The Empire State, Part 1 - Water, Water Everywhere!
After our epic stroll down Howie memory lane in PA we headed north to the Empire State of NY. I have traveled many times to NYC over the years and back in the 70's attended a couple of US Grand Prix Formula 1 racing events at Watkins Glen, NY. My buddy Pete TerHorst, who follows the blog, will certainly recall one memorable trip home we had from the Glen in 1975 or so? Damn Pete, we were very lucky to make it back to DC alive from that lark. But, we saw one helluva F1 race that weekend!
Looking back, I guess I was never really exposed to all of the fascinating things the State of NY has to offer. As Debbie and I were talking, we think NY might just be the best State we have visited so far on our trip. This place has it all, beautiful countryside, congenial people, tons of history and coming from CA....I have never seen so much damn water in my life! Crap, the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in one minute would meet San Diego's average water demands for a year. I exagerate here, but you get the idea. Sooo much water, wow.
The Falls...magnificent! We hunkered down in a nice spot in Lockport, NY for 3 nites, some 20 or so miles east of the Falls. First day in we decide to do a recon cruise to get the lay of the land and drive out to the Falls at Goat Island. This island is immediately up stream from the Falls and it is cool as hell. The very fast flowing river at this point is easily one mile, shit maybe even two miles wide, right before it cascades over the escarpment. Tremendous volume of water flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario over a 200' fall leaves you mesmerized, we sat there for quite a long while taking it all in, very peaceful.
During the recon mission we notice adverts for helicopter tours of the Falls and decide on the spot we're there for tomorrow. Called the next day and sorry, no helo tours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, bummer, this was Tuesday. OK, lets do the Maid of the Mist tour today. Maid of the Mist is a large boat that takes you right up into the Falls and as I remember from visiting here as a child on a family vacation back in the 60's it is a don't miss dealio. But, try as we might, we could not find the location for the point of embarkment for the Maid, well, let's head back to the rig in Lockport and reset for tomorrow.
While back in Lockport with time to kill, I suggest a tour of the nearby Erie Canal, a place I've always wanted to visit, cause ya' know it's a civil engineers mecca. The Erie Canal was opened in 1825 to provide a transportation linkage between the western frontier and the Atlantic Ocean shipping port of New York City. The western frontier laid wide open as the canal gave access to all of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, this was big time stuff. As George Washington opined at the time, the connection of all of our lands with viable transportation routes would bring this young Nation together and he was so right on. The canal was the centerpiece for agricultural and industrial growth never seen before. Farmers went from just having a farm to feed the family to an export operation and industrial goods from the area were coveted in such far away places as London and Paris.
The 5 locks at Lockport were built to overcome the escarpment at Niagara Falls because they wanted to deliver goods to Lake Erie upstream of the Falls to enable access to the western frontier. In 1825 there were no civil engineers in America...none. These guys pulled this off with surveying/leveling instruments and the back breaking work of thousands of Irish immigrants. Truly remarkable and their stories are legendary. Construction was completed on time and within a budget that was set before anyone knew the true scope of the work. I am in awe!
Went on a 15 mile bike ride along the canal towpath from Lockport eastward to Pendleton and a fine morning I had.
The next day we had all our shit together for the Maid of the Mist. That was a memorable time to be thrust right into the bottom of the Falls with the roaring sound of the waterfall right next to you. We enjoyed it immensely!
Time to head east and our next destination was a blank canvas. While in Lockport, I thought we were in the hometown of Debbie's cousin Julie's husband David. So to get clarification we call them and David corrects us, no, I'm from Leicester, NY about an hour and half drive east from Lockport. He says you gotta go to Leicester and stay at Letchworth State Park, the Grand Canyon of the East. The Grand Canyon of what I say? He retorts, no fooling, the place is fantastic. Then Julie adds in that her parents Ed and Marvelle stayed in this park with their Lazy Daze motorhome some 30 years ago while visiting David's parents. Well shit, done deal, canvas has been set, we're there.
I should give a little background on Debbie's cousins Ed and Marvelle (or Uncle and Aunt, dunno, gets kinda confusing with these Montamble/Cory family connections!). They are our inspiration along with Debbie's parents, Don and Jackie, for the RV traveling that we enjoy so much. Ed and Marvelle cruised all over the place in their LD...everywhere in CA, Central America (I was enthralled to see photos of monkeys running on the top of their LD down in Costa Rica), all across the USA and winters in Baja CA. So years ago as we were deciding to plunk down a ton of cash on a new LD I was weighing the pros and cons around the campfire one night with Marvelle. I tried really hard to talk myself out of it but, God bless her, Marvelle listened closely for about 15 minutes of my BS, then patiently placed her champagne cocktail down and looked me in the eye and said, Howard just do it, you won't regret it. The very next day we went up to the LD factory in Pomona and placed our order for a brand new LD and have never looked back. Thank you Marvelle!
So on to Letchworth, what a beautiful park it was. As mentioned earlier, billed as the Grand Canyon of the East with the north flowing Genesee River cutting a sinuous path thru a 550' deep gorge. 3 spectacular waterfalls and a heavily forested backdrop it was truly a peaceful and picturesque scene. We stayed here for 3 nites following the path of Ed and Marvelle. It was a very nice time for sure.
Well dear readers, this post is getting a bit long and we have much more to share with you all from the Empire State, one fabulous place!
I'll need to break this NY sojourn into another post so please stay tuned.
More to come from NY....stay well all and thanks for tuning in.
Peace out, Deb and Howard
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