Sylvan Beach, NY

July 31 and August 1: Sylvan Beach, NY

A view of the beach with the ever-present NY storm clouds. Had a beer at the beach bar on the right side of the pic. (No surprise, eh?)

Visiting Sylvan Beach is like stepping back in time. I don't think it's changed a bit since the 1960's. They have a ton of nostalgic charm and they play it to the hilt. There's an old fashioned amusement park, just like the one I used to go to as a child at Indian Lake. They even have the same old rides, like a Mouse Trap type roller coaster called The Galaxy, Tilt a Whirl, Bumper Cars, Haunted House, Scrambler, etc. The games section featured Fascination, Skee Ball, etc. They even had one of those fortune telling booths like the one in Tom Hank's movie Big. For a quarter I found out that I'd be "taking a long trip." Hmmmm...maybe that fortune teller did know a thing or two! We spent an evening there tripping down memory lane like a couple of kids. Had a blast. Unfortunately, I had not brought my trusty camera. So if you want to see some pics, visit their website.

While we were at Sylvan, Urger, one of the tugboats sponsored by the NY Historical Society stopped for the evening. Built in 1901, the vessel was originally used for life saving on Lake Michigan. In 1922, the State of New York bought her for use on the canal. Today, she travels up and down the canal serving as a promotional and education tool for the system.

Note the nifty rope work! All the fenders are woven from rope.

Side view with entrances to the various compartments. They had a crew of 4 onboard.

The steering wheel is made of brass. Imagine keeping that thing shined!

Get this...the captain of the boat does not control the engine! Instead, he rings a series of bells to indicate forward, reverse, additional speed or less. I would think that would make docking very tricky. Maybe that's why they have so many fenders, eh? No seriously, these guys are pros and brought it right in to the seawall without a problem.

The tug was originally powered by steam. In the mid-1930's it was converted to diesel. The engine is direct reversing, so it has no transmission. To reverse, the engine is shut down, a long lever attached to the camshaft is moved, and the engine is restarted in reverse. To proceed forward, the process is reversed. Akk!