Merry Xmas

Real Tree

And not one of those ones where the needles fall off said the Xmas tree salesman :)

Happy 10th BDay Emily!

Moccasin Workshop

We ran a workshop and got to make our own moccasins today. This is Emily and mine.

Jackals Game

The Others

Wold Mushroom, French Onion Soup, and Shrimp Bisque...all were super yummy!

Cooking School in Charleston

Soups and Stews by Holly Herrick. She cooks, we eat!

Our First Two Soups

Lamb and vegetable stew and green lentil soup (with bacon)

Charleston

Arrived in the sunny south for a girls weekend.

Cohocton Fall Festival

Also my first picture from my new iPhone.

Incense

There is a statue on the lobby where they light incense every morning. I'm sure this is one of their deities but I don't know which one.

Separated from the Street

The driveway is separated from the main road by this decorative wall. Driving here is like Mexico - no real rules. It's like a crazy ballet. I'm surprised how agile everyone is in their vehicle. And their depth perception is unreal.

The Entry

Every time you enter you have to walk through the metal detector and your bag goes through a screener.

The Garden

Much more impressive from the ground floor. This is the open terrace where you are dropped off and picked up. The lobby entrance is off to the right.

My view

Overlooking the central garden. The weather is warm and for the most part has been sunny. A few rain drops the first day but otherwise nice. Days are in the 80s and evenings about 73.

My Dot

It matched my shirt. It was simply a bit of paprika.

The Lobby

We arrived in the early morning on Tuesday. After traveling for 30 hours we were greeting with a traditional Indian welcome - a prosperity dot.

Leela Palace

In India this week. This is our hotel in Bangalore.

Kickstarter!

I backed a mid century mailbox design based off of an old Sears mailbox and it arrived today. It came out even better than expected. Can't wait to get it mounted.

Off to 4th Grade!

First day of school already...can't believe it!

Entering Lock CS2/CS3

This is the 50' double lock right before Seneca Falls and we were headed up. Got to lock through with a nice couple on the boat ahead of us.

Lock Information

It was fun going through each lock. Everybody had a job to do to get us through.

The girls took turns calling the lock master to ensure the lock was ready for us when we about half a mile away. They called out "Lock 26, Lock 26, this is the Fair Dinkum requesting Eastward passage."

The lock master would answer and let us know if it was ready or how long of a wait. Most of the time the previous lock master would call ahead to the next lock for us so it was ready if no one was coming the other direction.

With the lock doors open and the light green we would slowly enter and we found it easier to land on our port side. I would ease to the wall and Beck would grab the rear line off the wall and hand it to me at the helm.

I would then use the bow thruster and the engine to maneuver us so she could jump up front and grab another rope to hold the front.

Once we had the ropes we held the boat to the wall (not easy with a 22 ton steel boat on locks with turbulence) and go up or down the lock wall.

We had it down after Thursdays 8 locks and had no problem on the way back. It was a lot of fun and something we'll always remember.

All by Ourselves

We didn't see much of anyone on the canal on our trip back yesterday. So we enjoyed a nice sail right down the middle of the canal.

Exiting Lock 27

NY State Canal Boats

Our friends on the canal

Captain Emily

Majestic

This is one of my favorite pictures so far in the Canal Port in Newark.

Another beautiful morning on the water

Woke up and took a walk this morning to get these great shots. Looks like a beautiful day for heading back to Seneca Falls and our last full day on the boat.

Lock 28B

It was a cool windy day yesterday but we pushed through 8 locks taking us from Seneca Falls to Newark where we stayed the night.

In the double locks

We cleared the double locks in Seneca Falls this morning.

Seneca Falls

We made it back up Seneca Lake yesterday and decided to dock in our slip for the night (it's free). We are off today to head to the actual Erie Canal.

The Glen Bridge and Story

The Stroller

The bosses house

This is our CEO's lake home on Seneca Lake.

Watkins Glen State Park

We hiked the Glen on Monday morning.

The Fair Dinkum

Here we are docked at the Village Marina in Watkins Glen.

Beck as Captain

Beck got to be captain throughout the day and did great.

Seneca Lake

We sailed the whole length of Seneca from Geneva to Watkins Glen where we are docked at the Village Marina. Perfect day and only took us about 6 hours.

Another beautiful sunset