Day 59

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Obfuscator writes: We actually saw things on Monday, and so naturally I'm keen on writing its entry. Onaxthiel spends a lot of words bemoaning this arrangement, but since he prefers to be behind the wheel, I can only assume he approves of it. Lake Erie State Park was rather pretty, but aside from the wonder showers, didn't have anything to keep us there for long. The friendly park ranger person waived the park fees for us though, so we didn't pay New York anything for our stay. That's not something I'll complain about.

We began the drive toward Buffalo and Niagara Falls, picking a route that took us on back highways to avoid the tollways. On our way, we found Dunkirk, which we were disappointed to find contained not even one memorial to the famous seaborne evacuation. We also found a plaque commemorating those brave souls from Hamburg, NY who led a drunken invasion of Canada across the ice one fateful winter. This led us to attempt to explore the village of Hamburg in search of a museum. Many roundabouts and construction detours later, with the help of a nice mechanic, we eventually found the historical society, which was closed on a Monday. Apparently New York is something of a bizarro-world where things like historical societies are only open on Saturday.

On our way into Buffalo, in Lackawanna, we found the Our Lady of Victory Basilica. Having stumbled upon it quite unexpectedly, we were understandably surprised to see the marble towers and domes. We pulled off, and got out to take pictures, and were not at all disappointed. The Basilica was built in the 1920's, but looks considerably older. It has many beautiful statues and paintings, and is well worth the stop if you find yourself in Buffalo. It's enormous. It's also the home to a persistent looking movement to canonize a local priest who is buried there.

After losing our path in Buffalo, we eventually just started driving around the downtown. After a lot of one way streets and annoying traffic, we were headed in the right direction. We arrived at the heavily guarded Canadian border at Niagara Falls and grabbed a parking spot. Indeed, everywhere we went in the Falls area, we were never far from the watchful eye of the Border Patrol. We can only conclude from this, coupled with the massive construction on the Canadian side, that the Border Patrol has a monumental task on their hands with the attempt to hold back the teeming Canadian masses, yearning for a breath of fresh American air and a new life. Many of those staying in the many Canadian hotels are probably sick and old, hoping for a chance at affordable health care in New York.

Niagara Falls is definitely prettier from the Canadian side. The US side is not without its charm though, allowing you to get right up to the brink of all three of the falls by walking out to islands in the middle of the channels. On Goat Island we found a gigantic statue of Nicolai Tesla, given by the Czech Republic's government. It's interesting to note that Tesla is here portrayed in a grandfatherly way, complete with an inviting lap. This is in stark contrast to the mad scientist death ray designer Onaxthiel would have chosen to portray. He also has a theory that this is because as a former Soviet satellite, the Czechs had lots of practice portraying despots in a grandfatherly light. We found some of the best views of the falls while walking across the Rainbow Bridge, where you could clearly see American Falls, the Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe Falls all together.

The Canadian side gets you the closest to Horseshoe Falls, of course, and that is in many ways the most impressive of the three. Sitting near the brink of the falls gives you a bit of a sense of vertigo, as you watch a massive arc of water disappearing over the edge every moment. Unfortunately, its also the hardest falls to take a good picture of, as there is a perpetual mist around it.

After leaving Niagara Falls, we hugged the Lake Ontario shore, heading north and east. After hearing a forecast that called for rain, we found a motel a bit past Rochester. Luckily, there was also a laundromat down the road, and so we were able to get some laundry done while eating good pizza, before getting to bed late.

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Comments

[Mom]

squirrels
What do you have against squirrels? Didn't I raise you right? There'd be far fewer oak trees if squirrels weren't around buring nuts and forgeting where they buried them.