September 8, 2013 Lorraine’s report
So, it's time to write the blog again. It's Saturday night and tomorrow we will be going back to Niagara Falls to finish up our sight seeing tour, so it's time to write the blog now. Hello everyone from Gasport, NY-- Niagara Heartland RV Park. We've had a good week, hope you did too.
Last Sunday we spent the day trying to go to the Slave Quarters with Susan, Bill, Larry & Gail. The slave quarters were closed and so we went back to where they were having an outdoor vegetable sale. Except they were packing up the fruit/vegetable wares for the day, so Susan got some nice tomatoes, and then it was over. From there we went to several local stores to see what was there. And of course, Susan found us an ice cream parlor that we all had to try. Was it good, especially for me, since I do not do a lot of ice cream-lactose intolerant.
From there we came back to walk Misty, then off we went to eat. Steak and Shake was chosen, and there were the eight of us for that; Susan, Bill, Larry & Gail, Trisha & John and us. And for the second time that day, I had ice cream, an M & M shake. Now, I must say I enjoyed it, but I could tell I had too much ice cream!
Monday was Labor Day, and Trisha & John came over to play 10,000 with us. Then it was time to do what we do best - eat. So we gathered around “party central” at Susan and Bill’s place. Susan provided baked spaghetti and watermelon. Gail had a box of wine for us. I brought salad and Trish contributed French bread and garlic butter. At desert time, we enjoyed baked peach pie (Susan) and berries, yogurt and ice cream to accompany it (Trish). Jane and George, also from Washington, stopped by, so we invited them to visit and share in our company. He was a WA State Trooper and had lots of tales he told us. All in all, a very nice day, for all of us, being so far away from home.
Tuesday was time to bid Susan & Bill, and Larry & Gail "bye" once again. Trisha & John we also leaving, but they had eaten and were leaving, going to Port Clinton, OH. Susan and the group invited us to go with them to Denny's for one last breakfast before they left. So we went along and enjoyed another couple of hours together. Then, they left. It was nice to see Susan & Bill and Larry & Gail one last time before they left, headed West. See you all back on the West Coast, whenever we get there. Thank you for coming back to see us before you "head down the road".
Wednesday, Chuck wanted us to go back to Erie, PA, to that casino; the casino had given us another $10.00 to be used a second time after the first week. We did, and I must say it was fun, and I was up for the time spent there. Also, we had the buffet, another great meal!
Thursday we left Jefferson and moved on into Gasport, NY. This area is just about 40 minutes from Niagara Fall, NY, which is where we wanted to go. Another "Bucket List" check off the list of things we would like to do. And this park we are in is just a few miles away from where we would like to go. But the car wouldn't start, so Chuck and I went on into Sommerset, NY to charge up the battery. After, I made us a nice dinner and we spent a nice evening watching TV.
Friday found us up and head off to Niagara Falls, NY. What a nice time we had. It was beautiful out, the weather wasn't going to be too hot, and we were prepared to enjoy our trip. Niagara Falls was spectacular! We went on the "Maid of the Mist" and had a blast. To be covered with the handed out "Maid of the Mist" logo rain coat, go out on the water and be soaked by the spray from the water was so refreshing and so darned wet. I can't believe how much water everyone endured doing that ride underneath the falls; the captain of the ship knew where to go and knew just what to do to show all 300 of us a "good time." We then went to the movie and left after that, to do the rest of the tour on the weekend when one part of the tour is held so more people can go.
"Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lie on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the American side, separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island.
Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by vertical height and also by flow rate. The falls are located 17 miles north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles south-southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls, New York.
While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than six million cubic feet of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost four million cubic feet on average."
I'm looking forward to going back to see the rest of the tour of Niagara Falls tomorrow, I know it will be great. What a great time to be alive and to be doing this "bucket list" trip.
