Tag Niagara Falls

What to my wondering eyes…

Michael 14 Comments

A couple of days ago I had remarked in a comment that I don’t have a Bucket List. I went on to say that I mostly take things as they come but that there might some places or things I like to see or do if circumstances get me part of the way there. Of course I couldn’t give myself an opening like that without then starting to think of some of the places circumstances happened to lead.

Where I am, just off Chestnut Ridge in the Allegheny range, there are several small commercial caves including the only catacombs type cavern on this side of the country (or at least I’ve been led to believe). It’s a place I’ve been to enough times that although I wouldn’t go out of my way to explore a cave, if I happened to be around one with a particularly effective marketing plan hawking its presence, I might stop by. Thus it was that I happened to be sitting in my then living room with my then wife at my then house for the few years way back then in the middle of Texas looking for something to do the upcoming weekend. Then we realized we were only a half dozen hours’ drive from the cave of all caves, Carlsbad Caverns.

Going to Carlsbad was going to see a natural wonder. And the caves are pretty neat too. Yes, for as wonderful as the Caverns are (and they were) (then and I’m sure still), getting there should be on anybody’s bucket list and it’s not even the most scenic part of New Mexico. And if we hadn’t decided to see how the big western cave measured up to our back yard caverns, it was a scene I’d have missed.

NiagraFallsFrom the first time I saw the picture of the Niagara Falls on the can of spray starch on my mother’s ironing board I knew I had to see it. If I had thought of doing a bucket list when I was 6 years old that didn’t include a new bike, ice skates, and an never ending jar of chocolate covered raisins, “see Niagara Falls” would have been on it. And see them I had. I’m not sure how many times I’ve been to the falls but it’s been “some.” But always from the Canadian side. There is the spectacular Horseshoe Falls and the most spectacular views – including the one on the can. Until the time I ended on the American side. It was a long weekend gifted me and my then She by her offspring. And it was in winter!

Never would I put “see Niagara Falls from the puny American side in freezing temperatures” on any bucket list. Even one so insane as to include chocolate covered raisins. Spectacular is an understatement that even a picture can’t outdo a thousand words’ worth. (If the picture looks familiar it is from my last post in addition to that weekend.)

I can run through pages if places that I’ve been (THE house of seven gables -surprisingly not scary) and things I’ve done (rappel from a helicopter – surprisingly scary) that I never planned but just happened along. I guess I’ve been a victim of circumstances.

 

Over a Barrel

Michael Leave a comment

We went away last weekend.  We’d have loved to have gone to a South Pacific island, inhabited or not, but we went about 200 miles and that was still covered in snow in many places.   That sounds familiar.

We did say last week that we were going away.  It’s a little different for us to be travelling in late winter but not unheard of.  We spend most every year right around the Spring Solstice at one or another of our local maple festivals.  We’re urban enough that to find an area with enough sugar maples to be of commercial interest we have to travel at least one overnight.  But that’s not far and it’s for a particular event.  This last weekend we went to an honest to gosh tourist attraction that probably 85% of its tourists are attracted to in the three summer months of each year.  Still we had a great time.

It is a natural wonder and the wonder of nature is that it’s open year round.  We wondered why more people don’t visit in the winter months.  You’re having a little trouble following us.  Let us explain.  We spent the last three days at Niagara Falls, New York.  Both of us have seen the Falls from the Canadian side though not together.  There is no question the view from Canada is spectacular, pulling in almost all 3,500 feet of water spilling into the Niagara Gorge from the three drops, Horseshoe, American, and Bridal Veil Falls in a single head-on view.  But there are sights seen only from the American side for which we were completely unexpected.

From the American side one can approach to within feet of the America Rapids as the river increases to speeds of up to 30mph before tumbling 100 feet into the lower river basin at a rate of 75,000 gallons per second.  At the crest of the falls the rock beneath the water is clearly visible to those standing not much more than a yard away from the rushing water.  We spent some time on Goat Island separating the American falls pair from Horseshoe Falls.  On the Island we were able to see the almost constant rainbow that seems to appear above the mist at the American Bridal Veil Falls.  A short walk away and we were able to see some of the famous horseshoe’s mist hovering higher than the fall’s crest.  Because it is still the winter off-season we were unable to visit Luna Island and stand between the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls literally within feet of the Niagara River on either side.

All this can be seen winter or summer and we wonder why more people don’t seem to speak much of the American side when considering a vacation to the border cities.  But then as we did our own tour of the New York city we wondered ourselves what we were ever going to do when the thrill nature was providing stopped and we still had time to go before check-out.  We wondered as we passed closed tourist shops, empty small convention capable buildings, and even a tourist information center posted “for sale by owner.”  But between a bit of shopping, a little gambling, and a lot of sight-seeing, we managed to fill the weekend.  And we filled a binder full of ideas for some great stories.

So as we did last summer we’ll invite you now to stay tuned while over the next few weeks we’ll sneak in a story or two of our winter wonderland mini-vacation.  And we’ll start with a thank you to She of We’s collective offspring who gifted us with this unusual, but enjoyable late winter get-away.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?