Canal Walkways

Today was just as beautiful as Saturday. I longed to get out in the great weather and absorb as much as I can. Especially this weekend because I have three tests upcoming and I will need some "soul food" to hang on to while I am laying helpless on those cold uncomfortable machines as they whirr and bang about me, invading my body, probing for hopefully nothing.



I made Drew come with me. He didn't want to go for a walk. He protested that he was running twenty miles a week easy with all his soccer running and workouts and games. I was deaf to his pleas. I had seen a sign after my visit with the oncologist and I wanted to check it out. All the years I had worked at the Rush Rhees Library on the campus of U of R, I had driven past the Genesee Valley Park. There was an outdoor pool and a skating rink. Farther down the road, there was a grassy park with a playground.



But coming from the oncologists, I was trying to put some papers away, and I pulled into the parking area by the pool to get organized. That's when I saw the dock and advertisements for renting canoes and kayaks. And the trail signs. I wanted desperately to see what all the Canal Walkway was. So I dragged Drew with me to explore.



What an amazing area! It must be the best kept secret in Rochester! How could I have missed it last time I lived here. Besides being vast, the paths are blacktopped and well marked and well lighted. They weave close to the canal and alongside it, and every eighth of a mile or so there is a bridge walkway that takes you to the other side of the canal (which is rather muddy) to a whole other realm of great paths.



We saw joggers and bikers, elderly people and little kids, but it was not crowded. We passed the U of R crew team setting up for a workout, and saw a weird square boat that looked like it shouldn't float but which shot along at an amazing speed. The trees are just beginning to tinge yellowish, and the barges and dredges were parked alongside the canal here and there, silent reminders of ongoing work to keep the canal viable.



Drew ended up liking it. He wants to return and bring fishing gear (lots of signs encouraged that, but I can't imagine what on earth you would catch in such filthy water!). We chatted about our interrupted plans to go camping, just he and I. We need to do that REAL soon before the nights get any chillier! Drew wondered if we could hike the canal and camp along the way. I looked into it, and people do it all the time. Maybe we can manage next summer to do something with that.

But for today, at least, we got some sun, some fresh air, and a chance to chat. What more could one ask?