Let's see - if I rode straight from Lockport to Buffalo, I'm sure it would have been a shorter ride than the one I took today. But it probably wouldn't have been as much fun. I rode by way of Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was a 2-country, 2-bridge day. The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge into Canada was much quieter than the Peace Bridge was crossing into Buffalo. But luckily on the Peace Bridge bicycles cross on the sidewalk. That made it a reasonable crossing. I did have a scare partway across though - I was almost half-way across when I saw the bright orange square of a manhole cover that was up. I thought I was going to have to move onto the road surface, but the bridge workers very nicely closed the manhole and let me pass. Getting off of the bridge was another story. The Adventure Cycling map had pretty good directions, once I got myself to the left side of the bridge, not the right side where I came out of customs. The thing that was a little crazy was that I didn't really take any of the official bridge exits - I cut across a parking lot and through an almost closed gate to get to the street I was looking for. I started following the detailed instructions to the bike path along the lake, then thought better of it and stopped at a gas station to see where the recommended hotels were in relation to where I was. It's a good thing I stopped, because downtown and the hotels were in the other direction. If I'd started out I probably would have ended up staying in Lackawana, but I was really ready to stop, so I'm glad I stopped and asked. It was time to get out of the sun.
It was another hot day, with sun most of the day. There were some pretty big clouds hiding the sun for a while when I was in the falls viewing area. That created some amazing light effects on the falls when the sun peeked out again. I tried to catch it in some pictures, but I just wasn't fast enough to catch the light. It was fun trying. I did get cooled off while I was standing at the top of Horseshoe Falls; it's unbelievable how much spray comes off of the falls. I think it was about 11:30 when I came off the bridge and onto the Niagara Parkway, and I managed to wander around the area for the next 3 hours. I walked through some beautiful gardens, but missed the Butterfly Conservatory because I wasn't willing to wait in line for a half an hour to get in. If you looked up at the glass in the building you could actually see the butterflies from the outside. I'm sure it was beautiful in there, but I just wasn't in a waiting mood today. The next stop was for some food - a slice of pizza and something cold to drink set me up for the rest of the day.
Hey - can I pull this trailer behind my bike? I think this horse was ready to come out and play for a while.
After that I rode down to the falls viewing area, locked the bike to a light pole, and went to look at the falls. The whole area was mobbed with people, but it was still possible to get unrestricted views. The falls are absolutely amazing. Both Niagara Falls and Horseshoe Falls are very wide and high. From the Canadian side you can walk right to the side of Horseshoe Falls, so you can see (sort of) the water at both the top and the bottom of the falls. I found it amazing how turbulent the water is at the top of the falls in addition to the bottom. I took quite a few pictures, but as usual with something so impressive, I don't think the pictures do it justice. Having the digital camera is really fun. I didn't even think about taking only "good" pictures - I just kept clicking away in the hopes of getting some good shots. And I think I did get some.
I met a woman from Lockport as I was changing some money on the way into Canada. She was asking about my bike - and then about my trip. She said that she wants to ride the entire Canal Trail someday, from Lockport to Albany. By the way, if any of you repeat my ride from bridge to bridge - don't bother to change any money. All of the tourist places had everything listed in both Canadian and US currency - they accepted both everywhere.
I stopped to get something cold to drink, and when I got back to the bike I found a couple from Michigan staring at it. They were riding some cruiser-type comfort bikes, and had never seen anything like my Air Glide before. We talked for a while. When they heard where I'm headed, they told me that they had ridden across Kansas on motorcycles years ago and found it way too hot. I didn't really need to hear that since I'm expecting it to be hot in Kansas. I'm hoping that by the time I get there I'll be a little better adapted to the heat. Right now I'm enjoying the 70-degree days more than the 90-degree days. Today was better than the last hot day though. I don't know why, since both days seemed to be pretty humid.
The ride from the Falls viewing area to Fort Erie (where I crossed back into the States) was on a bike path that paralleled the road. I don't know if parallel is the right word though, because it seemed to snake in and out. I wonder how many extra miles I rode by snaking around on the bike path instead of riding in a straight line on the road. I would have switched to the road, but it was a 2-lane road with room for two cars and with absolutely no shoulders. I thought it was better to stay on the bike path. The thing I found interesting about the bike path is that it was also an access road to the houses along the Niagara Parkway. Their driveways were off of access roads that were also the bike path. I've never seen anything like that before.
I had dinner tonight at the Colter Bay Grille. It was named for Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park. I thought that was fitting, since Grand Teton is on my itinerary for the summer.
Interesting wildlife for the day - black squirrels! Too bad they wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a picture.
I was very happy to see this sign as I got close to the Peace Bridge. I had just followed the Adventure Cycling instructions to take an unmarked ramp, cut through concrete barriers, cross a parking lot, and cut through another barrier. And it worked!