Today we went up to Randolph, NY to see the Amish and look through the area. It was raining so we didn't get to see many Amish, but we did stop at a Baker's shop and I bought a loaf of bread, some cookies, 3 jars of jam and a small tray of sweet rolls and a raspberry pie. Was it ever yummy, Chuck cut into the sweet rolls to snack on as we drove around and they sure were good.
So that was our week. Hope you all had a great week, too.
Hugs to all,
Lorraine
9/8/13 Chuck’s report
We are in the Northwest part of New York state, our first visit to the area. We have sure enjoyed our time in Michigan and Ohio but it was time to move on.
Last Sunday we headed into Ashtabula with Larry and Gail and Susan. We were going to visit the Hubbard House, the Terminus of the Underground Railroad. The underground railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by runaway slaves to escape into Canada where they could be free. The escape route was not literally underground nor a railroad but was an underground resistance. It is estimated that over 30,000 slaves escaped during a 20 year period.
Unfortunately, the House and Museum was closed, it is only open on weekends, we waited until Sunday and found it was closed all Labor day weekend, bummer. But all was not lost as we made a stop for ice cream then stopped at Steak and Shake for dinner with our friends.
Monday we were invited over to Bill and Susan’s for potluck. John and Trish came by our place before for another round of 10,000, the dice game we taught them a couple days before. Later we headed over to the pot luck where everyone had a good dinner and a good time too.
Tuesday was travel day for Larry/Gail, Bill/Susan and John/Trish, they we headed South and we were staying until Thursday. We drove over to see them before they left and got there just as they were pulling out of their sites and getting ready to hook up their towed cars (toad, as they are called by RVers). Bill/Susan and Larry/Gail were planning on eating breakfast at Denny’s and we decided to meet them there. John/Trish were not stopping so we said our So Longs to them at the park before we drove into town. After breakfast we said our So Longs to the others, stopped by a grocery store then returned to our rig.
It was another nice day and we didn’t have anything planned so Lorraine and I washed our coach. The water in the campground is fairly hard so we have to wash, rinse then dry so it didn’t leave water spots too bad. We finished up in about three hours, it was looking pretty good we thought.
Wednesday we headed back to Erie, Pennsylvania for another visit. Boy those houses along the lakefront are sure nice. Once again, we stopped by the casino for their good buffet. I forgot to mention that last week we tried our luck at the horse races they have there. We only stayed for two races, betting on the second one. Lorraine picked the winner on a $2 bet and won $17, my horse came in 4th and I won --- nothing. But I did win a few $ on the slots so all was not lost, ha. This time we both walked away with some of their money again, yea.
Thursday we got things stored and ready for our travel day. We had found the roads in Michigan to be some of the worse we found but Ohio roads were not bad. We didn’t know what to expect when we got to Pennsylvania or New York so we wanted to make sure things were stored like we would if we were traveling in California.
We only traveled a short distance through Penn. before we got to New York. We left a few minutes before 10 and got here about 2:30. I needed to unhook the car before we pulled into our site but the car battery was dead once again. I got out the jumper cables (I carry a long set) and jumped it from the coach batteries. I need to get the battery load checked on one of our trips to town while we are here. After getting the coach in, leveled and the slides out, we drove the car into a small, nearby town just to charge the battery, well, maybe to see the area a bit too.
Friday was our first day trip to Niagara Falls. We had picked Bill/Susan and Larry/Gail’s brains as they had just been in the area before we met them in Kenisee Lakes. They suggested we might want to visit the American side first and purchase our ticket packet there too, it was cheaper than the one’s they bought on the Canadian side. So we headed to the Niagara Falls State Park, the oldest State park in the US.
We purchased the Discovery Pass for both of us, it includes a ride on the Maid of the Mist, a movie about the Falls, a day’s pass on the shuttle bus with on/off privileges, a visit to the Discovery Center and Aquarium plus a walk along and under the Bridal Veil falls. We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride and set through the movie that day, saving the other stuff for our next trip to the falls.
