We spent the morning doing laundry and having an oil change.
Then we drove to Syracuse, NY and stopped at the Erie Canal Museum. The museum was in the original building that was the weigh house for the canal boats. The photo of the boat from the outside of the building - that is where the canal used to be. Very interesting - unfortunately I left my brochures in the car with a million interesting facts to bore you with. What I remember - the canal ran from Buffalo to Albany and connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean which increased commerce and migration. The elevation drops from about 600 feet from Buffalo to Albany, and there are locks to make it go down for awhile and then back up again. The last 15 miles went down over 400 feet which meant a whole bunch of locks which could take 8 hours or more to traverse. Some parts of the canal, like in Syracuse, have been abandoned and filled in, other parts made into bike trails. But there is still a canal system and you can rent house boats and go up and down the canals.
We ate lunch in an old fashioned diner that looked like it used to be a streetcar.
Then went on a walking tour of downtown - some really neat old buildings. While at the diner, I heard several people talking - the owner, the cook and some customers and they all sounded like they were from Chicago. Either they were, or the accents in central NY and Chicago are similar.
Then drove down south of the finger lakes to Pennsylvania and almost immediately crossing the border the mountains got more impressive. And we got rained on for the first time. But not bad. Hopefully tomorrow will be clear. Along the way we passed a big long military convoy. Armando said they are probably on their way to invade Texas.
We arrived in Williamsport to find a hotel room and found they were in scarce supply because there's a college here and it's graduation weekend. Lucky we found anything at all. Because it was raining and the driver was tired of driving.
One new thing I've noticed this trip. Apparently it's okay to go to the lobby of the hotel to have breakfast in your pajamas. We've seen that in several hotels along the way. The only time I ever went to the lobby in my pajamas is one time when the fire alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. Seems kinda tacky to me, but maybe I'm just out of touch.
Armando really wanted to see a moose when we were in New Hampshire and Vermont, but we didn't see any. But here he is meeting an elk at the Pennsylvania welcome center.
Day 15 - Calcium, NY to Williamsport, PA
Friday, May 15, 2015
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States
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Comments

2025-02-15
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Dimitris
2015-05-16
Te felicito mi querido hermano.
Que lindo viaje estás realizando. Una gran experiencia quitándote el estrés y volviéndote más joven.
A mi humilde parecer, estás invirtiendo poco y los beneficios son extraordinariamente altos. Esto se llama VIVIR !!!
Recibe un fuerte abrazo y muchos cariños para tu amada esposa.
Dimitris
Susie
2015-05-17
The mountains in PA are indeed impressive. My college roommate was from Scranton and I visited there a few times. Our boys weren't crazy about the state when we went through it on the way to RI. There had been that pine beetle infestation and most of the trees were dead. Also, on the way to our house you pass an exotic animal farm. Reindeer, water buffalo, American Bison, antelope and other creatures. We watch for them every time we drive into town. They lounge about near the road. You should have stayed longer.