Catskill to Waterford

After a slow start we got away from Catskill about 11:00 am. We immediately noticed that the river was changing from steep, wooded banks to much flatter terrain. Still quite pretty. At one point we saw two yearling deer on the bank. When our boat's wake started coming into their little section of beach they began to play with it, running along with it then chasing each other. Farther up stream we saw an eagle sitting on an old drift wood log. A little later Shelly saw a flock of wild turkey on the bank. Soon we passed through Albany, NY. Muriel was quite taken by all the beautiful old buildings in the downtown district. Next came Troy and the "federal" lock, the start of our many locks to come on the Erie Canal. We have stopped just above the federal lock and just short of the first Erie Canal lock at Waterford. Last night there was no space left on the free floating dock so we had to tie in along a concrete wall. This offered Muriel and Shelly a challenge getting on and off the boat. The deck of the boat was several feet below the top of the wall. Along the wall is a park and walk depicting the Erie Canal. They have done a good job of beautifying the area to attract boats to stop, including free dockage, electricity, showers, and coffee. This morning we were able to move from the wall to the floating dock.
We plan to start through the canal tomorrow morning.