When I started my permanent job
fresh out of college, I didn’t have much holiday time at the beginning, but I
made the most of it. I’d take that single week and break it up a day here
and there in order to create a bunch of long weekends. I felt I got more
mileage out of the limited time that way. And I felt more refreshed, as I
made sure I was doing something. Initially, with many of my friends still
in college, I’d take a long weekend each semester and return to the campus.
As Plattsburgh
was less than a two-hour drive, I was able to maximize my time with friends.
After another year or so, most of them had moved on to other cities
(whether working or in graduate school).
One friend was living out in the
western part of New York State in the town of Tonawanda ,
near Buffalo ,
so I decided to take some days off to visit Brian. Since Buffalo was about six hours from where I
lived, it made since for me to rent a car, as not to put a lot of miles on my
hand-me-down used vehicle. Since a friend’s dad worked at one of the
local Chevrolet dealers, I rented a vehicle from there. Lesson learned,
don’t. The discounts I was promised
didn’t appear at check-out when I returned the car. And while it was
reliable mode, it ended up being an expensive one.
ALL THE FALLS
OF NIAGARA FALLS
After arriving at Brian’s place
(and catching up on social and gaming-related stuff), we drove a short distance
from Tonawanda to Niagara Falls , as it would be a good tourist
destination to start with. For those who don’t know, there are two cities
called Niagara Falls (one on each side of the
US-Canadian border), which are separated by the Niagara River (which drains
Lake Erie into Lake
Ontario Ontario side, and two on the New York side.
What is known as the American Falls
are closest to the Rainbow Bridge (which goes over to Canada ). But a small island slices a small portion of
the river off to create the Bridal Veil Falls . We were able to drive across to the large
island which separates the Canadian falls from the American ones, a place
called Goat Island . After parking, we then took a short walk
through the park area in order to get a better view.
The Canadian falls are technically
called the Horseshoe Falls , for obvious
reasons once you looked at them the right way. As we got closer, the
noise of (on average) four million cubic feet of water going over every minute,
and impacting a couple hundred feet below, became louder. When standing next to the falls, it was
pretty deafening. Now the area is not roped off in any way, so if any
moron wanted to, they could jump right in for a rapid trip (pun intended).
And over the years, many morons have. That’s why a few yards before
the edge of the falls is a wire fence stretched across the length, so those
with poor balance or people inside barrels can be stopped before they take the
last wild ride of their lives.
Leaving the edge of the falls we
walked over to a leisurely picnic area on nearby Goat
Island . Not sure why it’s named that. I didn’t see
any. Here the forested island actually muffles a lot of the noise, so
normal conversations can be held again. Brian and I ran into an
Australian man there, who I believe was called Julian. He’d finished
college, and was taking a year off before entering the work force in order to
travel the world, with pretty much only what he had in his backpack. What
a fascinating idea, and great if you had the money available to do so.
Julian had a general idea of the places he wanted to go, but for the most
part just figured it out as he went along.
After Julian continued on his way,
Brian and I came back to near where the car was parked, and then went across
the Rainbow Bridge ,
which was what connected both Niagara
Falls cities together. Once you crossed it, then
you hit Customs on the other side. I’d been over the border so many
times, it was very routine. The Canadian border agent asked the same
questions like every other time I’d gone across: “Where are you from?
How long do plan on being here? Are you bringing any firearms?
Do you have any fruits or vegetables?” Thus I gave the same canned responses
of: “A small hick town in New
York State Old
Falls
We could see a tour boat that chugged
close to torrid water, and made those brave souls at the bow victims of intense
splashing. The tour boat is called the Maid of the Mist, and it drives up
as close as possible to the Falls.
The real crazy people do the Cave
of the Winds, which was a series of stairs and small landings which took you
from the top of the falls towards the bottom.
You were guaranteed to get drenched on that, and that was even when
wearing the yellow poncho they gave you. I’m sure the other reason for
the brightly-colored poncho was if someone got swept off the side, they’d be
easily spotted. Where we were standing on the bridge, it was like
watching a group of little yellow ants make their way cautiously along.
Did that look fun? Very much so. Did I want to get
nearly-drowned? Not when I didn’t have a change of clothes nearby.
We’d gotten a tip that nearby we
could see the “Old
Falls Old Falls
Watching debris and foam flow in
from the right-hand side (from our view) it moves across to the left, loops
backwards, swing around to the right, and then goes forward, crossing the
incoming current. The water then continues on towards Lake Ontario
(and then eventually the St. Lawrence River, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean ). You'd think the water
would’ve come in, and veered to the right to make things simple, but Nature
likes to give us a surprise.
