The clubhouse at the Crescent Boat Club

Cruising on the Erie Canal. Looks like our Lake!

These dang rowing shells right along the channel

More rowing shells

An old stone aqueduct along the Canal near Schenectady, NY

Beautiful vista along the Canal. This is what I thought it would look like. 

Two big wooden row boats along the Canal. Our friend Monty would love these!

Thee wooden row boats are big!

A beautiful vista along the Canal with mountains along the South side

Approaching one of the Locks today. The Lock is on the left side of the dam.

Water cascading over the dam as we sit in the Lock

This is one of the dams that are formed by the swinging gates that we discussed in our trip to Lock 12 last week.

Late morning brought some very breezy conditions. The breeze was welcome to help with the heat, but it payed havoc with getting into and out of the last three locks. It also made it tough to hold the boat against the wall in these locks.

We had visited Amsterdam last week when we drove up here to view the lock repairs. We could not get to this park where we are docked from the city, but the pictures of the facility looked good. When we tried to call yesterday to make reservations, we could not get anyone to answer, so we pulled up to the dock today hoping to get a spot. The manager met us on the dock and we were the only boat here. No problem with getting a spot, but more boats are arriving as this is being written.

Approaching the park in Amsterdam

Some sort of old canal boat tied up along the wall

This is where we spent the night in Amsterdam

This is a very nice facility. It is owned by the City of Amsterdam and leased by a family who runs the dock and a restaurant here. We ate at the restaurant and it was excellent. We were served by the niece of the lessee, and all of the family was there in some capacity or the other working at the restaurant. Everyone came by the table to thank us for staying and dining with them. We think this dining experience was in our top 10 for the trip. Thanks for a great time!

Tomorrow we go about 40 miles West to Little Falls. We had a big line of thunderstorms come through about 10:00 tonight with strong winds and rain. The forecast is for thunderstorms tomorrow, but highs will only be in the low to mid 80's. This front coming through will break this heat wave, and the highs next week will be in the 80's and lows in the low to mid 60's. Much more like what we were looking for!

We are enjoying the beauty of the Erie Canal.

Thanks for Reading!