our final day in ADK territory

We grabbed a bite for breakfast and got on the road. This would be our last (half) day on this year's DART trip and we still want to do one more scenic by way...

We had a bit of a hard time finding this- and honestly the whole network of byways could be a bit better marked - but eventually we did locate the:

This byway followed along the old Erie Canal -

below- one side of the tow path has grown over mostly with bushes and the other is now a road- the canal itself - no longer used is covered with late summer algae.

 

 

you may not be able to read the badly maintained sign but it says that even as late as 1900 more than 175 boats a day passed through the closest lock-

we headed onward following the map I now had in a photo in my camera to navigate- and finally happened upon a sign!

we got out to explore and crossed a metal grate of a bridge which traveled over a waterfall-

and arrived at a pristine lock- clearly still in use-

and it didn't take us too long- LOL- to figure out this was the other side of the lock we had found on our very first afternoon of the trip-  LOCK 3! And, it wasn't on the Champlain to Hudson Canal but on the Erie (just not well marked on the opposite bank) the Champlain canal is in Waterford and nearby- it was just that this was not that canal (never was - LOL- despite our belief as we started off the trip)

we laughed- this was seriously poetic- a literal full circle to match our "round trip" -

but there was more to see of canals on this side of the system - because there were a number of locks in close proximity and a road along the canal connecting them-

below- Lock 4

then several more-

this is looking down river at Lock 4 - shown a few photos above from below-

while in a parking lot figuring out exactly where we were and where we wanted to go, I spied a car with an old guy in a baseball cap sitting in another car. I went over to pick his brain and he told us he was there to watch the lock open because there were tow boats coming through this series of locks any minute now... and while we missed them heading through the Lock 4 gates, we raced back to Lock 3 to watch the process... we checked the time because from here we would need to go straight to the airport- but we couldn't pass up this opportunity for icing on the cake---

coming in to lock 3- first one and then their companions boat (they were traveling together and talking on cell phones between the boats about plans down river and stopping for lunch- LOL)

then the lights signal that the lock is closing behind them-

 

here you can see the upper gates closed behind them-

 

water begins to pump into the river below the lock in front of the lower gates

the boats begin to "sink" and then sink some more - until the level of the lower river is reached and the lower gates open and they motor through- and on down river under the same bridge I photographed on day one about an hour into the trip!

after they passed and we were headed back to the car for the final leg of the journey I caught a glimpse of an incredible spider web in one of the ladder wells along the canal-

and so our journey ended- and here is the byways map with an orange outline around all the places we went during the eight full days of ADK DART---

 

and now- I am heading in two days back to Florida for my last "decorating" foray- when I get back we are off to NYC for a week and then friends visit for four days and then China!!!!  So as always- stay tuned for more fun and food and actually at least two plays scheduled at our local theaters before we leave for China... so lots to do! 

off we go....finally

OK- You probably thought about now that you were never going to get to hear about the ADK DART trip- but never fear- we begin.....

I arrived first to ALB airport but TB was only a half hour behind me. Our first challenge was the rental car- we had both reserved and since his was the cheaper we went to Enterprise first- they gave us Toyota Avalon and we headed out to the garage to find that between the time we left the rental car counter and arrived in the garage they changed the car- soooo - we renegotiated with a customer service oriented employee and got the mid sized SUV for the same price... so off we go...

we headed east- why? just because - we don't plan an itinerary ahead on DART - it just sort of unfolds... we learned long ago "you can't see it all in one trip" so we have ideas but nothing set and no reservations along the route we ultimately choose.

our first photo of the trip was taken in Troy NY after crossing the Hudson River - we wanted to hook up with the Lakes to Locks Scenic Byways (the Scenic Byways map for north country NY was our general guide for the entire trip) but as we headed north through and out of Troy to Waterford, I spied a turn off for a lock  just as we crossed a bridge and so our first "official stop" was Lock # 3 - on what we believed was the Champlain and Hudson Canal (more on that much much later)

here are some photos:

 

 

a dry dock operation at the lock-

 

as we were leaving the lock area we spied a "junk yard" for the traffic signal department- and so we headed over there to explore before we left and got back on the byway--- I saw some interesting groupings of "junk" that I thought may make for good additions to the industrial detritus photos I have taken in the past-

you know when archeologists of the future dig back to our era this is the kind of thing they will find - and I wonder -what will they say about our culture and society?

but we couldn't stay too long because it was already late afternoon and we had a ways to go before we could find beds for the night- since many of the roads we were on we really off the beaten path -

heading north still- we spied a place that called itself the Ice Cream Hall of Fame- so we were up for checking out how worthy the ice cream may be.  As we approached the entrance we found that the farm where the Hall of Fame was located was also a working farm with fresh picked corn for sale.

the ice cream choices were many and while I am not sure I would rank it Hall of Fame level - the ice cream was good and since we both had been traveling the entire day on food free flights (LOL) we were happy to have run into this spot along the byway...

Next we found ourselves in the National Park Service Park of the Saratoga Battlefield.  We arrived just before closing time at 4:55 so we got an audio tour CD and headed off along the drive- which they told us would last about 2.5 hours if we got out at all the stops - we didn't get out at every one but did a some that seemed to have some point of interest. One heck of a battle over the weeks it was fought and the audio helped bring the Revolutionary War into focus for us.  We would be traveling over many sites of the war and this gave us some sense of the place and times back then...

the visitor's center-

by the time we completed that exploration we had traveled less than 50 miles - LOL and had taken more than 5.5 hours- LOL and it was after seven when we spotted a place to eat along the road. I mentioned to TB that we have to be cognizant of the time because while we have plenty of places in the cities we live in to go out for something after 10 PM here our choices would be quite limited.  We chose Sally's Hen House for the name... and the moose our front didn't hurt...

the soup of the day - spinach mac and cheese- which didn't match the mac and cheeseburger soup in eastern WA a few years back-

we shared the peanut butter chocolate cake-

the moose out front-

the sign-

after dinner we continued north and just as night fell we crossed into Vermont (the closest bigger town was Rutland VT so we headed there for the first night - found tow rooms at the Holiday Inn and crashed with a plan for the morning to eat in the hotel restaurant if it looked good and then head south for a small detour to Weston VT to the Vermont Country Store.

here is a photo(basically taken in the dark) of TB by the VT sign - this was his first trip to VT and over the course of our DART we would head into VT for very brief periods three times total - LOL so TB has now been to VT three times!

see you on day two --- safe journeys!