Wednesday - July 31

 After rain during the night, we had sunny skies as we walked to The Village Bakery and Cafe.   Been here on a previous trip - great breakfast/lunch and of course, coffee!   We got coffee, a cheese Danish and coffee cake muffin to go and back to Catrina.  

This plaque was on one of the benches along the dock in Pittsford....so true!

  We left the dock just before 8 westbound with 2 locks.   Met only a handful of boats all going in the opposite direction,    But something unique we've never seen before was a "Just Married" sign on back of boat and a young couple who were on their "mini-moon" for 5 days from Buffalo to Pittsford.   Mark called on the radio to congratulate them!

  The canal trail was right beside us all the way and our average speed is 8 mph.   Everything is very lush and green as they've had plenty of rain.   We passed many farms, corn fields and a large vineyard.   Also saw some deer running along the towpath!

We enjoyed our lunch of 1/2 Cuban sandwich from Donnelly's a few nights ago, potato salad from Dinosaur BBQ last night and peaches/blueberries from John.     

It was all about bridges today - we went under many, many, many (railroad, pedestrian, over interstates, and several no longer operating).    But, we also had to have 8 lift bridges raised for us!    Had some spotty rain off and on, but around 1:00, the sun was out in full force.

Pedestrian bridge near Rochester

Henpeck Park is just a few blocks from John and Cindy's home

We cruised a total of 50.6 miles arriving in Medina at 2:20.  Several of these towns offer a free pump out so we took advantage of that before settling in,   We've stayed in Medina a few other times and remember the Shirt Factory where we had great coffee and breakfasts (my 1st time to have avocado toast and it was soo good back in 2018).    This former shirt factory, made white dress shirts for several US presidents back in the day.   However, they now have very limited hours and described as "Coffee to Cocktails" - only open for breakfast on the weekend)!

As we were cruising past so many little towns today where we've stopped in the past (this is our 4th trip on the Erie Canal), so many memories......concerts in the park, waterfalls, murals, bike rides, good restaurants, coffee shops, walking around the neat old downtowns and of course, flowers, flowers everywhere!

Pretty mural in Albion, NY

We have now cruised 150 miles on the Erie Canal (40 miles and 2 locks to go) and have over 22,000 miles on Catrina.    

We decided to do a little pre-celebratory dinner since we're almost finished with the canal....tomorrow night our marina in Buffalo won't be near restaurants.    Harvest (farm to table) is a new place in town since 2021.   It was totally renovated and formerly the Bates Opera House.   

The beautiful sandstone (specialty stone in Medina) 3-story building is now the Harvest restaurant on the 1st floor; 2nd floor is a boutique hotel with 10 rooms and the 3rd floor (former opera house) which has been vacant since the early 1900's is now a gorgeous venue for weddings, elegant events, etc.   WOW.....lots of $$$$ was poured into this, but it is absolutely gorgeous.    We had dinner at Harvest - top-notch for food, service and ambiance.    All in little ole Medina (pop - 5,593). 

Harvest restaurant at Bent's Opera House

These luscious ginormous blooms are all over downtown and have 2-3 little cards

 tucked inside that read 

"in memory of" or "dedicated to"

Bye bye July