6/12/24 - Layover day in Tonawanda

 

After the long and late day yesterday we all slept well last night.  Derek and Erik awoke and walked up into town to Donut Kraze for some morning treats; key lime was our favorite.   We sat and chatted for a while before Derek and Chris packed their bags and headed off toward home about 10am.  It is back to just the two of us and Riva for the remainder of the trip until Erik’s dad and Felicitas join us for a couple days at our final destination on the Hudson River.   

Sunrise pics from the bridge spanning Tonawanda Creek just up from where we are resting on the wall 
Happy Destiny resting just above and behind the sign

Good morning

We had decided to say put for the day and another night since Tonawanda appeared to have good charm and yesterday was long and tiring.   A couple of hours were spent getting the boat in order: stowing the enclosure panels into the bow, shuffling dock boxes to where we wanted them for the canal, vacuuming etc.   it seemed like a good day for an early nap so the three of us retreated back to the aft cabin after lunch for a nice restful break.  

Rested up, we took Riva for a nice walk and then set off on bikes to Tops grocery which was just over the bridge and 1/4 mile down the road.  A quick dinner of leftovers from the weekend festivities was followed by another short 1/2 mile ride to a 6pm AA meeting.  It was a beautiful, warm evening and the meeting was held outside.  Tonawanda is a very clean and quaint town with residential streets lined with gorgeous, well kept, large old homes.  

By the time we got back to the boat the canal front area was bustling with people and activity.   Tonight was the second week of the Wednesday night ‘Canal Concert Series’.   We had the perfect spot to view and listen to the entertainment from our aft deck.  The opening band was a popular local cover band (we missed most of that) followed by a Led Zeppelin tribute band.  It was a wonderful evening of relaxing while catching up on blogs for the past week. 

Opening cover band from the bridge as we rode back from the meeting 

Lots of hustle and bustle

                                                                       Getting the ‘Led’ out

Riva however did not find the driving bass and loud music quite as relaxing and she spent most of the remainder of the night hunkered down in her bed in the aft cabin.   The music played until a little after 10pm and after the crowds had cleared we took her up for a walk before all retiring to pillow time.  We look forward to moving on tomorrow as we begin the ~350 mile Erie Canal voyage.