Two weeks in the USA a pilgrimage and a visit to Google

[Flying mermaid]

just coming to the end of our two days in Niagara and will put up photos once Mr FM gets some sorted out for me. The falls are so beautiful - sometimes these things can get overhyped but in this case not! It was an easy drive from Buffalo airport to Niagara. We walked over to Goat Island - going over the bridge you get a wonderful view of the rapids and coming back they were lit up, which gave an interesting effect to the white water. At night the falls are lit up and there were fireworks at 10pm - not on every night, so worth checking the schedule.

Viewing from the USA side allows you to see the falls from many different spots and allows you to get very close up and appreciate the power of the water.

We were up early today and went on maid of the mist - probably second boat out so not at all crowded. Ticket office opened at 8:30 with first boat out at 9am. Boats leave every 15 minutes, so no issue getting on, but boats were very full later in the day.

After that we did Cave of the Wind -no longer any Cave as it disintegrated years ago, but this allows you to get to the base of Bridal Veil. You get given sandals and a plastic raincoat and you really need them. Even with all of that we still got pretty wet!

Had a relaxing lunch at the Sheraton (TGIF) - tried our first Buffalo Wings - that sauce was to die for! Stuck to a Californian Chardonnay - we had tried the local wine the night before and far too sweet for us.

After lunch we decided to walk to Canada - very easy to do and not at all far. Walking across the Rainbow Bridge it was fun to look at all the cars stuck in the queue as we raced by. No fee to enter Canada and 50c coming back.

Totally different aspect from The Canadian side - the distance allowed you to really see all 3 falls and see all of the Horseshoe Fall, whereas you get restricted views on the US side. Generally I felt the Canadian side felt nicer and with nicer hotels. I would recommend staying on that side - the Hornblower cruise is the equivalent of Maid of the Mist and behind the Falls does what Cave of the Wind does. Then I would walk across to the USA side to look at the Falls from Goat Island and the rapids.

 

[Austff]

Great trip report , my wife & I are very much looking forward to our visit in 6 weeks time & staying at the Hilton Fallsview .
Can I ask ,is the "discovery pass at $36 pp" worth purchasing ?.

 

[markis10]

Yes it was hard to believe with 30 temps that it can get as cold as it does. Apparently gets below zero in December and doesn't get above again for months. The walking clubs swap to having walks around the Mall of America instead.

First trip to LOTFAP for me involved a transit of MSP in Winter, I thought I misheard the captain when he said it was -20 outside. I was a smoker at the time, needless to say it was a quick smoke. The area is also prone to Derecho's.

 

[Kangol]

In the Flagship Lounge at T4 at the moment waiting for our flight to Minneapolis. Had a fairly good run through Immigration, but made one basic mistake. . We managed to pick a queue that had the tail end of a flight from Riyadh. I would think they processed the 4 couples ahead of us in the same time as about 20 in the queue next door. We probably should have queue hopped, but didn't think they would take that long!

Next problem, was I declared some leaves. I dried some wattle and bottlebrush leaves to take to Saranac as part of my pilgrimage. This immediately resulted in us being sent to area "A". This is similar to Australia's quarantine stuff - all bags have to go through X-ray machines and there was a big queue of people from the Riyadh flight having their bags scanned. My leaves were examined and allowed through, although I think my explanation of why I was bringing them totally bemused the official.

Excellent trip report, look forward to the rest!

Question about LAX immigration - some reports here say that it has changed.

If so, did you notice any difference? Is there a queue for HLO pax? How about a line for ESTA holders with a photo booth similar to Smartgate (ie. kiosk and camera that takes your photo all in one)..?

 

[jastel]

Yeah that Cave of the Wind was a ripoff, no cave there for decades...false advertising if you ask me.
Just get to stand on a path under some spray.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Great trip report , my wife & I are very much looking forward to our visit in 6 weeks time & staying at the Hilton Fallsview .
Can I ask ,is the "discovery pass at $36 pp" worth purchasing ?.

Depends what you want to do - Maid of the Mist and Cave of the wind were all we wanted to do and the combined cost was $29 - the other 3 were a movie and the aquarium and a discovery centre. If you did want to do all 5 there is a definite saving but not if you just do the main 2. Isn't the Hilton on the Canadian side - if so they have a different Adventure pass with 4 activities for $49 -can't comment on value, but I would suspect it is similar to the Discovery pass.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Excellent trip report, look forward to the rest!

