It was a gift to Jon for his birthday. A ride through Lock #5 on the Champlain Canal and up the Hudson River on the Caldwell Belle.
It’s a 50-year-old paddle boat that used to hold up to 60 passengers and now gives rides to six people at a time. The Lock in Schuylerville NY is only a half hour from the farm, but for the almost two hours that we were on the boat, it felt like we were someplace far from home.
Captain Marla answered our questions about the history of the boat and the canal. She made us feel comfortable and welcomed.
Mostly it was relaxing to just sit on the deck of the boat and watch the mostly wooded shore, pass us by. I kept an eye out for the big birds, and we saw lots of them including a Bald Eagle, Osprey, Egrets, Herons, and Cormorants.
Jon likes boats more than I do, so I thought it would be a good gift for him. And it’s my kind of boat ride because the water is calm and you can always see land on both sides.
I could tell by the smile on Jon’s face and how relaxed he was that he was enjoying himself. He also wrote about it in a way that makes me want to do it again.
Jon taking a picture of one of the old Locks
