Several Ways to Get Wet

 Here's a great idea:   Drive to the Erie Canal on a cold, Sunday morning and ride your bike on the tow path before taking a two hour tour of the canal.   Then, go to Niagara Falls and take a boat ride to the very base of the biggest leaky faucet you have ever seen.    What could happen?!?

Lockport, New York is the home of several locks on the Erie Canal.   Two hundred years ago, this canal connected the east coast to the mid-west, allowing for massive expansion of our country.   Today, it is primarily used for recreation, the railroad and the automobile having lessened the impact of barge and boat traffic into this part of the country.   Some of the original locks can still be seen in Lockport, and a few of them actually still work.     Later a bigger set of locks was built to accommodate barge traffic.  The canal stretches across New York state, from Albany to Buffalo.  But, I've always been intrigued.   

                                                Original locks.   Not very wide.

I went for a bike ride along the canal.   And it started to rain.   I passed young people fishing on the banks.   I didn't see anyone else walking or riding.   I came to the mighty locks of this 200 year old transportation system.   It rained.   I rode through the town and took a wrong turn.   It rained.   After about six miles, I returned to the car, found a dry, clean, public restroom along the trail, and changed into dry, warm clothes.   Now I could look at the world a little better.   I still had time until my boat tour, so I drove slowly through Lockport.   A diner.   Tom's Diner.   And they were open!   And they serve hot chocolate with whipped cream!   And I can get some outstanding French Onion Soup.   Life is better.

I took a very informative cruise through the locks and a few miles either side of Lockport.   On a cool Sunday afternoon, this was a very relaxing  and beautiful ride back into history.

                                              model of the original locks

                                       Replica of the long boats.   This was top of the line!

I figured as long as I was in the area, conventional wisdom demanded a very wet cruise to the base of Niagara Falls, with the requisite walk along the banks.    Lot of water.   Lots of international visitors.   Part of the trip is my souvenir raincoat, made, I believe, from Saran Wrap, but it got the job done.   This is why all passengers were clothed in blue.   Passengers in the Canadian boats are all in red.   These boats are now all electric.   First benefit is there is no diesel smell, nor engine sound to drown out the running commentary during the ride.   They charge the boat for a few minutes between each cruise.     

The American Falls look like they could use a good stone mason.   There is a lot of rock junk at the base, causing the falls to look more like a cascade than real falls.    The Canadian side, Horseshoe Falls, is the spectacular sight.   Our boat got so close all we could see was spray, and that causes some pretty stiff winds.  The raincoats only protected so much.

I short drive down the Niagara River is the Niagara Whirlpools.    Nice park.  

I have an appointment for a 10:30 tour of the Fillmore home in East Aurora.   I plan to visit several other presidential sites in the Buffalo area, before retiring to my room to prepare for my dash across Ontario and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.   By prepare, I mean I may need to do some laundry.