It's a girl !!!

We will get some pics eventually and get caught up...Scarlet James Azersky was born at 6:02 August 20, 2014 in Johnson City, NY...Six weeks early, but at 5# 4 oz's and 18 inches, a healthy baby girl...Although we cut our trip for this year a little short, it was for a good reason...Mazel Tug is in storage at ESS KAY Yards in Brewerton, NY and will be back in the water by 5-30-15 when we will  resume our journey...

In NY early

This past Thursday, in Ottawa, we received a phone call from our son James that his fiance, Jess was in the hospital...She was 32 weeks pregnant and the baby wanted out...They were going to keep her hospitalized and try to keep the baby from entering this world too soon...They hit 33 weeks today and all is still well...Anyways, we decided to cancel the rest of our trip, which included enjoying a leisurely trip down the Rideau Canal to Kingston and then to visit our friends in Toronto for the Canada's 911 Motorcycle ride...Keeping in mind we travel at 8-9 mph, we made it to Kingston in 3 days (46 locks!!) and across Lake Ontario to Oswego and Phoenix,NY in one more...We put the boat in at Ess-Kay Marina today, which we had planned to do around 1 September...It will be there until May 30th of next year, when we will continue our adventure...

We will get another post in the near future with pictures

Ottawa update

We are still in Ottawa enjoying the places, Farmers Market , and local cuisine…To paraphrase  my sister, we are dining our way through the trip…We are looking forward to picking up our friends, the Flints in Smith’s Falls next Friday for a few day cruise to Kingston…Meanwhile, we have lots of time to get to Smith’s Falls, so we will stay here another night (we have a camping/mooring pass, so we only pay for electric if we use it) and enjoy another fireworks competition…If the timing is right, I may stop and get a new antenna (a whole other sad story) to replace one on the boat…All I can say is I DIDN’T DO IT !!! Saw the changing of the guard at the Parliament yesterday (and probably today) as it’s right across the canal from us…Lots of pomp and circumstance…Full marching band and bagpipers…All in traditional uniforms…Also saw the Police in action yesterday…We are tied up near a bridge where the underprivileged apparently gather in bad weather…The boat behind us was boarded by a whacko muttering something about his stolen guitar…Would have been funny, but he had brick in his hand to make the point…They called 911 and the PD was here quickly (along with the Paramedics) to remedy the situation…Last night we slept with a flare gun (oops – not a gun – we are in Canada – a pyrotechnic launching device) next to the bed…Till later…

This is Ottawa from above the Rideau Canal…

This is a Hotel about a block from where we are tied up…

This is the Parliament Building…

This is the view looking back thru the 8 flights we came up on Sunday…

The parade for the changing of the Guard at Parliament…

Still planning on leaving tomorrow…

Ottawa

Yesterday (Sunday)on the way to Ottawa we passed through the Carillon Lock…

This is the Carillon Lock…69 feet up in one lock…What makes unique is that the door rises straight up…

 

 

This is what it looks like from the bottom…Those are stairs at the end…What you see as the top is really the bottom of the top, known as the sill…It’s 6 feet under water when full…This is the view from the top…

 

These boats were rafted (they call it shouldered in Canada) to us in the Carillon lock…

And this was our neighbor – birth defect on the tail – not car door !!!

 

 

Just a quick update…We arrived in Ottawa last night (Sunday) and camped out at the lower end of the locks…This morning (Monday) we were ready at nine to tackle the locks…This is a flight of 8 connected locks and supposedly takes an hour and a half to transit…That’s once you start…They brought a double flight down (that means they locked two groups – one behind the other) first, so the 9:00 starting time turned into 1130 and we didn’t finish until around 1:30…It was so hard on the boat starting and stopping eight times, I ran the battery down and the last two locks were started with emergency battery !!!

 

 

Today is Colonel By Day…He built the Rideau Canal…Big party at the locks – face painting and such…They had a blow up beaver set up and the Rideau mascot came on our boat and surprised Linda…

Montreal

                                         

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE FROM OLDE TOWN MONTREAL AND DEPICT THE ARCHITECTURE AND SIGHTS OF THE CITY…..AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING PLACE THAT I WILL RETURN TO SOMEDAY!

 

 

                        THE OLDEST HOTEL IN MONTREAL AND THEIR DINING ROOM…BUILT IN THE 1600’S

                       THIS IS THE NOTRE DAME CHAPEL ALSO BUILT IN THE 1600’S…SO BEAUTIFUL INSIDE…HOLY SPIRITS INSIDE!

 

Update from Montreal

Just to let everyone know the Mazel Tug is still tied up at Yacht Club de Montreal…is part of the Old Port area of Montreal and a fantastic place to be…Hundreds of places to eat (including really good Ice Cream) within walking distance…Also many museums and attractions on top of the beautiful and old (1600’s) buildings…Linda is currently in Vestal for Jess’s baby shower…She should be back Tuesday and we will be underway to Ottawa…We have plans to pick up our friends, the Flints at Smith’s Falls on the Rideau (ree’ dough) Canal on the 15th of August…Therefore we have 15 days to go about 170 miles…That should allow for some sightseeing in Ottawa and some of the little towns and villages along the way…

Testing a new writer for the blog

This is a boat we passed in the Chambly Canal…Looked like long term live a boards…Just did this post to test an offline blog writer…If it works, we can keep up better and post when we can…

PASSING UNDER THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE NEXT TO THE MID-HUDSON BRIDGE.  GREAT PHOTO BY MIKE AND SUE BUNTON WITH THEIR IPAD. LINDA AND MELINDA ON THE BOW! GREAT SEEING FAMILY.

 ONE OF THE NICER LIGHTHOUSES ON THE HUDSON RIVER.

