Robert Moses State Park near Massena is only a few minutes from the Dwight Eisenhower Lock on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The limited number of commercial ships that use the lock surprised me. This day, only 3 ships were scheduled. The first would arrive at 10:30. We decided to wait the hour since we had a short travel today. There is a small museum at the lock that we wondered through for 15-minutes. It wouldn’t be worth the time if we didn’t have to wait.
The 10:30 ship arrived traveling up river. It entered the lock, was raised 42-feet, and continued it’s voyage all within about 40-minutes. We could see about 8-people handling lines and operate the locks. It was a fast and efficient operation.
The 10:30 ship arrived traveling up river. It entered the lock, was raised 42-feet, and continued it’s voyage all within about 40-minutes. We could see about 8-people handling lines and operate the locks. It was a fast and efficient operation.
A few pleasure boats used the locks as we prepared to leave. I have to check the cost for their passage. I was a little ticked off when we were charged 25-cents each to stand on the observation deck about the museum. It’s certainly not the money; it’s just that the American people paid the initial construction costs and now have to pay to see what was built.
We continued along the Seaway Trail toward Alexandria Bay. This section of Route-37 is designated a scenic route and it is green and attractive but we had hoped to see the Saint Lawrence River but it was only visible from a few turnout along the way.
The Welcome Center near Alexandria Bay had free WiFi. We have found free WiFi at many welcome centers. The only exception being Vermont where they charge for its use.
We had planned to turn south at Alexandria Bay but decided to continue along the Saint Lawrence to the Tibbits Lighthouse. It’s located at the point where water from Lake Ontario enters into the Saint Lawrence River. A baby skunk was our greeter when we arrived at the lawn outside of the lighthouse. He was so cute that you wanted to pick him up and give him a big hug. But, we decided to just watch from a distance.
Our friend Jeff came up with the idea of touching each of the Great Lakes. We touched our first today, Lake Ontario.
We spent the night at Westcott Beach campground on the shore of Lake Ontario. Of the 129 campsites, only 5-campsites were available when we arrived at 4:30PM. Those filled up within the next hour. Summer travel season has arrived.
Note: 3 flopbook series of pictures in today’s picasa folder.
- Ship arriving (pic 12 – 21)
- Lock gate closing and lock fill (pic 38 – 53)
- Ship departing locks (pic 55 – 69)
