June 27 – Coles Creek SP, NY
We’re headed up to the St Lawrence Seaway area intending to explore the seaway and the Thousand Islands. We’ve driven through the area to cross into Canada many times but never spent any time there, usually because it was winter. It was another rainy morning, of course, but we’ve managed to have lots of good days despite the weather. And, to our delight, the skies turned sunny before we arrived with low 60’s and breezy.
It’s always difficult to predict what a campground will be like. In this case the map indicated that the sites were along the water. But that usually means there are trees that block the view. That wasn’t the case in Coles Creek. The campground is mostly open with mature trees scattered around but you can see the St Lawrence from even a couple of rows of campers back from the waters edge. It’s a pretty place.
We set up, which doesn’t amount to much for us. We find a level place to park. Maybe put out a rug to help keep from tracking stuff inside and, in this case, even hook up to electricity since it was provided. All in all, about ten minutes.
We needed some groceries and the hamlet of Waddington, a couple miles to the east, indicated they had the Parkway Express IGA. We drove there and were pleased to find a small but very complete grocery store with a friendly and helpful staff.
The town, like most places along SR-87, is along the river. We drove waterfront streets and found that Waddington has a lot to offer for such a small town. There’s even a bowling alley with a bar and restaurant! We like the place.
June 28 – Coles Creek SP NY
We decided to explore the town of Massena, another small town along the river to our east. On our drive we followed SR-131 along the river and began to see signs for a bike trail that followed the waterway. Before long we also noticed signs for the “Seaway” and followed them to what turned out to be a brand new visitor center for the Eisenhower Lock. And, there, began our understanding of the “Great Lakes Seaway”.
The seaway is a deep draft waterway that extends 2,340 miles from Duluth, Minnesota, through the Great Lakes and out the St Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. In the portion of the St Lawrence between Lake Ontario and Montreal there are seven locks, five on the Canadian side of our border, two on the U.S. side. The U.S. Eisenhower and Snell Locks are in a dug channel toward the Lake Ontario end of the locked section.
The new Visitor Center at Eisenhower Lock opened in May and does an excellent job explaining the overall seaway, the operation of the lock and the nearby hydroelectric dam system that are part of the overall Eisenhower Channel project.
The Seaway is a busy channel and so are the locks. We were fortunate to watch a group of five pleasure boats lock down the 40 foot drop followed shortly by the Blair McKiel, a Canadian flagged general cargo ship that was 459 ft long with a 69 ft beam. It was interesting that it took much longer to lock the pleasure boats through than the freighter. That was largely due to a new mooring system for large vessels like the freighter. Today, they no longer need to manually tie mooring lines between the freighter and the lock. Now four large suction cups quickly attach to the ship, stabilizing it while the lock fills or empties. The new mooring system has dramatically speeded up the locking process, increasing the capacity of the Seaway.
While we were there we also drove through the tunnel below the lock and explored Robert Moses SP. This Park, too, is lovely with a large campground, marina, nature center and a swimming beach.
Finally, we got to Massena, explored it and looked for a place for lunch. Massena is the largest town in this area and, therefore sports a few big box stores. But it was a disappointment for dining alternatives, even for a light lunch. We ended up at Spanky’s. It was busy but the choices were limited with no good gluten free alternatives for Sandy.
June 29 – Coles Creek SP NY
This was another day of rain so we didn’t get in any touring. We had a lazy morning. The sound of the rain is soothing and reminds us of the days on our sailboat, Whistwind. Instead we went to one of the McDonalds in Massena for free WiFi. There we took care of some obligations each of us had on-line. Then Sandy found a TJMaxx while Bill posted several episodes for this blog. It was a productive day for us in spite of the weather.