one.o.eight

Day 2

We spent this day at Old Fort Niagara which sits at the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario on the US side. Fort Niagara got its start as a French stronghold (dubbed "The French Castle"), under the guise of a trading house, in the early 18th century when both France and England vied against the other to control access to the Great Lakes. In its time, the fort was controlled by France, Britain, and the United States, changing hands a number of times both by treaty and force, and played an important role in the shaping of the Niagara region until its strategic importance diminished with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. The fort is very well preserved and presented, and we had a ball exploring it. Face it, history is cool!

Day 3

With the campground nearly empty of tent campers during the week, and needing a change after the previous day's rain, we were able to move our camp to one of the lakefront campsites, so for the remainder of our stay Lake Ontario was never out of sight.

We then visited Power Vista, a free learning center run by the New York Power Authority at the Niagara Power Project. Niagara Falls is the birthplace of hydroelectric power btw. (Thank you, Nikola Tesla! Woot!)

Day 4

After a lazy morning we invaded Canada; crossing over the Rainbow Bridge and making a beeline for Fort George. Constructed by the British after the end of the American War of Independence, and destroyed during the War of 1812 save for its powder magazine, today's fort is a re-creation. There we learned of the forts role during the war, and some history of the surrounding area, including the Battle of Queenston Heights, the birthplace some say of the Canadian national identity. The day was hot and we sought shelter inside the fort's buildings whenever possible and enjoyed speaking at length with the forts many interpreters. Getting both the Canadian and American perspectives on the history of the region made for a richer learning experience, and also underscored the subtle cultural differences between two colonial cousins: Canadians and Americans.

In the afternoon we finally met two longstanding online friends form CoH.

[ Begin geek moment ]

Miss and D. were part of the original six founding members of The Odd Squad. To date I have personally had the pleasure to meet three of the other founding members of the Squad: Paw, Miss, and D. I missed meeting Mary by a week, and Obi... has been MIA since just before the team's implosion.

/em victory

[ Resume composure ]

D. introduced Miss and us to Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Ontario, an ultra-touristy, Atlantic City boardwalk-like place featuring casinos, arcades, haunted houses, weird museums, and more. Miss is an American expatriate living in Canada and like us had not experienced Clifton Hill, nor realized that Niagara Falls, Ontario, had casinos! While we didn't partake of the casinos, we did experience the great money sucking machine that is Clifton Hill, being drawn into an attraction featuring a massive Lego display and a Marvel themed arcade (on Day 5). The remainder of our time was consumed with dining and walking and a lot of laughter.

Day 5

Once again we popped into Canada and met with Miss and D. D. had gotten food poisoning or something, had spent the night worshipping the porcelain god (i.e., barfing), was basically way too weak to join us for the day, and so spent the day sleeping in their hotel room. So we spent the day walking Clifton Hill and through Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park to see the falls from the Canadian side. This was the day my skin finally surrendered to the sun's radiation and burned. Ouch!

Day 6

On our last day we visited Lockport, NY, to see the Erie Canal and the Flight of Five, a flight of five locks that were an engineering marvel in their day, raising canal traffic some sixty feet (c. 18m) up the Niagara Escarpment (a 60' cliff). There's not much left of the Fo5, but we did tour the Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride. Lockport was also home to Birdsill Holly, an American inventor second only to Thomas Edison, whose inventions benefited first the residents of Lockport and then the world.

[ Drat. None of the pictures came out. ]

Return (Day 7)

It started raining at 4:00 am. Our camp faired well in the downpour, but breaking camp in the rain sucks; even when you're packing during a brief lull. Eight hours later we confirmed that our house was still standing, had neither burned to the ground, been burglarized, nor flooded (from leaving a tap running somewhere) in our absence.