Fall at Niagara
The weather forecast was promising and just what the inquisitive traveller wanted. The journey started not very early in the morning in the Constitution state. The fall colours beamed vividly as soon as the tires hit the Empire state and gave an ethereal feel to the Catskill Mountains.
At every rest area, we felt obliged to pull over to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. The swaying of the leaves in the breeze was creating a Mexican wave cheering the travellers. Catching fleeting glimpses of the leisurely rivers flowing under the bridges, sometimes, with a person or two fishing under happy sunlight was very relaxing.
We took a detour from the freeway on an impulse to explore the scenic towns enroute to Niagara. One such town was Mt. Morris, the birthplace of Francis R. Bellamy, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance. People had really used their imagination in decorating their front yards for Halloween. So had some shops. As dusk set in, we got glimpses of people bustling about in homes and families gathering around the dinner table to end a day of fine weather. The town slowly faded away as the speed limits increased and only shadows were visible with the vistas getting smaller and smaller leaving us with picture postcards in the recesses of our memories.
As the temperature was going down into the 40s, we headed back to our course and on to the freeway. Suddenly the pace of the road quickened with everyone in a rush to cross the town of Buffalo to reach the Falls region. The sunlight was part of a glorious day gone by with a lone star shining in the sky while keeping a watch over us. The day ended with the banter about the wonderful memories collected during the day.
The next day saw the four of us landing at the US side of the Niagara Falls starting with a visit to the scenic Whirlpool State Park. After viewing the not so obvious whirlpool, and disturbing the squirrels’ idyll, we moved on to the Hurricane Deck. Imagine a platform set-up to interact with one of nature’s wonders - the Deck let us feel the force of nature in the form of the spray of the falls, October chill notwithstanding. After a top view of the lush Horseshoe Falls, we went to look at some memorabilia from the attempts by daring folks who tried to cross the Falls. We saw pictures of Annie Taylor, the school teacher from Michigan who survived the Falls along with her cat and some of her equipment at the Daredevils museum.
Next stop was to experience the falls in the famous Maid of the Mist boat ride. 10% of the Falls is on the US side with 90% of the hullabaloo while 90% of the Falls are on Canada’s side without a matching song and dance about it. The boat ride takes you into the Horseshoe Falls to feel the full fury of the falls within the high walls of water gushing forth. The steel arch bridge located nearby is a wonderful sight to see from below probably because of the symmetry or because of the rainbow formation underneath and visible from most of the viewpoints. Once you are out of the boat and thrown back into the civilization, you keep pondering if the Falls were real or a figment of imagination.
All the walking and the Falls experience made us hungry and we headed straight to a place called ‘Punjabi Hut.” there we realized that there are two kinds of yellow dal – one available at Punjabi Hut and the other everywhere else. A family run place with the lady of the house as the chef; father and children taking care of the rest. The rate of food consumption was similar to the gas guzzling by the big SUVs – it was gone before you realized it. At the end of our stay at the Falls, we just realized that we did not want to start the journey back, ending the vacation, too soon. But one has to do what one has to.
At every rest area, we felt obliged to pull over to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. The swaying of the leaves in the breeze was creating a Mexican wave cheering the travellers. Catching fleeting glimpses of the leisurely rivers flowing under the bridges, sometimes, with a person or two fishing under happy sunlight was very relaxing.
We took a detour from the freeway on an impulse to explore the scenic towns enroute to Niagara. One such town was Mt. Morris, the birthplace of Francis R. Bellamy, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance. People had really used their imagination in decorating their front yards for Halloween. So had some shops. As dusk set in, we got glimpses of people bustling about in homes and families gathering around the dinner table to end a day of fine weather. The town slowly faded away as the speed limits increased and only shadows were visible with the vistas getting smaller and smaller leaving us with picture postcards in the recesses of our memories.
As the temperature was going down into the 40s, we headed back to our course and on to the freeway. Suddenly the pace of the road quickened with everyone in a rush to cross the town of Buffalo to reach the Falls region. The sunlight was part of a glorious day gone by with a lone star shining in the sky while keeping a watch over us. The day ended with the banter about the wonderful memories collected during the day.
The next day saw the four of us landing at the US side of the Niagara Falls starting with a visit to the scenic Whirlpool State Park. After viewing the not so obvious whirlpool, and disturbing the squirrels’ idyll, we moved on to the Hurricane Deck. Imagine a platform set-up to interact with one of nature’s wonders - the Deck let us feel the force of nature in the form of the spray of the falls, October chill notwithstanding. After a top view of the lush Horseshoe Falls, we went to look at some memorabilia from the attempts by daring folks who tried to cross the Falls. We saw pictures of Annie Taylor, the school teacher from Michigan who survived the Falls along with her cat and some of her equipment at the Daredevils museum.
Next stop was to experience the falls in the famous Maid of the Mist boat ride. 10% of the Falls is on the US side with 90% of the hullabaloo while 90% of the Falls are on Canada’s side without a matching song and dance about it. The boat ride takes you into the Horseshoe Falls to feel the full fury of the falls within the high walls of water gushing forth. The steel arch bridge located nearby is a wonderful sight to see from below probably because of the symmetry or because of the rainbow formation underneath and visible from most of the viewpoints. Once you are out of the boat and thrown back into the civilization, you keep pondering if the Falls were real or a figment of imagination.
All the walking and the Falls experience made us hungry and we headed straight to a place called ‘Punjabi Hut.” there we realized that there are two kinds of yellow dal – one available at Punjabi Hut and the other everywhere else. A family run place with the lady of the house as the chef; father and children taking care of the rest. The rate of food consumption was similar to the gas guzzling by the big SUVs – it was gone before you realized it. At the end of our stay at the Falls, we just realized that we did not want to start the journey back, ending the vacation, too soon. But one has to do what one has to.
The road way back home seemed a tad too long as we hit the Finger Lakes region. We found a resting place between Owasco and Cayuga Lakes in the Cayuga County. The night ended with a hand-tossed pizza from a local place named Peter’s Pizzeria. We learnt that Peter’s supported the local junior league team. The local newspaper, almost 200 years in circulation spoke about the county undergoing severe water woes which triggered the boil water order. Another section of the paper chronicled life in the Lakes region. There was also a piece on Mountain Howitzer cannons used in the war of 1812, with a range of 900 yards.
After a comfortable night’s rest and lots of information from our break, we headed back to the spectacular Catskill Mountains to reach home, past Susquehanna River and tributaries of the Chemung River. Their leisurely flow was the exact opposite of the speed of the vehicles zooming on the bridge above them.
We wanted one last stop for food at the first available place other than the fast food chains. In sheer luck we ended up at Colosseo in Monticello. The pasta was the best ever we had in a long time and not a single morsel was left by our picky eaters. The Pizza was very good as well. All this food gave us the patience to survive the slow moving traffic ahead for the next hour. The Columbus Day weekend was well spent and we think Chris would have been proud of us for our explorations on the day commemorating him.
After a comfortable night’s rest and lots of information from our break, we headed back to the spectacular Catskill Mountains to reach home, past Susquehanna River and tributaries of the Chemung River. Their leisurely flow was the exact opposite of the speed of the vehicles zooming on the bridge above them.
We wanted one last stop for food at the first available place other than the fast food chains. In sheer luck we ended up at Colosseo in Monticello. The pasta was the best ever we had in a long time and not a single morsel was left by our picky eaters. The Pizza was very good as well. All this food gave us the patience to survive the slow moving traffic ahead for the next hour. The Columbus Day weekend was well spent and we think Chris would have been proud of us for our explorations on the day commemorating him.
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