After another amazing wedding in Des Moines, ZsaZsa continued her journey east heading to Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls. We spent the first night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Elkhart, IN (do not recommend…neither the lot nor the breakfast) but lesson learned. The next night was in a cute lake town called Geneva on the Lake, right on Lake Erie. It was a cute little park although clearly closing up for the season. The third day we made our way into Buffalo and settled into Four Mile Creek State Park for a few days. Great state park, right on Lake Ontario, close to the falls and the fort and 2 hours from Toronto.
The first day we raced to Niagara Falls to catch the Maid in the Mist and see the spectacle. Had a bit of a diversion on the trip courtesy of the NY State Police. Apparently reading low bridge signs before exiting onto a one way offramp is important. Luckily we hit the brakes before going under a 12ft. clearance; unluckily, we had to call the police (see instructions below) and wait while they closed down two freeways so we could turn around, proceed the wrong way up the freeway and make our way back to a more clear path to the falls. Police escort was nice. And it helped that we were the second people that day to make that mistake, so it wasn’t horribly humiliating!
America, Horseshoe and Canada all make up the Niagara Falls (who knew) and the Maid of the Mist, which goes right up to the roaring water, is now an all electic boat. Apparently Nikola Tesla was from that area, and one of the Maids is named the Tesla. It takes the the boat 7 minutes to charge between each voyage. Pretty cool.
The next day we hit Buffalo to check out the Anchor Bar, the alleged home of the first buffalo wings and Tim tried the beef on Weck, (Kummelweck roll) another Buffalo go-to sandwich. Wings were great….Beef on Weck, not so much. Then we drove by a Frank Lloyd Wright home and to the harbor to get my Lake Erie touch in. Didn’t swim in this one…but my hand did! Last but not least we took a tour of Fort Niagara, which was very interesting. The fort changed hands several times over the years, starting with the French who built it under the guise of building a “peace house”, but who were secretly just trying to fortify their control of the waterways. French lost it to the British, who lost it to the Americans, who lost it to the British who lost it to the Americans again. It’s been well cared for now and is a great place to visit if you are in the area! And if you need fuel for all this sightseeing, you can guarantee there’s a Tim Horton’s somewhere close. Canada’s finest was present EVERYWHERE!
Next up…a few days in Toronto…