Kitchener, Stratford, and Port Huron

Our trip is over and we're home sweet home. Just in time for a low grade heat wave. But here's the rest of our vacation.

After we left Niagara we headed inland to Kitchener where Jon gave a workshop to a group of piano teachers. We could have done without Kitchener. It was a little like walking into Twin Peaks. Or the Twilight Zone. Odd, odd, odd.

Calvin and I went to The Museum (really, that's its name) while Jon was lecturing, but their idea of a museum was pretty lame. Best part? Working the animatronic dinosaur parts.

We got the heck out of Kitchener as fast as we could and landed in peaceful Stratford for two days. What a totally different experience from Niagara and its neon flashing lights. In Stratford we took a pontoon boat tour, ate at the local restaurants, shopped in the quaint shoppes, and stayed in an inn above a tavern right on the main street, a block away from the theatre and the river.

Ye olde fashioned accommodations.

We ate breakfast at the local bakery across the street (chocolate croissants and fresh coffee). We talked to ducks, geese, and swans by the river. We played pianos street side. We relaxed and took it in, two days in a row.

Of course the real point of our stop there was to take in a show, and we saw Pirates of Penzance on Wednesday afternoon. It enchanted us to end. Calvin loved it. We played the CD all the way home the next day.

Following the musical we walked across the street to a small museum of the Festival's 60 years of existence. Two rooms of artifacts and we spent over an hour in them. Mockups of models from costumes and sets through the ages, and some of the actual pieces as well. The girls working the admission desk were the best part. They fell in love with Calvin and basically gave us a private tour. They even let us touch some of the carefully guarded pieces.

To break up the trip on the way home we stopped in Port Huron to visit the lighthouse, train depot, and lightship museums there. Thomas Edison I could do without, but the other two were pretty good stops.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Niagara Whirlpool and Glen

Today, after getting up and again enjoying coffee by the pool while Calvin swam, we packed up, checked out, and said goodbye the falls. Yesterday we walked along the class 6 rapids about two miles north of the falls, and today we went even further north to the Niagara Whirlpool and Niagara Glen.

The Niagara Whirlpool is just down river from the class 6 rapids we saw yesterday on the White Water Walk. It's a large pooling of the water in the elbow of a ninety degree turn it makes before heading north again toward Lake Ontario. Watch the water and you'll see the entire pool steadily turning counter-clockwise. Apparently at night, when they divert more of the water for the power station, the rotation of the pool is reversed.

The Whirlpool Aerocar travels over this pool of water (not over the river, so it stays in Canada) and is another of the tourist excursions on the list of things to do around the falls. Jump on their new WeGo bus line in town and the Aerocar is a quick ten minutes to the north. It's also only a 12 minute ride, but if you're following the path of the water like we are, this is the next stop: from Lake Eerie through the falls, down river to the rapids, swirling through the whirlpool at a ninety degree turn, then down river to Lake Ontario.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm not fond of heights? I won't say phobic, but uncomfortable wouldn't be a stretch.

No matter, it was worth the shaky knees.

Then, just a hop farther down river (north) from the whirlpool is the Niagara Glen. Standing on the ridge above the glen and looking back, you can see the whirlpool back behind us.

The glen a Carolinian microclimate full of beautiful plant and animal species, amazing rock formations, and even a few fossils. It is crossed with a variety of paths and trails, none of them paved, all of them rocky, and most of them steep. The Welcome Centre, also a great education center and small gift shop, offers guided hikes, which we took along with a few men who eyed Calvin suspiciously when we joined up, and with a newfound respect at the end.

I think that hike may have been my favorite attraction of the entire trip.

After the hour plus long hike we ate a picnic back on top of the ridge, then enjoyed the educational room in their Nature Centre.

Then...did I say we'd said goodbye to the falls? Well, we were done with the hike earlier than we'd thought and still had use of our two-day bus pass, so we took the WeGo back into town for a snack at the Maid of the Mist food court, one more relaxing look at the falls, before heading back to our car on the bus and straight out of town.

On our way to Kitchener we made one more stop drawn by the image of Toronto as a floating city on the lake. And a ghost ship to boot. Tomorrow is dinosaur museum time.

Niagara Falls

By the time we got across the bridge and into our hotel room last night it was already dark, and while I can't pretend that we had no view when we got in (the falls are really pretty when lit up at night), it was still fun to wake up to such a view this morning.

(this picture not actually taken in the morning)

Aside from having breakfast with that view, we started our day on the incline railway (Funiculars is such a fun term), and the Journey Behind the Falls. It was no Cave of the Winds, but it was still pretty awesome.

Trip tip: either bring ponchos or keep your attraction ponchos for use later.

Both Jon and I were here when we were younger, but neither of us remembers the overall dampness. I had expected to get wet on certain excursions, but we were getting soaked just walking down Niagara Parkway near the Horseshoe Falls.

And since we were already wet, we up and went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour. Front and center on the top deck of the boat is the way to go if you want it to be a serious water ride.

