26-30 May 2014
As we say “Caw-Caw-Caw” to our seagull friends in the Oswego Harbor, we swing out into Lake Ontario and head west to Rochester. Rochester is sort of on the loop, boats that have an “air draft” of more than 15 feet need to get off the Erie Canal and head into Lake Ontario. Choices are then to go West, past Rochester, exiting Lake Ontario via the Welland Canal into Lake Erie. Second choice is to go north from Oswego into Canada and take the Trent-Severn Canal into Huron. This is our plan.
But first a stop in Rochester to see my sister, and to pick up the packages we’ve sent to her house. They range from the small (needle valves to inflate the fenders) to the large (22″ ball fender for the locks). It was quite a pile waiting for us.
West across Lake Ontario was pretty dull, other than the amazing bright blue waters of Ontario. Our Chesapeake Bay is a green blue, the ocean along NJ is more green than blue, and due to the rains the Hudson and Erie Canal were brown. Lake Ontario is a bright sapphire blue, the color you see in all those tropical island commercials, but with a 35F temperature difference.
A little over 5 hours after departure we scooted down Irondequoit Bay to the far southern end. The bay was loaded with boaters enjoying (finally) the arrival of summer. We headed into Southpoint Marina under a pretty blustery wind that had picked up. With some adept help of the dock staff and our new boat neighbors, Quo Vadimus was secure in her berth.
My sister and family were heading back from their annual road trip to see the Indy 500. Lucky for us part of Southpoint Marina is Bazil’s Italian Restaurant. We had been here on prior Rochester jaunts, so we were sure to order the Artichokes French. Lightly battered artichoke hearts that are pan fried and then covered with a reduced sherry and lemon sauce. Very good.
Tuesday we got a delivery of the first set of packages and they left the RX-0 for us to drive. We spent the day unpacking our “spring Christmas” and doing more mundane tasks like laundry. We met up with the family to go to a Rochester institution Sticky Lips BBQ. The have been a multi year winner at the Rochester Rib Week contest. We were brave and tried the Atomic Meat Sauce. It has a good flavor, but it’s one of those sauces that the heat builds after awhile. Big hit of the evening was the fried green tomatoes.
Spa and errand day was the plan for Wednesday. Susan headed off to have a day of luxury away from Belle and I. I ran errands picking small things up that were not worth buying on-line and spending the cost of shipping. When I got done I had lunch at Jincs on Park Street. It is touted as a great breakfast spot, but having missed that I ordered and had a great lunch.
After Susan was all coifed, we then headed to the Old Toad. It’s a London Pub that’s been teleported to Rochester. Everything looks authentic. They import waiters and cooks in from England as help for a few years. One of their chef’s has since opened a very popular place in Downingtown called The Station Taproom that my son Dave works at. It is a very small world.
Truck Rodeo!!! Speeding trucks dueling it out to see who the best is. Well in Rochester it’s the Food Truck Rodeo with over 3 dozen food trucks from the area parked in the Farmers Market. You name it you could get it, and whatever you wanted came in a deep fried or batter dipped and deep fried version. With most of Rochester in attendance we did the divide and buy method. Cynette got Poutain, Susan grabbed some Vietnamese specialities and I got Mac&Cheese:Bacon, French Onion with Beef and Lobster. (I also spent $30 on Mac&Cheese, Mom would be appalled.) Susan had the big winners of the night. She had ordered me a Waffle Dog, a hot dog on a stick (I’ll eat anything served on a stick) dipped in Waffle batter and then grilled in a waffle iron. Interesting, but the too sweet batter made this more of a dessert than a dinner.
Thursday we were off to Niagara Falls for the day. It’s a Susan bucket list item, so she will tell you about the trip from PB&J donuts from Donuts Delite on.
Friday was another errand day. We did paper bills and sent postcards out and then some stores. I had a discussion about the “pistol type flare guns” with the nice people at West Marine. They were sure they were illegal in Canada. But it turns out not to be the case. So I dropped off the proof (RCMP web site and a flyer from Canadian tire) and picked up the flares I wanted.
At 2:30 we headed over to the Port of Rochester to fuel up 240 gallons (most expensive so far on our trip, it was a $1 / gallon more than we could have gotten in Brewerton ouch) and get pumped out. After dinner of leftover BBQ we took a short walk. Susan worked on her videos from Canada while I headed off to bed.
