July 5, 2013 Day 44  The Hudson River

Mechanicville Town Wall
Mechanicville, NY

Our little flotilla (Carried Away, Journey, Irish Attitude, Sea Hunt IV, and Harmony) left Shady Harbor Marina this morning and headed north.  We were all happy to be on the move again!!  While at Shady Harbor, Bill named our group “The Hudson Homesteaders”!

By 10:00 we were passing Albany and its industrial ports and the downtown area with its tall buildings.  It was a definite change of scenery along this part of the Hudson.

We arrived at our first lock at 11:40 which is the Federal Lock at Troy.  There was a lot of debris we had to dodge at the entrance to the lock (we encountered debris all day on the river). 

Lock #1 with Sea Hunt IV, Irish Attitude, and Journey

Steamboat

We all fit under the Troy bridge today!

After exiting the lock we were soon at Waterford.  We could not dock there because they were having their annual Steamboat Festival. Waterford is a lovely little town and if we were able to take the Erie Canal we would have gone through there. We did see a few of the little steamboats on the river shortly after that and they blew their whistles for us so we got good pictures of their steam!  And it was fun to hear them also.

At 1:00 we entered Lock #1 – this is still on the Hudson River, but is part of the Champlain Canal System.  Twenty five minutes later we were on our way and heading to Lock #2.  We entered that lock at 2:00 and departed at 2:20. 

We arrived at our destination of Mechanicville at tied up to their free wall. The town provides water and 30 amp electric with room for 8 boats. By the end of the day, all spaces were filled. Our friends on Sea Hunt IV continued on so we hope to see them again in a few days.

After we all got tied up, we took our canvas chairs and just sat in the shade for quite a while.  We were all exhausted from the heat which we battled all day. It was over 90 degrees and very humid! 

The waaterfall at Mechanicville was near the
town wall where we were docked.

We finally got the energy to walk downtown and find a restaurant.  One very kind local resident saw us while she was at a traffic light. She parked her car and came back and gave us directions to a restaurant. She said she could tell we were boaters because we look relaxed!  We had an excellent Italian dinner and most of us brought back leftovers.

On our walk we enjoyed looking at the historic buildings and also the small waterfall that flows into the river near our dock.  We were also mesmerized by the huge billowing white clouds and the perfect blue sky.  Even so, there was a storm brewing nearby as the lightning revealed.

Tomorrow we will depart for Fort Edward and go through 4 locks.