Question about LAX immigration - some reports here say that it has changed.

If so, did you notice any difference? Is there a queue for HLO pax? How about a line for ESTA holders with a photo booth similar to Smartgate (ie. kiosk and camera that takes your photo all in one)..?

I am sorry it is years since we have been to LAX from Aus - of late we have being coming from Europe and landing in New York,so I am not sure if any improvement. I did see Smartgate machines but they seemed to be only on the US citizen side. There was a person waiting for people coming off the plane and directing non residents to the area we went to and I only saw the traditional booths with immigration personnel similar to Australia. If we hadn't chosen the Riyadh queue we would have been through really quickly.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Yeah that Cave of the Wind was a ripoff, no cave there for decades...false advertising if you ask me.
Just get to stand on a path under some spray.

It is a bit of a ripoff as I was looking forward to a cave, but found getting so close to the waterfall heaps of fun (although wet). Behind the falls on the Canadian side doesn't go behind the falls either - you just get to look behind the falls apparently

 

[jastel]

It did when I went there?? You walk in tunnels for the hydro station and there is a small porthole in the wall behind the falls, the water is in front of you, you would be killed if you were "under" them like the US side.
There is also a lookout just beside the base, whilst not "under" the falls you are beside them at the bottom, still getting sprayed, and can see behind them a bit.
Whilst maybe exaggerating "behind", it's not advertising a non existent Cave anyway.
I thought it was the better of the two. Its still a must see bucket list type place though.

 

[turtlemichael]

Great trip report so far. Love the photos. I'm not sure what you plan to do at Gettysburg but I assume you are going to see the battle site. There is now an excellent museum there, opened a few years ago, and it is worth some time. We hired a guide from the office, at reasonable cost, and he was terrific. He can come along with you in your car. Well worth considering.

 

[Flying mermaid]

It did when I went there?? You walk in tunnels for the hydro station and there is a small porthole in the wall behind the falls, the water is in front of you, you would be killed if you were "under" them like the US side.
There is also a lookout just beside the base, whilst not "under" the falls you are beside them at the bottom, still getting sprayed, and can see behind them a bit.
Whilst maybe exaggerating "behind", it's not advertising a non existent Cave anyway.
I thought it was the better of the two. Its still a must see bucket list type place though.

OK - the report I read on them said you only looked behind and didn't go behind. Having got quite wet on the Cave one we decided to give it a miss....

 

[Flying mermaid]

Great trip report so far. Love the photos. I'm not sure what you plan to do at Gettysburg but I assume you are going to see the battle site. There is now an excellent museum there, opened a few years ago, and it is worth some time. We hired a guide from the office, at reasonable cost, and he was terrific. He can come along with you in your car. Well worth considering.

Thanks Mr FM is a bit of a civil war buff so definitely the battlefields. I will tell him about the guide - sounds good.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some more photos in order

View of Bridal Veil from Cave of the Wind tour.
Rainbow over American Falls (US side)
From Boat - American and Horseshoe
Rainbow Bridge

 

[Flying mermaid]

Sheraton on Canadian side
American and Bridal Falls from Canadian side

 

[puppysparkes]

Thanks flying mermaid this is helping with my planning for my LOTFAP trip.

 

[Flying mermaid]

the drive from Niagara to Alexandria Bay took us through some lovely forests interspersed with fields of maize. Mr FM was rather taken with the barns and most frustrated with not being able to stop on the Interstate highway to take photos. Eventually he found one on the state highway so was able to photograph it. We stopped at Watertown for lunch - the town looked like it had been though a hard time with many empty shops and rather derelict looking buildings. There were signs of a revival with houses being painted and buildings renovated. Some of the office buildings were quite old looking and very pretty. The final picture is of the exciting night life in Alexandria Bay. The town itself seems a family holiday location - quite inexpensive and downmarket. However the town is in the 1000 Island area (yes 1000 island dressing was invented here). There are around 2,000 islands in this area of the St Lawrence River - some Canadian and some USA. Some of the islands are tiny and some big, many with very big houses on them and some castles. One part is known as "Millionaire's row". It is very beautiful - hope to have some photos when Mr FM gets them downloaded. The whole river freezes over in winter.

