Summer2011

We had a great time, and for once we avoided the annual heat spell that usually follows us on our trips. We appreciate everyone who left us messages on the blog. We had over 330 views, which isn't bad for something that doesn't include any naked pictures! See you next year...... read more

Sunday we slept in a bit as we had nothing set for the day until our tour started at noon. Weather not as great - cloudy, with some threats of rain. But it never got really rainy so we were good. The tour started at Joe's Restaurant, the oldest continually operating restaurant in town. We had salad and pizza, both quite good. The decor of Joe's was vintage 1920's, with small black and white floor tiles and a beautiful wooden bar. Out tour guide was Laura, also the owner of the tour company. She was funny and very enthusiastic about all of our stops. She told us she'd graduated from Cornell in the 1980's and just loved the area so much that she never left. Our next stop was Purity Ice Cream, also an old local ... read more

First of all, WE LOVE ITHACA. Now, the details: The weather here Saturday was wonderful - cloudless skies, highs in the low 80s, no humidity and a little breeze. Great day to be out and about. To start our day, we headed out for breakfast at a Tim Horton's we had scouted out the night before - we had seen a few during our NY travels and they made Allison nostalgic for our trip to England when we first discovered them. (Basically, if you are not familiar, they are a donut/sandwich/coffee shop.) Then off to downtown Ithaca to meet up with our tour. Actually our first stop was the public library for reasons we don't need to go into. Huge library, beautifully spread out, it was the nicest public library we've ever seen. Ithaca is a ... read more

Luckily, we didn't have any outdoor activities planned today because it rained all day. Allison is really, really tired of getting her hair wet one way or another. We did stop at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse on our way out of town, and we are glad we did. Lots of info about how the canal changed New York and the US, and how it created a way of life in the towns that srung up along the way. There was a replica of a 'packet boat', which was a passenger vessel that could take you from Albany to Buffalo in six days - before the canal the same trip took six weeks. So the canal was a great way to get goods from New York City to the west inexpensively. Lots of photos of ... read more

Our first full day in Syracuse - the weather was just OK, kind of overcast. We ventured out to Herkimer, about an hour east, to board another Erie Canal Cruise. The captain of the boat was very knowledgeable about the canal and it's history, and I think she told us EVERYTHING she knows. She barely took a break during the entire two-hour cruise. While interesting, the barage of facts was relentless. But it was pleasant enough, and different than the Lockport canal cruise we took on Monday. Since it wasn't a very pretty day, I gave the shutter finger the day off - so no photos. After our cruise, we went to the town of Ilion. There we tracked down the Herkimer County Cheese Company and acquired some product for certain relatives (you know who you ... read more

This morning we left Niagara Falls and Canada, having thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We had a leisurely breakfast for once, since we were in no hurry to get anywhere. We crossed the border one last time and changed our Canadian casino winnings for good old, but less valuable (!), US dollars. Then we headed to Letchworth State Park, home of the "Grand Canyon of the East." About two hours later we arrived and visited the park for a few hours. After the crowds of Niagara Falls, this was a welcome change of pace. Quiet and peaceful. And it was a gorgeous day with a high in the low 80s. The park was interesting and there were cabins and campgrounds and play areas and trails and old-timey snack bars ... it reminded me of the kind of ... read more

(Today's guest blogger - Allison!) The day was gorgeous - bright blue sky and a nice breeze. We started out with a brisk (and long) walk to the docking area for the "Maid of the Mist," the boat that takes you right up to the falls. It took us a while to figure out where to go to stand in line, but we finally got in the right one. We put on our snazzy blue ponchos - no easy feat in the wind - and set out for the falls. First we rode past the American falls, which are fairly straight across and have lots of giant, fierce-looking boulders at the bottom. The water wasn't very rough at this point. As the boat got closer to the Canadian falls, which are called Horseshoe Falls, the ride ... read more

Woke up to thunder and lightning and heavy rains … so, the Falls Experience will have to wait until tomorrow. We did visit the Niagara Falls Welcome Center and learned some interesting things. Such as the story of a young boy who, after a boating accident threw him overboard in the Niagara River, became the only person to survive going over the falls unintentionally! After seeing the falls somewhat up close, I can’t fathom how anyone could live through that. We also saw one of those ‘4D’ movies about the formation of the falls – got us pretty wet even though we were wearing ponchos. Surprisingly, it was pretty entertaining. We also ventured out onto the observation deck as the sun sometimes peeked through the raindrops – so I did get a few pictures. Tomorrow we ... read more

Well, we're going to try this again ... another year, another vacation, another blog. After starting with a family reunion in Hollidaysburg, PA ( 'Everyone knows it's Slinky') over the weekend, Allison and Jeff continue on while the kids, Nana, and the dog return home to hold down the fort. We are headed for three days at Niagara Falls, Ontario (if we remember our passports!), then follow the Erie Canal west for two days in Syracuse, then south to the Finger Lakes for three days in Ithaca. There should be plenty of photo ops along the way for my trusty pocket-sized vacation camera. So, if you're interested, check back in a few days and see what we are up to. Also, feel free to leave comments. Off we go ..... ... read more