The Eerie canal opened a hundred years ago. More importantly I had the great opportunity to take a five day trip with Mom and Dad and Dana on a canal boat. The amazing thing is that it was entirely unescorted. The four of us were given a boat and told to have a good time. It was kind of like this but there were no other boats that we ran into. We went from town to town passing through locks as we went up and down the canal. It was great fun and so fortunate to have spent the time with my parents. It was the last trip I took with them.
Dana made us t-shirts. Here is mine:

I was, of course, Captin. Mom was "Eerie Queen". Dad was "Popeye" and Dana was "Third Mate".
Somehow we don't have a picture of it. Cell phones were not much in existance at that time (I think in the very late 90's or just after the century turn). There is probably a physical snapshot somewhere but it might have just disappeared.
We had a great time, saw the canal and some of the the history of that area, of which there is a lot.
So easy to take times like that for granted but now many people have had the opportunity to sail the Great Lakes on a Navy ship and the canal on a family boat? It does amaze me in retrospect.
We're meeting a couple of the employees of my company with whom I'm still in contact. Bryant and Thomas are still in the area and we meet a couple or three times a year. This time we're meeting at a Thai restaurant. We were going to meet at Thomas' apartment until he told us he lives on the third floor. I pulled out the Dana card. It would be hard enough for me to go up three floors but worse for her and even more dangerous going down.
So we're meeting at a ground floor restaurant on the other side of town.
And it is time to take a shower and get ready.

















