Niskayuna

Erie Canal, Lock 6

NoLL

For many years we lived in the Schenectady area, much of the time within 1/4 mile of the River. However we never had a boat on the river and we never got to see how pretty it is seen from the water.

Especially nice is the section of river east of Schenectady (I used to have fun challenging people to spell that word), where it runs through the town of Niskayuna (when we first came to the area we said, "we can't live in Niskayuna; we'll never be able to prounce it or spell it:).

Anyhow, the river appears to flow through a deep gorge in this stretch. Vertical limestone cliffs about 100 feet high form the shore line on either side for about 3 miles. I guess that the geology must have backed up the river at this point until the river punched through and eroded this gorge. It's very pretty.

Niskayuna

Early morning view from Lock 7.

On the shore in this region is (1) The GE Research and Development Center (2) The Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and (3) Lenrock. The R&DC is the home of many smart scientists and the place were numerous nobel prizes originated. Knolls (we call it KAPL) is where nuclear reactors cores for US submarines are designed and built. Lenrock is a super pretentious mansion overlooking the river. It is an artifact left behind by a Bernie Madoff type of scandal. The original owner cheated his investors and went to jail, leaving behind this monsterous house as a relic.

Lenroc

We're stuck tonight at Erie Canal guard gate #2. We didn't understand the new fall hours for the canal. The last locking for locks 2-6 is at 15:30. We arrived there at 16:00 and were surprised to find it closed.

On Sunday we had a nice time with friends Bud and Nan from West Charlton, shown below. They invited us out to dinner at an Amsterdam restaurant. Four Ontarians on boats at lock 11 were also in need of a restaurant so we gave them a ride. We find that Ontarians are exceptionally easy to make new friends with.