Goodman's Journey
  • Home
  • Blogroll

Eerie Canal at Lockport

8/8/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
_8 Aug. 2011 Today we left Niagara Falls and drove up to Lockport, New York about 30 miles away.  Why Lockport you say…to cruise the Erie Canal of course.  Lockport has the only set of two locks that are left on the 363 miles of the Erie Canal and it was just too close to pass up.  Our goal for a parking location was again with the Elks and it proved to be a great spot.  The parking lot for the Elks in Niagara Falls was a parking lot that they shared with a large Factory Outlet complex.  Yes, they had a great 30amp electrical hook-up and were great people but this location is different.  First off the Elks location here in Lockport is about 3 miles outside of town, the town is much smaller, it has a very famous Erie Canal running right through the middle of it, and there are 4 cement pads with a good 30amp service just for our comfort. 

It’s still amazes us how much the economy has hurt this summer’s tourism.  Looking back on our trip so far, Chicago is the only place that the streets, tourist’s offices, tourist buses, and tourist hot spots showed things were good, not hot but good.  Even Niagara Falls was down considerably.  At times around the falls, it looked busy enough, but 200 yards away it was like a ghost town.  

Well enough….we’re here and we’re going to enjoy it all.  After parking the coach and hooking up , we drove into town to see which Canal tour we could get on.  There are only two tours going out each day now and the first one was just leaving the dock so we purchased our tickets for the next one 2 1/2 hours away.  To kill a little time we drove into town to explore the streets and see what kind of “trouble” we could get into.  Again the town was empty of people even in the visitor center.  We were there by ourselves.  Following our time in the VS we stepped outside and found a tour bus with a lady driver sitting in one of the seats visiting with a friend….  As we walked up she got all excited and invited us to get out of the rain and and take a free tour of the town with her.  Well we didn’t have anything else to do for the next couple of hours so we jumped aboard.  It was a good tour and “Debbie” was a great tour operator that really liked her job.



Picture
_With Debbie’s help we walked through the 2 hours quickly and then made our way back to the dock for our cruise.  Lockport Locks has two tour boats and for $26 we enjoyed a great hour and a half ride through the double locks and canal.  A lot of the Erie Canal was built by blasting out the 20 foot high stone walls with gun powder left over from the War of 1812.  The original canal was enlarged twice up to today.  The use of the canal has changed considerably with the commerical barge changing places with the pleasure boating crowd.

Picture
_The total rise over the 363 miles of canal is 570 feet once it reaches the Great Lakes from the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean.  Today while we were in locks 34 and 35 we had a rise and fall of 49 feet and all that was done by closing both doors on the locks and allowing the water to flood in and out without any help from pumps.  Nothing has changed in that regard since the opening of the canal. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    *Locations*

    All
    Amsterdam
    Austria
    Belgium
    Bosnya
    Canada
    Croatia
    Czech Republic
    Egypt
    England
    Estonia
    France
    Germany
    Germany Part 2
    Greece
    Hungary
    Ireland
    Italy
    Latvia
    Lithuania
    Luxembourg
    Madrid
    Mexico
    Mexico Bcs
    MX - Cabo San Lucas
    Netherlands
    Poland
    Portugal
    Scotland
    Serbia
    Slovakia
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Switzerland
    Turkey
    USA - Alabama
    USA - Alaska
    USA - Arizona
    USA - California
    USA - Colorado
    USA - Florida
    USA - Georgia
    USA - Idaho
    USA - Illinois
    USA - Indiana
    USA - Kentucky
    USA - Louisiana
    USA - Maine
    USA - Maryland
    USA - Massachusetts
    USA - Michigan
    USA - Minnesota
    USA - Mississippi
    USA - Montana
    USA - Nevada
    USA - New Jersey
    USA - New Mexico
    USA - New York
    USA - North Dakota
    USA - Ohio
    USA - Oregon
    USA - Pennsylvania
    USA - Seattle
    USA - South Dakota
    USA - Tennessee
    USA - Texas
    USA - Utah
    USA - Vermont
    USA - Washington
    USA - Wisconsin
    USA - Wyoming
    Utrecht Nl
    Wales


    *Archives*

    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    July 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007
    December 2006
    November 2006
    October 2006
    September 2006
    August 2006
    July 2006
    June 2006
    May 2006
    April 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    January 2006
    December 2005
    November 2005
    October 2005
    September 2005
    August 2005
    July 2005
    June 2005
    May 2005
    April 2005
    March 2005
    February 2005
    January 2005
    December 2004
    November 2004
    October 2004
    September 2004
    August 2004
    July 2004
    June 2004
    May 2004
    April 2004
    March 2004
    February 2004
    January 2004
    December 2003

© 2020 Lakeside Local, LLC