Niagara Falls

Western New York Experiences:

June 1-7, 2013 was generally wet and soggy days in New York. Nothing really new for this trip, we have had an awful lot of rain, and we realize that traveling this time of year does bring that chance. We try to just ignore it and carry on with our adventures. The route from the 1000 Lakes Region to the Niagara Region was quite long, and fairly uneventful until we had almost reached the Elks in Lockport N.Y. We have our GPS set to help us avoid low bridges, narrow roads…. This time either Maggie was miss-informed or we miss-navigated – found we attempting to cross an extremely narrow bridge over the Erie Canal. The “SICKENING” screeching sounds caused the dogs to bark, and us to swear!!! We put a wee bit of a scrape on the frame of our door, the damage was luckily very minimal and Mike was able to back our way off of the entrance to the bridge. A very helpful local re-directed us away from this bridge and we were able to get to our camp sight only a little worse for wear. Phew that was stressful, but we happily found a very welcoming Elks complete with nice cement pad and 30 amp power and huge grounds (beautiful soccer field) for our backdrop.

Stormy Weather

This stop had been set up on our itinerary as sort of a maintenance and repair stop. We knew we would want to have the Prius checked out, Karen badly needed attention to her hair and a pedicure (spa day J), and we also tried to get some help with our computer, it has been having some issues with our photo program. We took the better part of 2 days running around the Buffalo area taking care of the afore mentioned chores and a number of errands.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so we took advantage of it and took a cruise on the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal connects the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean at sea level with the Niagara River and the Great Lakes at 570 feet above sea level. This 363 mile engineering feat was built between 1817-1825. What a treat, this was – the 2-hour float had us Locking through Locks 34 & 35 (going up and then back down some 50+feet), and being amazed at the 20-foot stonewalls of the 1800s that were cut and blasted by hand.

Erie Canal Locks

Erie Canal

Niagara Falls was on our must visit list. We stopped ant the Niagara Power Plant Pavilion – they have quite an interactive display explaining how hydro electricity works. Even with the rain we managed to get out and walk the boys and see the beautiful falls. We drove across the boarder into Canada and spent the better part of the day enjoying the scenic little town of Niagara on the Lake. It is very similar to our Ashland – it hosts plays written by George Bernard Shaw at 4 different theatres. The season was just starting so it was fairly busy. We did a bit of window shopping and enjoyed a nice cozy lunch in the lounge at the Prince of Wales Hotel – classy little place.

Niagara Falls

Horseshoe Falls

This area has a pretty extensive wine region. It is known as the Niagara Escarpment –an area naturally protected from frost by Lake Ontario. The lake acts as a large heat sink, which powers wind forward of the lake when the lake water is warmer than the air, and away from the lake when it is cooler. There were just acres and acres of vineyards and a wine trail in the Lockport area of some 20+ wineries. Being the fermented grape juice lovers that we are, we visited 5 different wineries enjoying many tastes of wine. We bought a few bottles to take home and share with our wine club (will see how many actually make it J). New York has been a great stop, this area is extremely beautiful with a great variety of things to do and see.

Niagara area winery