GUESS WHERE WE WERE?????
WATERFORD, NY

ONE OF THE PADDLE WHEELED WEED CUTTERS WE PASSED ON THE CHAMPLAIN CANAL.

WE PLAYED "SAVE THE GOOSE" IN BURLINGTON, VERMONT. THE GOOSE WAS TANGLED IN FISH LINE WITH A HOOK IN HIS BEAK. RALPH ASSISTED THE ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS IN OUR DINGY.

CLOSE UP SHOT OF ABOVE...THE GOOSE REFUSED TO GO INTO THE CAGE AND ENDED UP FLYING AWAY ON HIS OWN AFTER REMOVING HOOK AND LINE!

LINDA AND MELINDA, RALPH'S COUSIN (AND MINE BY HEART), WHO JOINED US FOR 10 DAYS! HAD A REALLY GREAT TIME.....CAN'T WAIT FOR HER TO JOIN US AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!

STAYED IN PLATTSBURGH, NY FOR A FEW DAYS DOING BOAT REPAIRS AND DINING AT THE 'NAKED TURTLE' RESTAURANT AND BAR. THE LABATT BEAR VISITED ONE NITE....MY HAND IS NOT WHERE YOU THINK IT IS BUT IN HIS HAND!

CROSSING INTO CANADA AND CUSTOMS WAS A BREEZE

THIS WHAT THE CURRENT LOOKS LIKE COMING INTO MONTREAL. IT WAS 5 KNOTS AGAINST US. CONSIDERING WE ONLY DO 7.5 KNOTS NORMALLY, IT WAS A LONG DAY!!

JAMEY---THIS IS FOR YOU...RIGHT NEXT TO THE MONTREAL YACHT CLUB

We are in Montreal finally having arrived safely and in time for "docktails". We are having trouble remembering how to get the pics on this site and after downloading and losing them twice we are going to try again tomorrow....sorry! We are fine and have not killed each other yet.....really having a great time!

We are anchored in Contrecoeur, QC, about 25 miles from Montreal...We will get caught up there when we have some decent wi fi (Data is $2500 per Gig here!!!)...We have been well, but get to bed early and have been having so much fun, we haven't been good about trying to keep up...We will learn to do better...Internet is fading again, so I'll post this and continue later...

We are still in Vestal...We hope to be back on the Mazel Tug by the end of the week...Maybe we'll rent a car and take in some of the sites along the Hudson and in New York City...Still planning on spending the 4th in NYC with cousin Melinda, then heading north (with her aboard)...We'll probably drop her off in Albany so she can take the AMTRAK back to NYC and fly home to Atlanta...Jess (Jamey's Fiance) and Jamey may take care of Chewy for a few weeks so we can really play tourist !!! My other reason for this post was to try and fix the date stamp...This is my fourth attempt...Hope it's more accurate...

We'll try and keep the blog up as we are heading into some non internet country...Till then...

Ralph and Linda

LEAVING CAPE MAY  TO ENJOY AN 11HR DAY IN THE WASHING MACHINE CALLED THE OCEAN...CHEWY EVEN GOT DRAMAMINE











JUST CAN NOT RESIST THE FIRE BOAT









                                                                                         

THESE PICS ARE OF THE SWITZERLAND RACE BOAT IN THE CLIPPER 13-14 AROUND THE WORLD RACE....THEY LEFT FROM LONDON IN SEPT 13 AND HAVE TRAVELED ALL OVER THE WORLD AND WILL RETURN TO IRELAND THEN LONDON IN JULY

THERE WERE 12 OF THESE RACERS AT LIBERTY LANDING, CHANGING OUT CREW WHILE GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT LEG....CREW PAID BIG BUCKS PER PERSON TO PARTICIPATE! TOTAL OF 60 CREW PER BOAT.

 ANTIQUE FIRE BOAT IN NYC













USS INTREPID AND MUSEUM.....THINKING THE SPACE SHUTTLE IS IN THE HANGER PART

 The Binghamton is a retired ferryboat that operated from 1905 to 1967 transporting passengers across the Hudson River between Manhattan and Hoboken. She was built for the Hoboken Ferry Company of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and was designed to carry 986 passengers plus vehicles. Binghamton has been permanently moored at Edgewater, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, since 1971. The US Department of the Interior added her to the National Register of Historic Places on July 9, 1982. Operated as a floating restaurant from 1975 to 2007, the vessel is now closed and awaiting reuse.

The Binghamton is significant as possibly the last surviving steam ferry still afloat built to serve New York Harbor, the birthplace of commercial steam navigation, the birthplace of the double-ended steam ferry, and an area whose development was profoundly shaped by the introduction of vessels of this kind.

TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE

SING SING PRISON IN OSSINING, NY

NEVER KNEW THEY HAD WATERFRONT PROPERTY WITH A VIEW OF THE RIVER







                                                                                   
THIS IS OUR LITTLE BOAT AND THE SKYLINE OF NYC....PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN MANZO FROM HER OFFICE BUILDING IN NJ

LOVE THE VIEW ESPECIALLY AS HER DAUGHTER GIANNA WAS RIDING WITH US AT THE TIME

ISN'T THE 911 MEMORIAL BUILDING JUST AWESOME?

GIANNA

SORRY MIKE WE LOST YOUR PIC WITH GIANNA BUT ARE SO THANKFUL WE GOT TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH YOU!









CHEWY AND I RELAXED A LOT ON THIS TRIP...CAN YOU TELL!  LOVE TO ALL AS THE MAZEL TUG IS PARKED FOR A MONTH AT HALF MOON BAY LOCATED AT CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY. WE ARE CURRENTLY IN OUR NORTHERN HOME IN VESTAL, NY TO CONTINUE EMPTYING 30 YRS OF STUFF. OF COURSE IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

TO BE CONTINUED AROUND JULY 1ST