Nearing the End of an Amazing Journey!

Hi Everyone, We finally have internet again as we wait for our mast to go back up at the end of the Oswego Canal. We are so close to home! Our trip up the Hudson River was beautiful and quick. Outside New York City the countryside becomes very hilly and pretty. The river was brown and not so appealing for a swim after so much time in tropical waters.

We spent a few days motoring and dodging debris to get to Catskill where our mast came down. With the masts strapped well onto the deck we continued with Raftan up to Troy, where the Erie Canal begins. Traveling through the locks was a different experience from any other part of the trip yet. To get to Lake Ontario we had to pass through 31 locks! A whole lot more than those on the St. Lawrence River. Also, we experienced going up on most of the locks, which proved to be more tricky that going down. As the water fills the lock it swirls around a lot and we found ourselves being pushed onto the lock wall quite hard, so we were forced to exercise our arm muscles in new ways.

After three speedy days through the Erie locks we turned north onto the Oswego Canal. And 7 locks later, here we are at Lake Ontario once again! It feels so good to be close to the end of our journey. It's been so long since we were last here. Tomorrow will be our final day on this amazing journey as we cross Lake Ontario and make for our home port of Kingston, completing our giant loop at last. And so, this post will likely be my final one of the trip. (We may post pictures in a few days though).

I want to take this chance to say thanks so much to everyone who has been following us for the past 9 months. It has been a pleasure having a place to share our experiences and wonderful to hear that people have been keeping up with us all along. Having a project like this throughout the trip kept me more attuned to what we were seeing and I've enjoyed working on my writing skills.

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to my amazing parents, who have tolerated us kids being along on the journey for so long. None of this would have been possible without them and I will carry so many amazing memories of this trip with me for the rest of my life, all thanks to their bravery and generosity.

It's been quite the adventure, and so lovely to share it with my parents and Sarah and Jamie. Being in such a tight space was challenging at times, but we all weathered through together, and became much closer because of the all the challenges we've faced.

Through this journey I have gained a greater respect for people who travel the seas and live on boats on a full time basis. (I certainly couldn't live on a boat permanently!) There are so many obstacles in such an adventurous life, and the sea is such a changeable lady, but living this kind of lifestyle for a time has many benefits. Through the dangers and excitements of this trip I've learned many things, not only about myself, but about the world around me, and I will always cherish the experiences of the past 10 months.

I hope that Mom and Dad will continue to use the blog in their future journeys, whether long or short. But for now, this is it for me :) Thanks so much for reading and all the best!!
Nicole.