Niagara Falls, NY -- more than just a tourist trap!

We took a day trip up to Niagara Falls, NY -- in the past, we've spent much more time on the Canadian side, but decided to try the NY side this time. Having Willie along made the border crossing a little more iffy, though we did bring the rabies-vaccination certificate we'd heard was needed, so we could give it a try if the NY side turned out icky.

On the way we stopped in Caryville (near Oakfield) for lunch, and saw something called "Deep-fried Pickles" on the menu as an appetizer -- as usually, I just had to try 'em. Not a health food, I suspect . . . but an Interesting taste; dill pickle spears breaded (with plenty of dill-weed!) and deep-fried.


When we got to Niagara Falls, what we found was an utterly delightful state park ("The oldest state park in America" was the claim) with the most staggering views I've ever experienced -- even though the fog was thick enough that we could hardly see Canada at all. Nearly all the other visitors had travelled many more miles than we had, often by a factor of 100 or more! It seems that since Niagara is only 75 miles (as the Prius flies; the thruway drops an hour, but adds 15 miles) from Rochester, it's not "worth" visiting. Nearly all the NY plates in the parking lot had rental-car stickers on them.

We checked to see if it was OK to bring Willie to the park, at the state park parking lot entrance ($10 for all day; a gravel lot up the road turned out to be only $5/day, but we didn't find that until too late), and they were perfectly happy to have him as long as he was leashed, and we cleaned up after him -- standard practice for us, but it seems they've found it necessary to state the obvious in the past.


The moment we got out of the car, we could hear the Falls muttering; the lot is only a few minutes' walk from the river, and we were soon at the edge.

We were talking about what it must have been like to have just stumbled upon the Falls without knowing they were there -- and, perfectly timed, we stumbled across an infomap about just that!


Obviously, we were not the first people to take a picture of the Falls . . . I think there's at least a chance that Kodak contributed heavily to the Falls Conservation efforts! But until recently, those pictures didn't include sound, so here's a link to a short video we shot (you'll need Apple's QuickTime player).


We wandered through the park's many paths for several hours, coming upon rare (and well-labeled) trees, stunning floral exhibits, gardens, and of course, people from literally every continent. Willie was a huge hit, especially with the little kids; after reassuring their parents that he was entirely safe, the kids would tentatively touch him, and then bury their faces in his fluffy fur!

There are three main sites in the park where you can be awed by the tremendous display of water; we walked across to Goat Island, then down to the Bridal Falls overlook. Along with the amazing view, we found an odd maple -- tri-lobed and highly-rounded. I think I've seen one in Highland park, but can't remember quite what it was, and a quick search on the web didn't help. Its trunk was quite interesting as well, making an excellent backdrop for this picture of Dar and Willie.

On the way back from Goat Island, I kept seeing huge long dandelion stems . . . and couldn't resist trying a little baritone "natural double-reed" concerto, which Dar caught on video. As you'll see at the end, the flavor, as always, could stand some improvement . . . !

There are some tourist-type "conveniences", caricature booths, a helium-balloon ride, and my absolute favorite, a ride that offers Simulated Amusement!


And that's about it for our trip; we drove back in the dark, and ran into heavy fog as we neared Rochester, which reminded us that we'd really like to see Niagara again under full sun!