Memorial Day: first boat ride of the season

Since Memorial Day seems to mark the beginning of summer, we took the boat out for the first outing of the season. Here I am at the wheel on Lake Conesus. I am a speed demon. (No, I'm not)

After two days of rain, the weather was just right. I was Snapchatting the scenery left and right (note I have discovered the cute stickers on Snapchat)

Look at these two! They have the pose down to a science.

As always we like to have a snack destination, so halfway through we stopped for a cheese plate. Boating works up an appetite!

Boating Canandaigua Lake

Today we took the boat out on Canandaigua Lake. It is about a half hour from Rochester and is the fourth largest of the Finger Lakes at 15 miles long.

We decided that we want to try and take the boat out on all the Finger Lakes so I'm starting to keep track. Lake Ontario isn't a Finger Lake but we boated there so I just wanted to note that.

The town of Canandaigua is at the north end of the lake and the town of Naples where we like to go for grapes in the fall is at the south end of the lake. I have heard that Canandaigua Lake has the cleanest water of all the Finger Lakes.

The tree covered hills along the shore make this one of the prettiest lakes to go boating on.

I bet it's a fantastic view in the fall when the leaves have turned color.

For supper on the boat we had cheese and charcuterie.

Oscar really enjoys being on the boat. Much more so than Hugo.

Maybe because he is old enough to drive the boat and Hugo isn't.

We were out long enough to catch a lake sunset.

Lake camping

It's an added bonus when you go camping next to a lake. We were able to do a little fishing.

Well, we dangled worms in the water for awhile... didn't really catch anything. The pugs were so helpful.

Look at that lake sunset!

Boating on Seneca Lake

So it rained all last night but today made up for it. We put the boat into Seneca Lake and pretty much stayed out all day.

Seneca Lake is the largest Finger Lake. It's 36 miles long and it's deepest spot is 618 feet.

Right before this trip we each got an inner tube. At the hottest part of the day we anchored the boat, tied our inner tubes to the boat and hopped in. The water was COLD! It was so relaxing to float and bob along.

I had totally forgotten about the legend of the Seneca Lake Sea Monster. Brrrrr.

The pugs kept looking over the edge at the boat at us. I think they were concerned something would happene to us and they wouldn't get back to the campsite in time for dinner.

This is where the pugs spent most of their time on the boat. Snoozing in the bow.

While we were cruising around the lake we went past another lake legend... the painted rocks. It was first believed that the Senecas painted this after they were displaced by Continental troops. This has been debunked due to the fact the Senecas lived in longhouses not teepees and they left by horse not canoe. The paintings were most likely created by tour boats for story telling.

It was still fun to see it. We almost went from one end of the lake to the other. Such a good day.

A day on the boat

Today we planned on spending the entire day on the boat so I made us cheese and egg sammies for brunch and packed seafood subs for a late lunch/early supper.

We put the boat in the water in the Irondequoit Bay and then went out on to Lake Ontario. There was a big Coast Guard boat in the lake.

It doesn't look as big in the these pictures but it definitely looked strange there. We are not used to seeing ships like that on the lake.

We did a little fishing.

But no luck today.

There was no wind and the water was very calm.

Almost... too calm.

Boat selfie.

Making waves.

The pugs found a comfy spot in the bow of the boat.

They even fell asleep there.

Oscar woke up in time to help Aaron pull the boat back in though.

A big splash on Hot Dog Row

Aaron and I drove up to the lake to eat at Hot Dog Row. This is a spot near Sea Breeze Amusement Park where you can find several restaurants in a row. I had been calling it Hamburger Row until I googled it and discovered I was using the wrong from of meat in a bun for the name. Note they even Wikipedia calls them "hamburger joints" so that still makes more sense to me.

Anyhoo... after we ate, we walked up to the water and noticed a tug boat chugging in.

It came up to barge and scoop. We stood around and waited to see what was going on, because what else to do on a Thursday night?

Turns out they are dredging the passageway between the bay and the lake. Summer evening entertainment!

Frozen... Lake Ontario

Today after work I grabbed my camera and drove up to the lake with Aaron to see how much of it had frozen. I have always wanted to see the lakeshore in winter. I forget so often that we live on the edge of a Great Lake.

I had heard that Lake Ontario was 75% frozen over. but it did not appear 75% frozen to me.

The only thing that struck me, was that the beach was twice it's normal width. It looked like Hoth in Return of the Jedi.

So I looked into it online. Turns out the lake WAS only about 40% frozen, way behind the other Great Lakes early in the month. All together the Great Lakes were 88% frozen over.

With the recent Arctic blast, Lake Ontario became 79% frozen in a very short period of time. "More than 4,700 square miles of ice formed over the Great Lakes in just one night on Tuesday."

Looking at this satelite map, I can see the ice more toward the center of the lake than the shore (far right). So that explains why it doesn't look 75% frozen from Charlotte Beach.

One thing is for sure... it is bitter cold and it's been that way all month.

Everything seems to be covered in a sugar candy coating of ice with heaps of snow everywhere else. Up by the lake, the snow and ice glows blue and orange as the sun sets.

I am glad we made our way up there to see the sight.

Even if I couldn't feel my legs by the time we left!

Life is like riding on the back of a tandem bicycle. If you are quite short.

I have a list of things I want to do this summer and going for bike rides is high on it. Last night we packed up Banana Split, the Schwinn Twinn tandem bike I got Aaron for his birthday and headed for the lake.

It is an odd thing to be the one riding on the back of a tandem bike. Especially when the person in front is 6'5". You can't see much ahead of you.... only the scenery whizzing past and an occasional glance behind you of where you have been. You just hang on and pedal like crazy. Kinda like life right?

Video posted above for anyone viewing via RSS feed - it might not show up