Our first, extended cruising adventure climaxed in early August with our arrival in Central New York, our designated vacation location for this summer. We booked a month’s dockage for Sojourner at Ess-Kay Boat Yard in Brewerton and commenced to play! Brewerton is on the Erie Canal portion of the Oneida River, just west of Lake Oneida and is as close to Syracuse as Sojourner can get. In addition to being a highly competent, full-service boat yard, Ess-Kay is a great marina and proved to be a wonderful place to serve as our vacation home base: friendly, skilled staff; lovely setting; easy access to the canals, Lake Oneida, and friends in Syracuse.
CNY scenery
After a cool, wet summer, central New York put on a real weather show for us, and we had a great month filled with warm, sunny days and cool, gentle evenings. During our stay, we entertained and travelled with family; we also entertained and were entertained by friends and generally, we simply enjoyed ourselves. It was great to have Doug, Sarah and grandsons Isaac and Owen on the boat for a day and the previously described trip to Oswego with Doug and Isaac will remain a highlight of this whole adventure!! Our good friend (and Wilmington NC host), Tanya was a scheduled speaker for the last week of Chautauqua’s summer season and planned to spend the week after with us cruising the canals. An unfortunate summer cold delayed her arrival from Chautauqua, but we had fun while she was with us! Finally, we really wanted to spend significant time with friends dating back to Carolyn’s law school days in Syracuse: Maurie –and Dominique, and Susan –and Sue; and while there is never enough time with dear friends, we took great pleasure being in one another’s company for such an extended period. We thoroughly enjoyed being briefly BY the water rather than ON it during our stays at The Lake House, Sue and Susan’s summer home on Tuscarora Lake, and while there, the chance to see and visit with Susan’s Mom, Phoebe, Sojourner’s Honorary Crew from Boca Raton, and of course, Susan’s 60th Birthday Bash!
What a crew!!
We have equally fond memories of our stays “in the city” with Maurie, Dominique, and “Zazie,” their irrepressible standard poodle! And, of course, it is always fun to introduce friends from very different segments of our lives, and we were able to do that with Tanya, Maurie and Dominique when all five of us took a day to visit Seneca Falls, the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame before driving on to Skaneateles to revisit where Carolyn lived while in Law School and to enjoy a delightful dinner by the Lake.
The month passed more quickly that we could possiby have imagined and we are already making plans for another vacation in Central New York next year!! More pix of our CNY experience
