Erie Canal - Lockport to Rochester Part 2

Medina recently installed a low dock for kayaks

July 4 – We left Middleport and paddled on to Medina for our lunch stop.  We ate at the Country Club Diner.  The menu was basic fare with a down-home appeal.  The portions were large and no one left hungry. After lunch, we waddled back to the dock and launched our kayaks hoping the canal current would carry us to Albion for the night.  With a little help from our paddles, it did and along the way we picked up a giant, basketball.  You find the strangest things when you go kayaking.  At the ramp in Albion were five girls who were jumping into the canal.  They explained that they were making a movie for YouTube and were sure to get our names as we landed.  I gave them the giant basketball and they had a great time swimming after it in the canal.  

Kayaking with the giant basketball

The ramp in Albion is right across from a rather serious looking prison and there are no bathrooms (at the ramp, I am sure the prison has them).  So, we had previously arranged to camp on the lawn of a local bed and breakfast.  You meet some very nice and generous people when you take a trip like this.  The B&B had some cancellations, so a few of us grabbed up very comfortable and air-conditioned rooms, while the remainder pitched their tents.  A short walk away was the Crooked Door restaurant.  Once again, the food was amazing.  We couldn’t find bad food on this trip if we tried.  (We didn’t try).  

Kayaks waiting along the Erie Canal towpath

July 5 - In the morning, our hosts at the B&B put out a huge buffet spread for breakfast and we ate entirely too much.  We drove back to the prison and launched off the ramp.  We paddled east again until we got hungry for lunch.  There was no lunch stop this day, so some of us scrambled out of our kayaks and up the rocks, while others ate lunch on the water. 

After a long day in the kayaks, we reached Holley.  We were all tired of eating out, so we sent a party to the local Wegmans supermarket to bring back hot dogs and brats.  We had a wonderful cookout right at the local terminal wall and pitched our tents right among the picnic tables.  After dinner, we went for a walk on the nature trails in the adjacent park and got some ice cream in town.