Trip tip: plastic bags. I perfected the art of wrapping a camera in a plastic bag while leaving the lens free for use. It came in handy (and so did the old camera that I used for these stunts, because I'm not optimistic enough to have taken the good one for the wetter excursions).

Wet enough for the day, we stopped for lunch and some drying time in the sun at the Maid of the Mist food court (with scenic falls view!).

After lunch we hopped on the bus and headed northeast to the White Water Walk. Here's another thing I didn't know or didn't remember from my previous trip here: there is more to the falls than just the falling water. Well, duh. The rapids just north of the falls are a class six rapids, so dangerous that rafting or stunting through them is strictly forbidden without permission being granted by both the Canadian and United States governments. I do not have the photography skills to capture the power of those rapids in a picture, but walking along them was yet another awe striking experience. A little off the beaten path and far less catchy (kitschy?) than the main falls attractions, the rapids are definitely worth a viewing.

And what do you know? Standing along the railing watching the water rush over the rocks, we got soaked. And that one was a sneak attack.

(this picture not actually of the place where we got soaked)

Niagara Falls: man's largest water park, originally made by nature.

After taking the bus back we did wander up kitsch street, and then right back down it. When I was here as a youth I was totally guilty, along with my brother, of begging my parents to take us into this, that, and the other odd, kitschy attraction. We avoided all but the Lego display this time, and that was just so we could see Niagara Falls as made in Lego bricks.

We meandered through Victoria Park, too, before heading back for a swim in the hotel pool.

(this picture not actually of Victoria Park, but the view back in our room).

We ended our day with a great view of the fireworks over the falls from the comfort of our own hotel room, already in our pajamas and ready for bed. Or, at least one of us was.

Fireworks: the other beautiful sight that cannot accurately be captured as a still image.

National and state parks

Slept in until eight this morning. What a treat! The real treat, though, was Seattle's Best Coffee and a pool in the back yard.

Near noon we headed across the street to the Theodore Roosevelt National Historic Site, which turned out to be the most disappointing national park we've been to yet. Most national parks have an enjoyable visitor's center and knowledgeable, friendly park rangers (even the more urban parks), but this one had no visitor's center and required an hour-long, paid tour only, with half the artifacts off exhibit due to construction. We were short on time and had counted on the ubiquitous visitor's center, and instead were greeted by rather uninterested employees (not park rangers?) and an extended gift shop. We had to skip the tour, but at least we got to see the house.  

And on the way out of town? All road lead to this intersection? Or at least three of them do.

We made it to Niagara just after lunch time and avoided both kitsch and crowds by going around the town and driving straight to the state park. Strangely enough, the state park parking lot was only sparsely filled, though it seemed to be the same price, or better, than the public lots on the edge of town. plus it was more peaceful.

Calvin was wowed by the falls. Of course. We hiked Goat Island, crossed the pedestrian bridge (over the rapids!) visited the observation deck and Prospect Point, and then did the Cave of the Winds attraction (no cave, lots of attraction), which was totally worth the excruciatingly long line.

Also excrutiatingly long was the line to get into Canada. Everyone wants out of the States on a Saturday night, apparently. Must be the gambling and early drinking age. But we made it, we ate a late dinner overlooking the falls from our room, and retired to the colorful lighting of that natural wonder.

I'm sure I could be wittier, or provide more information on how we made this an enjoyably educational visit, but I'm too tired, so there's always tomorrow.

Four states in a day

Up at six, out the door before eight, seven hours plus of driving to go. We have a habit of pushing through on our first day of vacation so that we can enjoy the rest of the days that much more. We made it out of Michigan, through Ohio, through Pennsylvania, and into New York today before checking in and hitting the pool in Buffalo. Calvin thinks it's pretty fun that we're staying in Buffalo. I think they need to rename the town American Bison.

First stop, Cleveland, OH, to tour the house from A Christmas Story. I've seen the movie so many times, and yet there was so much to learn. Did you know they really did stick Flick's tongue to the pole? Eek. And that Randy really was terrified to go down the Santa slide? He did not know he was being filmed when he let loose with all that screaming. Kitsch abound, it was a fun stop.

Calvin has not seen the movie yet, but he was a good sport about posing for some iconic shots.

The lighting was so bad you can't even see the elecric sex gleaming in the window!

Our second stop, far more somber, was in Mentor, OH, at the James A. Garfield NHS, the family home that he refurbished with his wife a few years before his election and assassination. This stop moved me—so sad, such a waste, so heartbreaking. A young family left behind. I think this was my first mournful historic site visit.

Less mournful was Calvin's junior ranger involvement. The national park rangers are pretty darn cool, most of them. Calvin completed three required projects while we were there (a scavenger hunt for artifacts, an interview with a ranger, and decoding a Morse Code message), and was sworn in as official junior ranger. He received a badge and a certificate, which made him that much more excited for the park we will visit tomorrow.

In addition to the ranger program, Calvin read the James A. Garfield volume of the Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents series before we left. It's a good series, and helped him prepare for some of the things he would hear and see on the tour.