Had bagels for breakfast and left Newark at 9:40. A nice little jaunt this morning - 1 hour trip and 9 miles (no locks). I drove all the way - we passed several poverty areas of old, decrepit cottages which had definitely seen their better day. We imagine these are for the summer months, but perhaps year-round homes? Really sad.....
This is foot bridge we went under this morning - yesterday we rode our bike across
Narrow passage
We are in Palmyra tied up to the town dock (another freebie) - only 4 boats will fit here and the other one is "Freedom" with Captain John and First Mate Weezie from PA. We met them in Seneca Falls.
Chatted with Weezie who was on her way uptown to get a mani-pedi. It started to rain, so we grabbed the big umbrella, "Hope", rain coats and off we went. Walked around a bit and this town has 3 bookstores, 5 museums, and nail, massage and hair salons, etc....
We had lunch at Mark's Pizzeria which was excellent! Then we parted ways - Mark came on back to Catrina with our leftovers and had a project he was working on. I went to Mackenzie's gift shop which I had read about on the internet - very nice store and enjoyed visiting with the owner.
Forgot to mention that we are in Amish country but so far, have seen just 1 buggy in Lyons. These little towns along the Erie are also into "Mural Mania" and they each have their share of murals on the concrete walls around town - some very clever artists.
Lyons (Amish buggy going across bridge)
Palmyra
These little town each have their "claim to fame"
Seneca Falls - Start of the Women's Rights Movement which began in 1848 - 170 years ago!
I accidentally left off the first word "Once" before
Peppermint Capital of the World
this town is really hurting
Palmyra calls itself
"Queen of the Erie Canal"
and Fairport where we're going tomorrow...
"Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal"
Very nice gift shop
Mackenzie's
Catrina docked in Newark
A mixture of sun and clouds in the afternoon - rain didn't amount to much!
Mark went thru the museums this afternoon which he thoroughly enjoyed - The Historical Palmyra, Museum, The Canal Depot, The William Phelps Store and Home, the Palmyra Print Shop and the Alling Coverlet Museum. $7 for all 5 and a real treat!
Palmyra was formed in 1789 and at one time was the 2nd largest city in New York with 25 doctors!
It was a major center where they bought and shipped the crops.
I decided to stay on Catrina and rest the hip!
Day 1 of the prednisone is underway
Shortly after Mark returned from his museum visits, Marsha stopped by - the Palmyra "welcoming" lady. They had a nice chat and she gave us a packet of brochures. Mark mentioned I had bursitis and was resting and did not go with him to see the museums. Marsha is also a volunteer at the medical supplies store and wondered if I needed a cane? Mark told her I had one and she said "Oh, I wish she could get downtown to our fabulous gift shop (Mackenzie's). He quickly told her "Oh, she's been there"! That made Marsha happy!
Palmyra is the birthplace of the Mormon religion which Joseph Smith founded. And how ironic that I'm now reading "Educated" a memoir by Tara Westover and growing up in the Mormon community in Idaho with her very dysfunctional family (similar to Glass Castle)!
Henry Wells of Wells Fargo fame came from here, too
At 5:00 we took off on our bikes for Chill 'n Grill - rode the nice bike trail and had some delicious ice cream. We had heard about this place (it is not a DQ)…..their sandwiches are huge and ice cream - big portions (small dish is 4 scoops). We each chose 1/2 of kiddie size (2 generous scoops). A family of 6 from Apex, NC came in and the kids cones were gi-normous! Guess they were not forewarned! Ha....
After the ice cream, we rode downtown and stopped at Frank's Liquors and picked up some wine.
On home and sat on Catrina's bridge - beautiful evening.
Our neighbor John stopped to chat and was a wealth of info on which towns we should check out along our travels west. He and Weezie have been in this area numerous times and we sure appreciated all the scoop.
Tomorrow Mark's cousin John, wife Cindy and grandsons are coming to Palmyra and
cruise with us to Fairport!!!
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