A "Swag Day" worth remembering !

Our day started at 5:30 am with an early rise for Kyle and Captain Paul as they were all set to head to the airport and catch a flight to Toronto, so Kyle could be home for his school and work schedule. Originally, the date to be back in Canada was August 25th but we had delays in the Erie Canal and we had to re-shuffle our schedule. We have managed to get Kyle home on the original date so he is happy.

Our flight was at 9 am so Uber was at our dock at 6 am to get us to the Newark Airport. We though it would be a longer ride but from the time we left the boat till the time we were at our gate for the flight, was 25 minutes, so we had time to wait. What else is there to do in an airport -------- well we splurged, and had a nice breakfast. The fruit was healthy but the whipped cream and caramel sort of spoiled the concept of healthy eating.

We had a fantastic morning for a flight as there was clear skies and warm weather. As the flight left Newark, we had an amazing view towards the big apple and as we flew to Toronto we went right over Niagara Falls. After making sure Kyle was safely out of the Toronto Airport, Captain Paul ventured back into the terminal, went back through customs and security, and then had to wait for 3 hours to catch his flight back to New Jersey. But all went well and there were no hitches. We did get a good photo of Niagara Falls.

Kyle was happy to get home to his friends and is excited to get back to school, as this is his last year in High School. He has no idea about a career, but today he said it would be awesome to be an airline pilot and fly all over the world. Let's check in with him in about 10 years, and see what he ends up doing.

As I went back through US Customs, I passed the mini version of the Statue of Liberty and could not pass by without a Selfie.

The girls took time today to walk to Jersey City and hang out at a LGBTQ+Pride Parade The city had many streets shut down and vendors were lined up on both sides of the street handing out lots of SWAG, as the gals would say. There was so much activity, marching drummers, decorated individuals and overall a happy group. We pulled together some photos and combined everything into a video, so enjoy what they experienced. Make sure you have your sound turned on.

The girls made sure they were able to get as much SWAG as possible from the vendors, and yes, they did manage to get their fair share of SWAG. They tell me they will donate much of it to others when they get home. Now that Kyle is off the boat, we have a spare room to store all the items they manage to pick up on the remainder of the trip but the best part is, they had fun and did get a BIG HAUL.

The neat pile belongs to Alice, and the other group of SWAG is Jan's and it was all Free.

So, our time in New York is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning we will depart early, get some fuel at the Liberty Landing Fuel Dock ($1.50 per Liter Canadian so that's a good deal) and then we will do a cruise past Lady Liberty and see if we can get you a video of the statue from the water. We will then head up the East side of Manhattan, go under the Brooklyn Bridge and follow the eastern side of Manhattan where the waterway cuts through the island of Manhattan at the Bronx. We are hoping to go past Yankee Stadium and then get back onto the Hudson River and head north. Tomorrow morning the tide will be low at 7 am and it rises to about 5 feet by 3 pm so as we head north the tide will be behind us (that is AFT in Mariner language) and push us homeward.

It was a great visit and we have lots of memories to talk about when we get home. Our plans include making some stops in new locations as we backtrack our route to Trenton. Lets hope the Erie Canal is fully open this week.

Stay tuned for more exciting boating news as the week progresses.

Your Crew -Paul, Jan and Cynthia.