I’m sure most folks have heard/read about the Maid of the Mist and it was just as advertised, we boarded the boat, along with about 300 of our closest friends, headed towards the American Falls. As we got closer, the more spray we encountered, they did supply everyone with rain gear parkas.
Niagara Falls actually drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario and has the highest water flow rate of any waterfall in the world. A large portion of the water flow is diverted to the Hydroelectric generators on both sides of the border but less water is diverted during the daytime during the summer to keep a higher water flow over the falls for the tourists to enjoy.
A couple of things we learned during the movie, the first person to successfully go over the falls in a wooden barrel was a 63 year old woman in 1901, she put a mattress inside the barrel with her to “cushion”" her. And in the 60s, a 7 year old boy went over the falls in just a life jacket and lived, they still call it the “miracle at Niagara”. His sister was rescued just 20’ before she too would have gone over the falls. The boy was picked up from below the Falls by one of the Maid of the Mist boats.
Of course, there has been lots of folks who have gone over the Falls in wooden barrels since plus some who have walked a tightrope across too. After visiting the Falls, I don’t think I want to attempt going over the Falls except via a bridge or air plane.
Saturday the weather forecast was for rain showers so we decided to head South to visit the Amish area in New York. We enjoyed our visit to the Amish area when we were in Hersey Penn. a few years ago. We didn’t find this area to be as “tourist developed” as in Penn. We did see lots of well kept farms and some had individual shops but we didn’t find as many large shops. And the weather man was right, it did ran so we didn’t tour as much as we might have if the weather was nicer. But it is a nice area, we may tour it again someday.
We did stop by one of the individual shops where they were selling baked goods. We bought a raspberry pie, sweet rolls, cookies and some jam. We did look for a place that had scroll saw work but were unable to find it, I bet they would have had some nice stuff there too.
The weather has been getting a bit cooler only getting into the mid 70s most days with the night time temps dropping to the low 50s or even high 40s. Some folks are saying it’s almost like fall weather around here already. The tree leaves aren’t changing color yet, we are still hoping to be in upper New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine when that happens later this month and early next.
We have had mostly dry weather except for a brief shower on Wednesday and of course the heavy rain on Saturday. The forecast is for it warm up in the next couple of days, getting to the mid 80s on Tuesday and no rain in sight.
We aren’t sure how long we will stay around here, we still need to finish our tour of Niagara Falls, both on the American as well as the Canadian side. We haven’t been to Buffalo or along Lake Ontario shoreline yet either. I really need to sit down with a calendar and a map and work on our schedule and route. But living the lifestyle we do, we don’t have to follow a very tight schedule, ha.
But first I’ll go through the pictures Lorraine took, figure out which ones to add here and then get this posted.
At Denny’s with Bill and Susan. Gail and Larry. Gail lives in Alaska a couple miles from our son but hasn’t talked with him yet.
We left Ohio, drove through a small portion of Pennsylvania then entered New York.
The first sign for the city of Buffalo, NY. where Lorraine’s sister and brother-in-law and OD, a guy I worked with, used to live.
Lots of aquiculture in the area, tomato field on the left, grapes on the right. Lots of orchards around the area too.
Our first time to Niagara Falls.
That’s the Maid of the Mist down there. The American, Bridal Veil and Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
Close up of the American Falls and the Maid of the Mist.
Lorraine posing in front of the Falls.
That’s Rainbow Bridge, crossing into Canada just downstream of the Falls.
The gave us these rain gear parkas before we got on the boat.
Pictures of the Falls from the boat.
That’s the American Falls, notice all the rocks at the bottom.
The Honeymoon Falls over Lorraine’s left shoulder. We sure got wet!
The Canadian Horseshoe Falls, that’s the folks in wooden barrels make their attempt to go over the Falls.
A stairway up to the side of the American Falls.
The campground we are staying here in Gasport.
A Saturday drive through Amish country in New York.
Hay bales made by hand, I think.
Ok, now to post this.
Thanks Chuck
426
No comments:
Post a Comment