Exploring the Roar–Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, NY (82 degrees, bright blue skies)

We made a very quick decision and decided to spend a couple of days in Niagara Falls.  The weather was perfect and we had a couple of days off.  It’s been crazy, hectic, and  somewhat stressful recently working at the campground.  July is a busy time for any workamper and with just a little planning and a few phone calls we were off to see the magnificent waterfalls. 

It’s about a three hour drive from Watkins Glen and since we had such a short amount of time off we decided to stay at a bed and breakfast rather than take the motorhome.  The Rainbow House B&B is located on the American side and was highly recommended in our Frommers guidebook.  They had only one room left - the honeymoon suite.  Hmnnnn…sounds perfect and it was reasonably priced.  My parents  spent their honeymoon in Niagara Falls in the early 50’s. 

Rainbow House B&B

The B&B was very nice and the owner has been actively involved with welcoming guests since the early 70’s.  She even has a small wedding chapel. 

Our parents took us here as kids but neither of us remembered much about it.  We had the best time exploring both sides (American and Canadian).  The highlight for us was the Cave of the Winds tour ($11/person) offered by the State Park on the American side.  After putting on a provided raincoat and sandals we were whisked down a elevator to the base of the Bridal Veil Falls.  We walked out onto the Hurricane Deck and were pelted with water and thunderous sound of the falls crashing all around us. 

I loved it! 

We explored the State Park (oldest in the country) and there is a  trolley ($2/per person) that takes you all around with unlimited stops.  It’s a big park and admission is free. 

We saw where the crazy Nik Wallenda crossed directly over the falls on a tight rope from the American to the Canadian side.  The Horseshoe falls is huge and over 675,000 gallons of water go over it every second. 

Horseshow Falls

Later in the day we walked across the Rainbow Bridge and crossed the border into Canada.  This side offers the best views of the falls. 

View of both falls from the Rainbow Bridge

Horseshoe Falls

American Falls

We stayed late in the evening to see the falls illuminated at night. 

Horseshoe Falls

American Falls

The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the B&B and went back to the State Park to ride the Maid of the Mist ($14/person).  We had both taken this boat trip as children but it  was fun to go again.  The boat takes you by the American Falls and then heads right for the center of the Horseshoe Falls and stays there for what seems like forever.  What a thrill to see the falls from the base. 

American Falls (view from Maid of the Mist)

Heading to Horseshoe Falls

Afterwards John got a cool picture of me with a rainbow and said that I was his “pot of gold”.  He is my #1 fan.  :)

The owner of the B&B encouraged us to also stop at the Three Sisters Islands.  There are bridges crossing over to each island.  The upper rapids rush quickly past on their way to the Horseshoe Falls.   It would be a great place for a picnic.  

Our visit was refresing in so many ways.  Be sure to add this location to your "to do" list.  

Cayuga Waterfront Trail Paddle & 4th of July Fireworks

Ithaca, NY (92 degrees, hot, humid)

We spent a very busy week working at the campground.  Most of the time our cabins and sites were sold out due to a popular  endurance race at the Watkins Glen Racetrack and the 4th of July holiday.  At the end of each day we would come home and just collapse.  However, when we had a couple of days off it was time to play.

We love to take out our SeaEagle inflatable kayak and decided to paddle a waterfront trail on Cayuga Lake (largest Finger Lakes). There are several places to launch and we chose the one located in Stewart Park.  You can launch at the Cascadilla Boat Club where they have competitive sculling racing.  

It’s not much of a launch site but we were soon off and traveled up stream and under a pedestrian bridge. This led to a small inlet in Stewart Park and Fuerto Bird Sanctuary.  It was a very pretty, lazy paddle. 

We then turned around and headed out to Cayuga Lake.  Bearing  to the left we headed towards the lighthouse and turned into the Cayuga Inlet. 

 

 

It’s not an easy paddle due to traveling upstream and encountering a very busy marina with  big boats heading out to the the lake.  Our Take a Paddle Guide said if we had traveled further we would have encountered several dock side restaurants and Farmers Market.  Sounded great in theory but due the heat and heavy boat traffic we turned around and paddled back.  We have decided that river kayaking is more our style, however, it was still very enjoyable. 

