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Published: April 30th 2018
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Paradise
Endicott offering it all....skiing, fishing and golf! " The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust. Finding our way into Washington was a push over. Finding our way out was intriguing to say the least. Google Maps was duly set and armed with technology and my trusty navigator Susan alongside, we set off very early morning in the knowledge that hordes of motorists were rushing towards the city we were leaving. Should be easy? Wrong! For once we were convinced that the GPS satellite was in free fall and technology was in melt down mode. Seemed like we were endlessly circling Washington witnessing a few "fender benders" on the way ( hell, this was only Monday morning!) and getting on a northerly heading seemed mission impossible until there it was...Route 270 North! So, almost an hour after leaving the hotel, our heading north to Canada was on track and confirmation that the satellite was still up there somewhere. And a reminder..trust technology.
Travelling by car is a very good way to get some different perspectives of a country and more specifically the little corner of said country one is in. Soon the extremities of Washington gave
Niagara Falls
A serious volume of water cascading over the falls. way to gently rolling hills and farmland and endless, forested areas with leafless trees wondering where the hell Spring was. Sue as ever, studying the map, duly announced that we were entering the Appalachian Mountain range and I had one of those rare epiphanies. Anyone who enjoys travel as I do would have heard of, and hopefully read, some of Bill Bryson's books. One of them is entitled "A Walk in the Woods" and describes how he and a good friend walked through the Appalachian Mountains over a period of many months. Nothing unusual except the story is punctuated by their visiting some eerie towns and meeting some really "interesting" country folk along the way. Fittingly the book I was reading at this precise moment as we traversed the Appalachians was John Grisham's latest thriller entitled "Gray Mountain" which is about the rape and pillage of the bounteous coal reserves on the hills of this huge mountain range. And of, course, the good guys fighting the big bad coal mining companies. The point of all this? Well, suddenly little towns we passed through,or by, were named in the book I was reading. Breezewood, Brady and others. Did I see a
Elliott's unite
Charles is the good looking bloke on the right...the other one. Not sure? mountain flattened or pillaged for it's coal treasures? No... but they were out there somewhere. This is deep "back country" and I imagine would have provided the ideal setting for a number of movies many of us have seen. Think " Broke Back Mountain" and "The Deer Hunter". Many of the little towns we passed through don't appear on the big map but they were intriguing. On the one hand they advertise boldly the virtues of deer hunting with Gun Shops featuring prominently on the main street and then, cheek by jowl, a Baptist Church close by urging the good folk in the neighbourhood to fill the aisles on Sunday.
Every journey to anywhere has those special little "moments.
Denny's Diner We left one of the many highways at a smallish town by name of Altoona looking for some urgently needed breakfast and a caffeine fix. Spotted "Denny's Diner" and in we drifted. On our short walk to a table, Sue quietly expressed horror at the size of the plates of food in front of fellow travellers. Astonishing that anyone could consume all that grub in a single sitting! The menu confirmed this with pics of huge
FontHill
Outside Charles's home before setting off a walk and resolution of all manner of Worldly issues. piles of this and that. Despairing, Sue flipped the menu over and there on the back was a menu for "over 50s" which solved our dilemma. Interestingly they did not serve cappuccino which prompted a NY gent behind us to comment that "if they served cappuccino, there would be a queue out the door of Denny's". Suitably replenished, we left a bunch of people still tucking in who may well have spent the rest of the day finishing their nosh.
Endicott Not far from Buffalo, we entered a small hamlet called Endicott and instinctively we sensed that here was something special. Clearly a resort town but with some alluring attractions. Ski slopes were clearly visible on the mountains alongside the village and the slopes were still covered in snow. And then a beautiful river alongside the road meant that fly fishing was a distinct possibility. Just when I thought it couldn't really get any better, there it was! A quaint and picturesque golf course. Paradise on Earth and I recall muttering to Sue that a return visit must be on. Nothing like dreaming!
This was no short road journey and after about seven fascinating hours and 600km
Golf Course with a view
The Lookout Golf Club with an elevated view all the way across to the city of Niagara. of immersing ourselves in the intrigue of deep rural Pennsylvania, we were within reach of our destination, Buffalo NY, where we would return our Avis rented wheels. Hang on...we had just traversed a region of America where bison probably proliferated once upon a time.Why this city was named "Buffalo" would be an obvious question? The answer is vague to say the least. Per Wikipedia.." While it is possible the name originated from French fur traders and Native Americans calling the creek Beau Fleuve (French for "Beautiful River")..." Whatever!
The reason for the deviation to Canada was to spend a few days with my younger brother, Charles, and his wife Laura. They left SA some 28 years ago for the greener pastures of Canada with their two young children. They have been back to SA a number of times and all love the country especially getting to game reserves and traversing the wilds of Namibia where they lived for a few years. Their beautiful home is located in FontHill, one of many towns in the greater Ontario region with Toronto at it's epicenter. Interesting that almost 40% of Canada's 36.3 million population live in Ontario which means that roughly 22 million people live in the rest of the country which is 8 times bigger than SA. Wow!
Charles had taken a week's leave and we were out and about a lot seeing and visiting many of the iconic sights in the area. Temperatures were sharply lower than PA and their winters are brutal. Despite this cold climate, the area has many small farms intensively cultivating a range of agricultural products including apples, cherries and vineyards producing some really good wines. Touring and lengthy walks tend to lead to extreme thirst and no better way to mitigate this problem than a visit to a winery or micro brewery. We visited a number of these fine "watering holes" many of which serve really great food. The thing that really strikes one about Canada is the huge amount of water one sees and it has been suggested that future wars will be about water so Canada could find itself firmly in the crosshairs. No better illustration of their massive water resources than a visit to Niagara Falls where it is difficult to comprehend the sheer volume of water cascading over the falls. Some stats...the falls are 54 meters high and 567,000 litres of water per second flows at roughly 36 km/hr.
Toronto is about 130 km from FontHill but involves negotiating some serious traffic on huge multi lane highways. This problem is solved for commuters by a great rail system which is available in all the satellite towns bordering Toronto. We used this seamless service on an evening visit to this impressive city of 2.8 million people. Dinner was special as Natalie (their daughter) and her man Colm joined us and the evening confirmed the bond of family despite our being separated by continents and fairly infrequent visits to each other.
This was a really enjoyable sojourn and provided quality time to chat about all manner of things. We "solved" many of the World's problems in our long walks and chats.
Inevitably time was up and a very early morning drive resulted in our being delivered to Pearson International Airport.
Another destination was beckoning.
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Jeff Clause
non-member comment
At least , find a Crackerbarrel! Dive into the little town to the local diner and get some strong peculated coffee with 1/2 and 1/2. Take away the casino's and Niagara is awesome. Did you take the Maiden in the Mist?