Along the Niagara River

From Lake Erie to Lake Ontario

We camped in Youngstown, NY, and over 2 days, visited sites from Buffalo (on Lake Erie) to Niagara Falls to Fort Niagara (on Lake Ontario).

Visit to 1 new National Park Site: (visited 2 Heritage Areas)

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, whose western end is Buffalo.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site (#253), in Buffalo, where we visited the museum and got a tour of the house where he was inaugurated, as a backdrop to the story of his inauguration after McKinley’s assassination. We also got to be President! And…did you know??? With 6 children, President Theodore Roosevelt needed more of the White House for living, so he oversaw the construction of a temporary office building. That temporary office building is known today as the West Wing.

Room in Buffalo, where Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated as President

Niagara National Heritage Area, from Niagara Falls to Old Fort Niagara. We visited:
- Niagara Falls State Park and even took the Niagara Maid of the Mist Tour.
- The Niagara Falls Underground Railroad National Heritage Center. It’s in an old Custom House, adjoined with the local Amtrak Station, across from what was another Roebling Suspension Bridge, now the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge! This was a popular crossing point to freedom in Canada, the one used by Harriet Tubman.
- Old Fort Niagara at Fort Niagara State Park, where we lucked out again, visiting on Revolutionary War Encampment Weekend. Aside from touring the fort, we saw lots of British and Colonial Troops in encampment, and a 250th anniversary reenactment of the arrival of the King’s Regiment at Fort Niagara.

First view of Bridal Veil Falls from Maid of the Mist
Another view of Bridal Veil Falls from Maid of the Mist
View of Horsehoe Falls from Maid of the Mist
Niagara Falls Rainbow
View of Bridal Veil Falls on our walk
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center in old Custom House (Amtrack to left)
View of Old Fort Niagara from gun tower, with some encampments on grounds and looking toward “French Castle”
Reenactment of July 1774 arrival of the Kings Guard to relieve troops who’ve been at Niagara 2 years. Those troops were reassigned to Boston, to quell the rebellion.
Niagara Lighthouse

What else did we see in Buffalo???

We spent a few hours at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park. There we toured 2 ships and 1 boat…

USS The Sullivans, a Fletcher-class Destroyer, the largest and most important class of U.S. Destroyers used in World War II. It is the only Navy ship named after more than one person, the 5 Sullivan brothers, from Waterloo, Iowa who died together aboard USS Juneau CL-52 in November 1942.
USS Little Rock CL-92 (CLG-4) is a Guided Missile Cruiser, the only surviving vessel from the Cleveland Class of light cruisers in World War II.
USS Croaker SSK-246 is a decommissioned Gato-class submarine that served in World War II. We got a lot of info from a Vietnam era veteran docent, who served ~2.5 years on a similar class of submarine.

Tours start with USS The Sullivans on right., the to USS Little Rock to left, then to USS Croaker, behind The Sullivans
USS Sullivan, seen from the deck of the USS Little Rock
Mark between the missiles of the USS Little Rock
models of the USS Croaker, after and before she was converted to a “hunter-killer” submarine with added sonar, radar, and quieting capabilities
On board the USS Croaker with retired submariner

And we made a quick stop at our first Penzeys Spice Shop! OH! And we did not get a replacement tire for The Beast in Buffalo. It didn’t work out. So now we hope to get a new spare Tuesday, in Detroit.

Took the “short-cut” through Canada, from Buffalo to Detroit today…

Taking the longer route on the south side of Lake Erie might have been faster!!! What with a really bad accident (or 2?) on 401, and a while getting back into the USA.

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album: Great Lakes East