Today we took a two hour cruise on the river and went to visit Boldt castle on Heart island. A rather sad story of Mr Boldt and his wife Louise. He became very wealthy and wanted to build a castle for her as a gift. It is the most incredible structure and was almost finished in 1904 when she died at the age of 42. He immediately ceased all work and never went back to Heart Island. The buildings totally decayed, but a fabulous reconstruction/renovation is slowly being done.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Most of the hotels we have stayed in have been less than memorable so far, but in Alexandria Bay we stayed at a B&B - Captain Visagers. The proprietor Sam is a huge personality, perhaps slightly eccentric and runs a very comfortable B&B, but oh! her food. I am sorry we didn't take any photos - too busy stuffing the food down. I have to have put on multiple kgs while there. Breakfast the first day was yoghurt with fresh blueberries with just a hint of maple syrup, fresh orange juice and cranberry juice and a concoction of black beans, corn, tomatoe and capsicum, topped with poached eggs. We took away the muffins to have later - not too sweet and crammed with blueberries. The next day was watermelon and lime juice over crushed ice and french toast. Well the French toast was a cross between a custard and bread and butter pudding, done in huge creme caramel shaped dishes with a cream cheese centre and surrounded by various stewed fruits. Seriously if ever in Alexandria Bay this is the only place to stay!

Photos:

One of the houses on an island on the Canadian side.

The smallest island

A bridge between two countries - one island (the biggest) is American the other Canadian.

The Power House on Heart Island - was intended to supply electricity for Boldt Castle and cost $200,000 to build in 1903. George Boldt ran/owned a number of hotels including the Waldorf Astoria.

A summer house on Heart Island

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some views of Boldt Castle and one of the restored rooms. Most of the castle is a mess with totally ruined rooms and graffiti everywhere. They have restored a lot of the rooms downstairs - ballrooms, lounge dining room, library etc and the family bedrooms upstairs. Restoration work is continuing.

George Boldt continued to holiday in the 1000 Island area with Children and Grandchildren - he owned several Islands, but he never set foot on Heart Island again after Louise died.

 

[Denali]

If Only it never snowed, I could live on that tiny island! Very pretty.

 

[Flying mermaid]

We woke up in Alexandria Bay to severe thunderstorms and rain - This was a problem as we planned to climb Scarface Mountain in Saranac Lake - a 14km round trip and didn't like the idea of being out in that weather. However by the time we approached the lake Placid area the rain had stopped and although there were a few rumbles and a bit of light rain during our journey it remained OK. What a beautiful area this is - mountains going down to lakes and heavily wooded.

This was the "pilgrimage" part of our journey- to pay respect to the son of a friend who died here in January (yes - not a good year for my friends) and also to thank some of the people here.

The son of my friend was a Captain in the Australian army and served in Afghanistan. The exact circumstances are still the subject of a military inquiry so I won't comment in detail. However I think it is fair to say that conditions in Afghanistan for him were not good - he was brought back to Australia with PTSD and after struggling for nearly 2 years he flew to the USA and on the 31st December walked to the top of Scarface Mountain in a severe blizzard and waited to die.

I do not feel our society understands or accepts mental illness and the military is no different. I spoke to some military personnel at the funeral and their attitude was that he could run faster than them so how were they supposed to know there was anything wrong.....His severe weight loss didn't seem to count.

The people of Lake Saranac have been wonderful. It took 2 weeks to find my friend's son, but they turned out everyday looking. The Police Chief who coordinated efforts was incredible. The Mayor has done so much - leading a group of people to Scarface mountain to lay poppies at the place the body was found and organising an Anzac Day ceremony. The day Paul was taken home people came out to say farewell and a teacher brought his class out to line the way. A bit different to his arrival home where he was unloaded with no ceremony into a warehouse for his mother to claim.

A few weeks ago my friend brought Paul's ashes back to Saranac and released them on Scarface Mountain for his spirit to roam there in peace. A bench has also been set up at the entrance to the trail.

The day after our climb we went to the Town Hall to sign a book that is kept there for people who climb Scarface Mountain in Paul's memory and left a gift for the Mayor. We visited the Chief of Police and did a few odds and ends my friend had requested and then left the beautiful village to start our journey to Gettysburg.

Photos

A mushroom - what a colour!

The trail on Scarface Mountain

The bench with the poppy and the leaves I had brought from my garden (and cleared at LAX)