Saturday, August 14, 2010
From AA Royal Campground, N. Tonawanda, NY
I guess I need to do a little catching up since our last post. Last Thursday was mostly just hanging around the coach, with a trip to the casino late in the afternoon. After playing for a while, we had dinner in one of their best restaurants and had an absolutely wonderful dinner.
Friday morning we hit the road for Niagara Falls, interstate driving until the last 6 or so miles. We are currently at AA Royal Campground and Motel right on US 62 which was the main highway into downtown in earlier years.
The campground is small, really nice, well maintained, and the pull-throughs are really long. Good and consistent 50 amp service. After getting set up and situated in our site, we decided to make the 10 mile drive or so to the falls.
Obviously, it was quite crowded, and difficult to find a parking spot, but as usual, we lucked out and got a great spot near the entrance to the Visitor's Center. Inside the Visitor's Center we bought our $2 tickets for the trolley, boarded and took a tour of the various points of interest, getting off at those where we wanted to stop, and saving other spots for a later visit.
Of course it was necessary for a couple of obligatory photos in front of the falls...
The view of the falls from the USA side is mostly from the side of the falls, so we decided that we would drive on over to the Canadian side for a straight-on view. Donna happened to have our passports in her purse, so off we went. Arriving at the immigration booth, after a lot of questions, we were pulled out of line for a search of the vehicle. We have been into Canada a number of times and never have we been searched.
We had to stand in front of the vehicle while a couple of custom agents searched the inside of the truck and under the bed cover in the back.
Once done with that, which only took about 10 minutes, we were on our way. We started looking for parking, found that on-street parking (with pay stations) was $3 for 30 minutes and garages were usually $20 for all day. Even parking at the huge lot for the visitor's center was $20. But, true to form, we found a spot in a circle drive at the Park Police building that was FREE.
A view of the American Falls...
and Horseshoe Falls...
The Horseshoe falls are obscured by a lot of mist.
The Canadian government has really made the drive and walking area along the drive beautiful and very convenient for viewing the falls. For probably over a mile there is a four-lane drive, with landscaping and parks on both sides, and a wide walking path along the edge of the bluff above the river, with plenty viewing areas.
On Saturday morning we drove several miles south of Buffalo to visit Graycliff house, designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. I have read about and seen pictures of his designs for years, but never viewed one.
The preservation group that has owned the house since 1993 is in the process of refurbishing both the house and the grounds. Parts of the grounds were pretty nice, but most was ill-maintained.
The entry pond was probably the nicest part of the grounds...
A view of the house from the outside...
We also toured the inside of the house, but no photos were allowed. Quite frankly it was a complete disappointment. The condition of the house was absolutely atrocious. To charge $15 each for the one hour guided tour of a house and grounds that were in such dis-repair was unbelievable.
After returning to the coach, we later drove back to downtown Niagara Falls and did a little driving around, then parking (FREE) and walked the streets a bit. At one of the hotels we found a bar/restaurant with outdoor tables and a band playing rock and roll music.
Grabbing a table we had a couple of beverages and enjoyed the concert for a while...
and Donna decided it was time for a self portrait of she and I. She held the camera and took our picture...
This little report takes us up through Saturday. Will update for Sunday as soon as possible.
You two look like honeymooners!
Posted by: Dortha Hall | Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 08:55 PM