View Cayuga Waterfront Trail in a larger map

Several folks asked us about our canoe safe.  We have had it a long time and it works well for keeping your camera, keys, phone, and wallet safe and dry.  It will float and can hang below the seat of a canoe.  We are going to figure out a way to secure it to the back of our kayak.

 

We celebrated the 4th by attending two firework displays.  One was in Corning, NY and we especially enjoyed the local symphony performance before the fireworks. 

A couple of days later we enjoyed the fireworks at the Clute City Park on Seneca Lake.  It’s a pretty park in Watkins Glen with a nice beach and picnic area. 

Lots of boats gathered on the lake to enjoy the fireworks too.  I had fun trying out my new Panasonic Lumix camera’s zoom lens. 

Before zoom

Same place with zoom…wow!

It was enjoyable evening sitting by the lake and watching all the boats go by and the pretty sunset. 

The firework pictures were taken with a special feature that takes a rapid burst of pictures and combines them together. 

Life is good!  Jimmy enjoyed his nap at home in the air conditioning.  We hope you had a nice
holiday too.

“Summer In A Glass” Visiting Some Of The Finger Lakes Wineries

Watkins Glen, NY (86 degrees, blue sky, slightly humid

Hermann Wiemer Vineyard

Summer in a Glass by Evan Dawson is a very interesting book about winemaking in the Finger Lakes area.  It’s an enjoyable read featuring ten wineries and a few restaurants in this area.  The author is an editor of the New York Cork Report and has a summer cottage on Keuka Lake. 

It was fasinationg reading about how some of these wineries got started.  Currently there are over 100 in the Finger Lakes area.  The author has worked in all aspects of wine making from picking grapes, bottling, tasting, and blending wines.  He has even helped stomp some grapes at harvest time.  You can learn a lot about wine making in this book.  It's not as romantic as it might appear as a lifestyle and there is a lot of hard work and effort put into a bottle of wine.  After finishing the book we decided to visit some of them on our days off. 

One of the most prestigious wineries is Hermann Wiemer (west side of Seneca Lake) and it is especially known for it’s Riesling wines. The tasting room is in an old barn and very beautiful.  On the second floor there is a restaurant used for special events that can only be reached by ladder.  It is a pretty country setting and the ladies who were pouring the wines were very friendly and  informative. 

The cost was $5 to try five different wines.  Each sample is about one ounce (just a sip or two) and they offer crackers between each tasting to “cleanse” the palate.  They describe all the different flavors for each wine.  I always chuckle when they mention that a wine has a slate taste.  Really…I can’t remember ever tasting slate.  However, its not as pretentious as this may sound and a fun experience. 

Hermann Wiemer is quite a colorful and outspoken wine maker in this area.  He was one of the first to believe vinifera vines could produce good wines and survive in this area.  He is now retired and  the new owner is continuing to produce great wine.  The book tells many stories about Hermann and how after being fired from Bully Hill started this winery in the 1976.. 

Our next stop was Anthony Road Wine Company.  This was my favorite story in the book about a German man, Johannes Reinhardt, who left his father’s winery in the middle of the night and eventually came here to make wine in new ways his family resisted.   He is the head wine maker for this winery and has won many awards with his collaborations. 

The book describes his many struggles with the Federal Government to obtain a green card.  It is a very interesting story of determination,  persistence, and support of many friends and colleagues.  He is not the owner of this winery and will be opening his own soon.  The owners of this winery has been very supportive.  Pretty cool!

The winery is very simple in style and costs $2 to sample five wines.  There is an extra cost to try the award winning wines.  I really liked the semi-dry Riesling and the price is very reasonable. 

On the way back to Watkins Glen we stopped at the Glenora Wine Cellars.  This is not in the book and is one of the largest producers in the area.  We had a couple at our campground two weeks ago that are planning to have their wedding lakeside here  in September. 

The picture above is their Inn/Lodge and restaurant overlooking Seneca Lake.  It's a BIG operation.  Personally I like the quaintness of the smaller places.  Some folks travel to the wineries in style.  I guess you could say they have a high priced designated driver. 

There was a long list of wines to choose from and you could try six for $2.  At this point I was feeling pretty happy.  Luckily John does not drink wine and we got home safely. 

Glenoa Wine Cellars

You might find one of my other post interesting.   It features another winery mentioned in Summer in a Glass and was the first winery to plant European type vines.  Many of the winemakers started at this winery. 

Dr. Constantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars