When my friend, Erik, first floated the idea of a self-piloted voyage along the Erie Canal, I did the math. From my apartment in Rochester, New York, I can drive west to the town of Spencerport in 21 minutes, 17 should the traffic lights cooperate. If heading east, I can make it to Pittsford in ten, though I usually stop at Wegmans en route, which tacks on another 30. The village of Fairport, meanwhile, requires 25 minutes behind the wheel—practically a road trip by Western New York standards.  When traveling by boat, however, that collective time frame falls overboard, increasing from around an hour to exactly three days. The Erie Canal stretches for 363 miles between Albany and Buffalo, but our particular tour would begin in Macedon, east of Fairport. There, we’d set out on a 41-foot boat rental via Erie Canal Adventures, which, for three-day trips, suggests docking in Pittsford, Spencerport, and, on the way back, Fairport.  That trajectory meant I’d be sleeping mere miles from my own home, embarking on my first-ever—and, realistically, only—floating staycation.  “I’m in,” I texted Erik, who, similar to our fellow Erie Canal passenger, Richard, also lives in New York, about five hours south. Adding more math to the mix, we coincidentally set our departure date for August 5th—the exact day I’d moved to Rochester two years prior—though a more significant number underscored our cruise. The Erie Canal in 2025 was celebrating its bicentennial, so we would travel not only through my own personal geography but also through a wider, broader legacy of 200 years.  Navigating the Erie Canal in the CAYUGA Photo: Anna Staropoli The Canal’s Legacy Christened as an engineering marvel, the Erie Canal underwent construction between 1817 and 1825. Once completed, it eased access between the Great Lakes and New York City, positioning the latter as the country’s predominant port. In turn, the canal played an integral role in aiding not only the transportation of goods and people but also the development of places along its path; it’s the reason Rochester became one of the United States’ inaugural boomtowns, earning the alias, “The Young Lion of the West.”  Finding Regional Niches I didn’t know any of this—not even the Erie Canal song, which locals learn in elementary school—when I moved to Rochester for a relationship. At the time, my perception of Western New York was limited to the buzzwords: lake-effect snowstorms, Kodak, and Rochester’s infamous (and drunkenly delicious) garbage plates.  Since then, I’ve carved out my regional niches; I root for the Buffalo Bills, don’t need a menu at Bar-Bill Tavern (the best chicken wings around), and can find Susan B. Anthony’s grave in the sprawling, scenic Mount Hope Cemetery without glancing at a map.  Yet there’s a difference between knowing a place’s spirit and feeling like a place is yours. Much like the Erie Canal emerged for a particular purpose—to connect fragments of New York— Western New Yorkers typically have specific reasons for being here. Their origins may [...]