I’m finally getting around to blogging about a short trip I took to Roscoe Village. http://historicroscoevillage.com/erie-canal-boat/ We went in September 2012.

It really is a nice walk…well paved and comfortable.

When we got there we went to the Canal boat right away. That was the main reason why we went, we wanted to ride the Monticello III, the only Canal Boat around still pulled by horses.
The tickets are moderate, 8.00 for an adult. We parked in the Roscoe region, but there’s a parking lot right next to it that we ended up walking through. I don’t mind…the walk, through a tunnel, along side old locks, was really lovely. It’ll take about 15-20 minutes each way. I would not call it wooded, though there are trees…to the left (going to the canal) you have a hillside, and at the top of that is a lake. (So yes…you’re lower than the lake!) and to the right are fields…both farming and soccer.

If you go off the path you can walk through the old locks…cool, eh?

When you get to the boat, you’ll see a long, cream colored boat with green trim. It’s actually very nice. They don’t let you pre-board, so you’ll have to wait at the benches until they let you on. The interior is filled with more benches…the front gives you the best view, but the side/fronts are also nice.

There is a gentleman who tells the story of the canal, how it was built, the fact that most of the benches didn’t exist, but that there were beds inside the boat for people to sleep on. That stuck with me because the boat isn’t that wide…and I was struck by the idea of people taking the canal for so long that they had to actually sleep. That was definiatly something for the mental compost heap. Also, there are awesome stories of less reputable captains knocking each other over the head in order to get a better position in the canal…

The water turned bright green from algae as we went, and watching the water churn and things appear and disappear through the bright green muck was kind of fascinating. I was relived, however, when we got to the main lake and it looked pretty clean.

Yum! Muck!

We turned around…the horses are pretty magnificent, by the way. I love horses, especially large ones. They don’t seem to be bothered by this…they trudge there, they trudge back, they rest, they go again. I can’t help but wonder if they are a bit FML, but, well, not everyone can be a pet, I guess.

Don’t they look super impressed? Oh, look, another human! We don’t see many of those around here!

They really were handsome, and well treated, though. You could tell the guy who guided them liked them a lot.

The handsome boys pulling the boat, like they did when the canal was complete and in use.

When we got back we realized that we had to hustle to get to Roscoe Village before everything closed! And hustle we did.

Mostly, it’s a great place for looking around. It’s not a shopping place for me, because I don’t buy antiques (in general) and crafts. But I did spend some money at the Medbury Marketplace. One of the things I really enjoy is trying new things to drink or eat, so I bought a half dozen different sodas…Rose Lemonade, Raspberry Ginger soda, Lavender Soda…just all sorts of cool stuff. We also found some really lovely soap the was organic and smelled like roses. I had a lot of fun shopping there. I really, really wish we had something like it close by: http://www.medberymarketplace.com/

There are some unique places to eat, but I wanted to drive home and I could not settle myself…so we ended up goingt to Captain Nye’s Custard, rather than one of the fancier places that would take (I thought) longer.

Captain Nye’s (http://www.captainnyes.com/) was pretty wonderful. It looks like a soda shop from the past…old signs decorate the walls, old style white cast iron tables and chairs provide where you sit to eat. There are tons of different custards…and some great sandwhiches. Their toasted cheese with Bacon was delightful, as was their hot roast beef and cheddar. And of course, the custard…between this and the marketplace, part of me would kind of not mind living there.

There is also a lovely garden there.

Bonus! A picture of me I don’t actually hate! My publisher asks me for pictures from time to time and I’m like, “OMG NO I’M UGLY LEAVE ME ALONE.” Yes, they are lovely, and very kind and long suffering.

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