New England Trip 2015 Pt 7 Vermont to Niagara Falls, Canada

Leaving Wells, Maine we traveled across New Hampshire into Vermont and into upstate New York to go through Lake George. We wanted to see the location for the Americade Motorcycle Rally which usually takes place in early June every year. The ride across the Green Mountains in Vermont was beautiful.

After the ride through Lake George we went to Utica to spend the night. We did not stop in Lake George; we only wanted to see it since we plan to come back to Americade and we needed to get on to the hotel before dark.

The next day we were up early and rode to Lockport, NY to take a ride on the Erie Canal and go through the only double locks on the canal.

The double locks raise or lower boats 49 feet depending on which way they are going. Heading West our boat was raised; the return trip we were heading East and the boat was lowered. 

The locks do not have any pumping stations. All water flow is handled by gravity and a series of valves and gates. 

The canal was built 80 feet wide in its narrowest places. Our boat was 77 feet long and had a split paddle wheel which could be controlled independently for propulsion.  Our Captain took us to a place that was 80 feet wide and turned us around to head back,  He only had 3 feet of clearance so he had to be precise in his navigation. He did it flawlessly and never came close to hitting either side of the canal.

The Erie Canal allowed merchant traffic to make a trip from Buffalo, New York all the way to New Your City by way of the Hudson River where the canal ended.

You can see how big the gates are in the pictures above. It really is an amazing feat of engineering considering the era in which the canal was built.  I'm not sure if you can traverse the whole canal now because I am not sure the other locks are still operational. It would be interesting to make that trip if it is still navigable. Sure is a lot of history along the canal.

There were a lot of Canada Geese and Mallards that were nesting along the canal in Lockport. Most cities have pidgeons; Lockport has geese and ducks. Well at least in June when we were there.

We left Lockport for the short ride to Buffalo and the Rainbow Bridge to Canada.

There was a long line to get across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada and while we were stopped, we were bumped by the man in a van behind us. We were probably on the Canadian side and he had Ontario plates so I was glad that there was no actual damage. Just not paying attention.

We had a room at the Embassy Suites on the 22nd floor overlooking the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls too. Great view. We had a Prime Rib dinner in the hotel dining room on the 9th floor which also had a great view of the falls. The food was excellent and modestly priced.

Great views from our suite.

After dinner we went down to the Horseshoe falls and walked around taking pictures.

The Horn Blower was making its run up the river getting excursion takers all wet in the mist created by the falls.

At night the American Falls are lit up in colors but I could not get a decent picture of it.

The next day we started making our way back home. We went across Canada to get to the Flint, Michigan Port of Entry. We were advised by friends to avoid the Detroit entry point as it is always a long wait. Coming back into Flint was relatively quick. I don't think it took us an hour to get across.

Once back in the country we made our way to Eldorado, Kansas to see friends and then on back to Texas. It was a wonderful trip on the motorcycle and we sure had a lot of fun seeing a lot of this beautiful country. I could not possible post all of the pictures I took on this trip. You have only seen less than 1% in these posts I'm sure. 

Stay tuned for more adventures. We did a big West Coast trip in 2016 to complete our goal of riding our motorcycle in all 48 contiguous states.