Sunday a fog had settled so thick on the morning, whitewashing the landscape outside. As it began to lift a quiet calm woke us slowly to a warm sunny day.

We had planned to attend the First Evangelical Fellowship Church, a beautiful old church perched on a tree-lined hill in the middle of a poor area of town. On the way we were greeted by flowers growing on the sidewalks. Wow!

When we arrived the pastor's wife welcomed us with a cheery smile and immediately invited to a lasagna lunch after service. An organization called Adult & Teen Challenge Farm were special guests. This amazing organization works with addicts to help them recover and find balance in their lives again. Their success is in teaching importance of having a relationship with God. In the process they find peace, joy and contentment. The presentations were amazing and inspiring.

We had planned to leave this afternoon but the town was so beautiful with scenic trails still to hike, and natural rock walls and caverns to climb. Colgate climbing school uses them often for team building (we we're thinking of you Chris, Christine and Emma.) 

The largest lock on the Erie Canal, a 40 ft lock, was just a short 25 min walk from the boat. On the way there we passed the town's hydro electric plant that takes advantage of the height difference between the Mohawk River and the Erie canal to generate all the electricity the town needs.

After a review of our lock decent for tomorrow's departure we met some rock climbers who gave us directions to a hidden route where we could climb to the peek without gear. The higher peeks were calling and it was worth the climb. The top provided a stunning view of the town, waterways and bridges. Spectacular!

The town promotes it's natural wonders, rich history, and art. It has even thought of interesting ways to benefit the community, with art installations along the waterfront and by painting underpasses with chalkboard paint, creating canvas' for young artists. Needless to say we took a LOT of photos and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for a last day before leaving this 'Boaters Preferred Stop'.

Tomorrow we will go through the largest lock in the Erie canals. We will be taking video and hope to post it here soon!