Waiting for the Erie Locks to open

6/22/13
Our next destination: Kingston, NY (57 miles).

West Point (view from the river)

 We had a lovely cruise and arrived in Kinstson at the Hudson Maritime Museum Dock at 1500. By 1700, we had become acquainted with several other loopers and were invited to attend docktails. Because the Erie Canal is still closed at Lock 13, some of these loopers have been in Kingston for 14 days.  Each marina north of here also has loopers who are awaiting the reopening, so there is no use moving until that happens.

Ron...a great volunteer dock hand at the Museum

The museum offers a $25 one year membership and then discounts the marina fees to $1.50 per foot....very reasonable for this area.

 

 

6/23/13

Kingston offers a good bus service;  however, it does not run on Sundays.  We decided to attend Immaculate Conception Church which was about a mile (uphill) from the marina.  We had hoped to attend the 9:30 Polish mass, but it was only offered one time a month on a different Sunday, so we settled for the 11:00.  Hot, hot, hot walk to and from church!!!  When we returned to the marina area, we decided to have lunch at Ship to Shore.  The chef was a graduate of the Culinary Institute and the restaurant served food made from local farms.  Very good.

Kingston

Just down the walkway from the marina, we attended a free city-sponsored outdoor movie, When Harry Met Sally, under the light of the supermoon.  A third of the way through the movie, it stopped working and people gradually drifted back to their boats.

6/24/13
Last year we used a Verizon WIFI hotspot for internet access, but we sold the hotspot and arranged to use our phones as a hotspot instead.  Big mistake!  Internet service here had been spotty, so we agreed to change back to the hotspot coverage.  The Verizon store at the mall was a few miles away, so we hopped on the A bus.  This took us to a Hannaford Grocery Store where we caught the K bus.  The K bus took us to the Mall Loop bus and the Mall Loop bus took us through several small shopping centers before arriving at Verizon.  (This took 2 hours!)  I have such sympathy for those who are dependent on bus service.
While Ron went to Verizon, I  went next door to Olive Garden and ordered our lunch so that we could catch the next bus on time.

Many stores and businesses here have closed (apparently from the economic downturn a few years ago).

The loopers were given a key to the barn (part of the museum), so we took our copy of When Harry Met Sally and watched the remainder of the movie with Linda, Eddy, Cindy and Mike.

6/25/13
In addition to meeting loopers at our nightly get-togethers, we've made friends with Linda & Eddy (MV Spiritus) and Cindy& Mike (Inventurer). They invited us to join them for a lunch at a local pizza place (Sammy's) which happened to be up the hill about a mile away.   Although it was in the 90s, we hiked uphill to the restaurant.  The pizza was worth it!  Both couples had discovered a great bakery a few blocks further, so we agreed to go along, but found the store had closed an hour earlier.  Then we headed for the Burger King for 50 cent ice cream cones, but they had sold out.  After a stop at Walgreens, we headed back to the marina.  This walk ended up being 5.2 miles in very warm weather. 

Ron toured the Museum (while I napped).

6/26/13
We must decide today whether we plan to stay in Kingston or move up the Hudson.  Marinas are filling up for the upcoming 4th of July weekend and we want to find a place we can stay for the holiday.  The Erie, as far as we know, is still closed to river traffic. 

Ann and Ken (Charis) arrived (by car) for a surprise visit today.  They are staying at Shady Harbor about 40 miles upriver from here.  Rick and Leila (Sun Gypsy)

Rick and Leila (not at Mole' Mole')

pulled into the slip right in front of us about the same time, so we all had lunch together at Mole' Mole'.
We had a great potluck with a number of loopers.  How can all of these boaters be such good cooks?  Some have deluxe galleys, but others are very limited in amenities;  however, the food is always delicious.

A few of the cooks

 

Looper boats

More looper boats

 

Good news....the Erie Locks are supposed to open on Friday.  Our plan is to wait a few days and let the rush subside before we try to go through.  We're not sure where we will spend the 4th of July.