The next day, we traveled over to the
town of Porter (near Youngstown ) where the Old Fort Niagara
Historic Site was. Ignoring the state park, which had picnic tables and
soccer fields, we headed right for the actual Fort itself. Built in 1678, this was built to protect
French interests in North America, thus is located on the western bank of the Niagara River .
It became a British fort in 1759,
after they seized if from the French.
While it became American territory after the Revolution, the Brits kept
control of the area, and eventually took the Fort during the War of 1812. The U.S. got it back in the post-war
treaty, and then it continued to be used by our military up until the early
1960s. It was even used as a POW camp
during World War II. Once the area was
decommissioned, it was eventually restored to its 18th Century
style.
For whatever reason, and I think it
was due to the lateness of the day, we didn’t actually go inside, but we wandered
around the grounds. We looked at the
ramparts and other protective structures, which while probably were
state-of-the-art up until the mid-19th Century, probably would not
have fared very well had this place seen actual combat action during the modern
era.
The gun ports could still do damage
to advancing troops, if there was a charge of the walls. The place was defensible enough, and easily
contained with the thick inner walls, palisades, and wide open spaces, that’s why
to be a training facility, as well as a place to detain captured German
soldiers.
STAR TREK EXHIBIT IN BUFFALO
The last part of the trip was a
visit over to the Buffalo Museum of Science, as there was a “Star Trek Exhibit”
going on. This was more of a hands-on exhibit to teach science, with some
elements of the sci-fi show draped over top of it. One contraption was a
wheeled platform that you laid on, which sat on an incline. By pushing
off with your feet, it simulated what it would feel like to be jumping on the
Moon’s lighter gravity. As it was a weekend day, there were mobs of
school-aged kids all over the place, and you could imagine their giddy shouts
as experienced one-eighth Earth gravity.
I did partake off this device, but after jumping once or twice, the novelty
wore off.
Another item which was set up
looked like a small cart on a short rail track (with a large wall on one side).
There were a half-dozen bean bags, each weighing about a pound or so,
sitting in a bind next to the seat of the cart. The concept here was to
throw a bean bag at the wall, and the resulting force would push the cart back
a little. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The kids would toss a bean bag, move a little, grab another, throw again,
etc. I said “move a little,” because the cart would only be displaced a
few inches of the four-feet of available track. After watching a score of
kids repeatedly do the same thing, soon it was my turn.
Not to intentionally show anyone
up, but to demonstrate the best way to get the most out of the experiment.
Once I sat in the cart, I placed all the bean bags in my lap. I
heard one kid make a comment as he understood what I was going to do.
Being at least a decade older, my body would naturally have more development
to move the cart a little farther, providing I did exactly what the kids did.
But once I got the cart to move with my first throw, not having to reach
into a bind for the next bean bag made the subsequent throws happen quicker.
And since the cart was already in motion, the following throws provided
more thrust which got me farther. After the last bean bag left my hand,
the cart banged against the far end of the track. I’m sure had I could’ve
gotten across the room, had the simulation allowed that.
Brian and I then went into the main
portion of the exhibit, which had more Star Trek related things, and less hard
science items. A gaggle of kids now followed me, due to the way I must’ve
impressed them with the bean bags. I did my best to ignore them, as kids
will fire off question after question without waiting for an answer in order
just to hear themselves talk. A poster of the classic Trek crew was
interesting, but the wall sized shot of the Milky Way Galaxy (with the very
tiny “you are here” dot) was more so.
One of the displays in the main
portion was a recreation of the Enterprise Enterprise
It was a pretty easy puzzle to
figure out, as all you need to do is nudge the rock a few degrees so it misses.
It reminded me of the Red Dwarf episode “White Hole” where the
crew needed to play pool with planets. Same concept here.
Eight-ball asteroid in the corner pocket. Helm, move to this
position. Engage. Tah-dah! Planet saved, and Brian picked a
picture of the ship passing in planetary orbit.
After that, we tried to work our
way through the remainder of the museum, but the last number of kids made it
difficult to do so, thus we didn’t stay very long. That just got us to
dinner earlier, and helped avoid the rush. It was a good time, seeing new
things.
For current information on the places visited:
Old Fort Niagara
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