Our Trip to Scenic Niagara Falls and Points South and East, the highlights:
Day One
Park Ave Fest!
Bought a grippy cover for my iphone- (won’t slide out of my pocket and looks like a golf ball now). The salesperson offered to take my phone number for their records in case I need a warranty. I said, “Uhh, it’s five dollars ? And I don’t live here?” After thinking for a second he looked up and responded, “Oh. Well when you put it that way…”
I went to a park where I was subsequently mobbed by children who decided I was a bad guy that needed to be chased and thrown in jail under the slide.
Had some drinks with the Rochester guys.
Day Two
Everyone has Sophia wallpaper today; she is so cute with that little fist in her mouth.
Got to dunk in the pool with Caroline.
Red Green is one funny guy.
Finished off the day with iron chef, I am SUCH a foodie.
Day Three
Canada!
What accent? All day I tried to place the accent I heard from those who were clearly not tourists. I decide that it is a cross between all the regions around it with some British thrown in for good measure.
It was both rainy and misty around Niagara the actual falls, we got wet in triplicate.
The falls? They were big. And wet. And falling. Actually pretty neat to watch the water falling over and misting up. Like when you see a fire burning how it kind of rises and falls sort of ethereal-looking. Niagara Falls looked like that.
Hotel rooms should all have hot tubs.
Day Four
Butterflies!
We decide to venture out towards the butterfly conservatory. We see maybe a million or maybe umpteen million butterflies in a large room. I watch some of them eat with their weird curly tongues. Dan gets landed on at least twice.
Scenic view of a whirlpool, wouldn’t want to be sucked under out there.
It’s That Clock!
“Ok the best thing about that clock is if you look at it that’s the exact same time I first laid eyes on it…oh well the clock is broken, but still it’s like the best thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life!”
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a picturesque little village.
Historic House- Some dude had to walk home to Niagara Falls from East Greenbush NY.
Cherries and cheese bread at the monument.
Nice dinner in the sky- top floor of some hotel we weren’t staying in.
I decide the accent is very ‘this hour has 22 minutes’.
Day Five
The American Falls are scarier than the Canadian ones because you can get closer to the drop…spooky.
We found an awesome lunchy place which served dirt cheap steak pizza that tasted much much better than dirt.
Dan and I critiqued good art at Albright Knox. Getting rather fond of Mondrian squares.
*sidebar and the title of this post*
Went on an adventure at the recommendation of Chris. In Orchard Park, NY there is a park named Chestnut Ridge Park (follow me so far?) that has a section near it that is not marked as in the actual park but apparently is part of it (still following?)- anyway, this area has a trail head and some maps that say ‘Eternal Flame’ and lead you to a flame burning out in the woods, eternally. We found out after some experimental hiking that the flame is almost exactly at the trail head, only it is not accessible from there. Taking the quick way down a shale rock face would get you hurt or dead. To reach the flame and a cool waterfall, you must hike the blue trail until you are basically in the river bed, then turn around 180 degrees and hike the river bed until you reach the falls. Within the falls themselves (which were low when we saw them) there is a ledge that spouts an actual lit flame about the size of two candles. Would have been so more worth it if we had known how soon to turn around.
*and now back to our story*
Last interesting thing of the day- we saw a bear that was roadkill.
Day Six
Really the only order of business was to see the Corning Glass Museum and get ourselves home.
I absolutely loved the glass museum which I call OMG-glass! Lots of displays on history of glass around the world, in the past and today, different types, and all that. We saw a fiber optics presentation, glass figure making, and glass blowing. The glass blower made a bowl and then, holding it with tongs, offered to let an audience member take it home. He said, “Who would like to come up here right now and take this from me?” as he was speaking his assistant dropped a paper tissue into the bowl which sat for a single second before bursting spectacularly into flame- so they were pulling our legs about giving away the bowl. In reality they break it and reuse it each show. The best part about the glass museum was the glass art. This was easily the best art we’ve seen on any trip. We were lucky enough to see a temporary exhibit owned by a couple who I guess really love glass art. It was some amazing stuff. All different techniques by all different artists. We saw very pure forms, very abstracted forms, straightforward beauty, misshapen beauty, pressed shapes, melted shapes, and glass plus other media (most often metal was incorporated). Every piece drew out interesting conversation by myself and Dan about what we liked and didn’t like. I even bought a small piece made by a local studio. After the glass museum we got a snack and wandered some nearby shops before driving home.
Final Score:
All in all a good trip, despite ridiculous humidity and heat. Dan’s favorite was Niagara-on-the-Lake. My favorite was OMG glass.