The Hardest Good-bye
Karen Elhai
January 19, 2025
When your brain knows it’s inevitable but our heart gets stretched to its limit.
Blog
Stories, Musings, And The Occasional Rant
Dashing Down the Coast
Karen Elhai
December 31, 2024
We take a month-long break in the Hampton Roads area to travel to Australia and get some routine boat maintenance done. Then it’s a mad dash down the Atlantic ICW by Christmas with Jack Frost nipping at our stern.
Backtracking South
Karen Elhai
November 11, 2024
We head south from upper New York, slow enough to let the hurricane season run its course but fast enough to keep temps comfortable for cruising. We have a special guest join us along the Hudson and in NYC, set a personal record for most miles traveled in a day, see friends from our present and past, and get back to the Chesapeake Bay with time to spare before Dave’s Naval Academy Reunion.
Charming Champlain
Karen Elhai
October 3, 2024
We close the loop on our summer travels, cruising down Lake Champlain back to where we started the Erie Canal in Waterford NY. First, though, we take a short pause for a Minnesota visit. Clontinuing south, when the port engine suddenly quits working we learn how much a $25 part can actually cost. Ah, such is boat life…
Croisière au Québec (Cruising Quebec)
Karen Elhai
September 16, 2024
We travel along the big rivers of Quebec from Ottawa to Montreal and then turn south back toward the US via the smaller Richelieu River and Chambly Canal. Along the way we pass through a wide variety of locks, and enjoy both the big city of Montreal and stops in smaller towns.
Rideau Repeat
Karen Elhai
September 3, 2024
Edit Column
The entire historic Rideau Canal is a Canadian National Park and was a highlight of our Loop in 2022. So we do it again — just in reverse to give us a new perspective. From Lake Ontario we go up through 14 locks, through the three lakes at the highest point, then down another 21 locks to Ottawa, where we have a grand finale of 8 locks taking us to the Ottawa River. That’s 43 locks in 126 miles.
Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands: Canadian Version
Karen Elhai
August 11, 2024
We cross to the other side of the St. Lawrence River, visiting towns and anchoring at several islands in Thousand Islands National Park in Canada. We end up in Kingston on Lake Ontario, where we enjoy a week of city living.
Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands: American Version
Karen Elhai
July 28, 2024
Our summer cruising continues in new territory for us – the freshwater cruising of a Great Lake and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Along the way, we are surrounded by a vintage vibe in the towns and a timeless feel on the water as we hug the NY coast of the Lake and make our way into the American Thousand Islands.
Locking Through History
Karen Elhai
July 18, 2024
New cruising grounds for us! We exit the Hudson River to travel the historic Erie Canal and all its locks to Syracuse. Then we turn onto the Oswego Canal and head north until we get to Lake Ontario, our gateway to the Thousand Islands. Along the way we see post-industrial towns and are joined by good friends Patty and Gary for a stretch of the Erie.