The winds of Albion

Rainy Tuesday morning.

We awoke Tuesday morning, well I should say Mike woke up first at about 4:00 a.m. to water dripping in his face.  His port was leaking again. I woke up shortly afterwards to find him trying to rest on my settee.  Well as most of you know my husband is not a short man and my settee is.  Those combinations do not go well together.  I quickly offered up my dry bunk to him so he could get some more shut eye.  I am an early riser and knew I would be up shortly anyway.

Yay! the sun was coming out.

The rain and wind continued on for several more hours.  Then the rain stopped around 9:30 a.m. but the crazy wind continued on all day long.  We spent the remainder of the morning in Medina.  Went for another walk in town.  I stopped by the bakery for a scone (yes Julie Kerns it made me think of you) and a loaf of bread, and then walked across the street to another little shop.  I met Mike and we made a trip over to the Shirt Factory Cafe for some lunch.  It’s a small little cafe that is housed in the old Shirt Factory in town.  The Mayor owns the building and has brought several different things into the building including a hotel and a place where they make Mead (yes Bob Sinn that made me think of you).  I fell in love with this cafe.  It was so funky, eclectic and everything I enjoy.  And the food was really good.  After finishing lunch we headed back to the boat and made our way on to Albion (about a 2 hour cruise).  It was a beautiful cruise but the wind was ferocious.  We attempted to dock in Albion which is between two lift bridges.  Well we made it through the lift bridge, and we started to dock the boat but the old wind had a completely different idea.  After a couple of attempts we finally got the Lady J tied down and snug for the night.

The Shirt Factory Cafe (Michael (George) this place reminded me of you.)

Going to absolutely do this in our next home.

Farms along the way.

Amanda look familiar?  We rode in one of these several years ago, actually this very one.

Lady J snug in her spot after a windy docking.

By this time the temperature had dropped down into the low 70’s which was a welcome change after being in the mid 80’s yesterday.  We took a walk into town, about a 1/4 mile down the main road we found a thrift shop and a laundromat.  We ducked into the thrift shop in hopes that Mike could find some books to read.  We have found these places to be a treasure trove of reading materials.  Well he hit the jackpot.  Books were on sale today 4 for $1.00.  He walked out with 8 and a big ole smile on his face. 

This guy was in heaven

Afterwards we worked our way back to the boat knowing full well we would turn around and make our way back later that afternoon to the laundromat.   I was in dire need of washing our ever growing pile of dirty clothes.  So I packed up the Vera bag along with Mike’s duffel bag and we were off again.  We opted not to ride our bikes, one because of the shear force of the wind and second because we would have to ride it on pretty busy main road.  So off we went back up the hill, just like a bunch of pack mules.  But within an hour and a half all clothes were clean and back on the boat.  Whew good job done!

Just gorgeous

Massive church doors

The architecture in Albion is quiet wonderful.  Mike and I can wonder around for hours just looking at old buildings and boy this place met our expectations.  We had dinner in tonight, not to worry didn’t heat up the galley tonight.  We had enough leftovers from the past couple of nights to satisfy our hungry bellies.  We try to eat in for most meals as to help keep the budget down.  Our goal is to have the fuel and docking costs be higher than our eating out bill would be. We will just have to see how that works out with all this amazing food to be had. 

Nighttime on the Canal.

Just a beautiful clear sky in Albion

The evening ended with a beautiful clear sky and calmer winds, with temperatures in the 60's.  GREAT sleeping weather. Tomorrow we are in search of once again free wifi.

Wednesday morning we headed out in search of the McDonalds that has free wifi.  After a good mile walk we finally found it and here we are. This afternoon we are off to Holly, NY.  Who knows what adventures lie ahead of us there.