Niagra.......

6:37 am - Sunday - May 6th - Lockport, NY - 53º F, 72% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the south......cloudy with a forecast high of 65º F.

When I was in Lockport some 12 years past doing my bike ride we had a rain day, so my friend and I drove over to Niagra Falls.  I had never been there before, and although it was raining on and off most of the time we were there I enjoyed being able to see this natural wonder I had only read about previously.  At the time we did not pay to go out on the viewing platform......

.....or pay to take the cruise on the 'Maid of the Mist' vessel.......

 'Maid of the Mist' under the rainbow

......now that we were back in Lockport and the weather forecast was promising I was determined to return, this time with TLE, and do everything.  We left home around 10:30 am to drive the 26 miles over to Niagra Falls arriving just after 11 am in parking lot #2 on Goat Island.....

......within minutes we had walked to the observation area on the US side of Niagra Falls......the weather was perfect and the falls were roaring, as well as putting off enormous clouds of mist......

......Lake Ontario in background, and the flow into Niagra Falls........

 

......on the other side of Goat Island is American and Bridal Veil Falls, and the observation deck (in the background).......

.....it was quite windy in the observation areas which combined with the clouds of mist made things very cold, but 100 yards away from the falls it was quite comfortable. Next up was the 'Maid of the Mist' tour.....we had bought our tickets online the night before so it was just a matter of showing the ticket lady our bar code, which she quickly scanned.......

.......each passenger on 'Maid of the Mist' is given a free poncho to wear on the 15 minute cruise, and you need will need it.  Without the poncho you will be soaked just from the mist that comes off the falls, and on this cruise you get quite close to the falls......

 American Falls from river level

 Bridal Veil Falls from river level

 Covering our heads....we are getting close!

There she is

 Retreating from the falls

 The international bridge into Canada

 The Canadian side

......our view from the observation deck of American, Bridal Veil and Niagra Falls in one shot.....

......after taking a few pix off the observation deck only one thing was left....it was about 12:30 pm and every good outing deserves some good pub food, so we were off to The Griffon Gastropub in Niagra Falls.  Yelp gives them 4 stars on 85 reviews, and Tripadvisor gives them 4.5 stars on 691 reviews!  This was a TLE find and she hit a homerun......

......I immediately ordered a pint of their Buffalo Brewing Co. 1813 Porter-New York American Porter (5.7 abv) and TLE ordered a pint of their Ithaca Nitro-Super Stout-NY-American Stout (5.2% abv).  For an appetizer we ordered their onion rings.......

....for entrees I ordered their Bacon Jam Burger (OMG), and TLE their Shrimp Po' Boy.....

Yes, that is a fried egg poking its head out from my burger (foreground)

.....we sat there sipping our brews, taking bites of our entrees and uttering the occasional 'ooh', or 'ahh'......we would rate the service, ambiance and food as a straight up '5'.  The fries would have made a meal all by themselves.....we both ended up taking home half of what we ordered.  I will thinking about this meal for some time!

We were home by 3 pm and immediately lapsed into food comas (naps) for about an hour.  Finally, around 4:30 pm we ventured outside to take a 2.1 mile out and back walk along the Erie Canal, which is just a few hundred yards from our site......

TLE provided the details of our walk

.....we walked from the Day Road bridge to Canal Road bridge and back........a perfect way to end the day, and I hope we were able to shed a few of the calories from our great meal at The Griffon Gastropub!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Thank you Mr. Jello!

7:28 am - Saturday - May 5th - Lockport, NY - 51º F, 78% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the south by southwest.  Partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 72º F.....no rain!

When we first awoke around 6 am Friday we were not sure we would be rolling our wheels, or sheltering in place until the storm was completely gone.  It was still raining when we got up.....there are two things we do not like to do.......drive in the wind, or drive in the rain, and certainly not both at the same time.  The weather forecast indicated it would stop raining by 10 am, and that the wind would be from the west to southwest during the day.  If those two things held true we would roll our wheels, but if either prediction failed to hold up we were going to stay in Ashtabula another day.

Apparently Mr. Jello felt our indifference and decided to let the weather guessers have one.....around 8 am the skies began to clear, the rain stopped, and the wind was coming directly out of the west.  Why is a wind out of the west desirable to us?  Well, we are traveling almost due east, and sometimes northeast, so any wind out of the west, or southwest just pushes us along.....nothing to fight.

We only had to unhook our electrical, move forward, insert the VW and go, and we were rolling down the road by 9:42 am.....perfect.  Our first stop of the day was only 8 miles away at the local Flying 'J' which had a dump station.  It had only been 5 days since we last dumped, but when you are living without a sewer hookup 90% of the time you need to take advantage of dumping opportunities whenever they avail themselves.  Flying 'J' charges $10 to dump, but we have a Flying 'J' card which gives us a $2.50 discount.  They have three RV islands at this Flying 'J' with a dump station right in the middle of each island.....perfect.  You can fuel up (we didn't), take on propane (we didn't) and dump your tanks without moving an inch.

By 10:20 am we were merging with I-90 eastbound headed for Lockport, NY and the local Elks Lodge (they have 30 amp electrical available next to 4 concrete pads for RVers, as well as water.....first come, first served....no reservations).  Lockport is close to Niagra Falls (our goal for Saturday), and the Erie Canal passes right through the middle of this cool little town.   I was in Lockport about 12 years ago riding the Erie Canal bike path with a good friend, and this little town was one of my favorite stops along the route.  

When you are in the eastern half of the U.S. in an RV you must be concerned about the height of under passes when you venture off the Interstate.  Some of them have steep ingress and egress and the bridge heights can often be 10', or under.....we are 11.5' tall so mistakenly driving through one of those short underpasses would scrap a lot of stuff on the top of our coach.  Our Garmin Trucker picks routes around those obstacles so we can drive with much more confidence than previously.

Just a few miles east of Ashtabula is the Pennsylvania state line......

.....I like their motto, and it coincides directly with our lifestyle!  Within another 35-40 miles you enter New York......

Our 10th state!  Our first time in New York with the Newell....finally a new state to add to our list.

......when you enter the great state of New York I-90 becomes a toll road all the way to Buffalo.  We had smooth sailing into and through Pennsylania, but as we entered New York the traffic became much more dense almost immediately.  We stopped at the toll both where we were given a ticket showing where we entered the toll road and were told the cost of the toll would be $11.80 if we went all the way to Buffalo, which was our intent.  If we were to exit anywhere earlier than Buffalo the toll would be less.  You pay your toll when you exit the toll road, or at Buffalo if you go that far.

Initially I-90 in NY was a little rough, but it smoothed considerably within a few miles and the driving was easy, although there were a lot more vehicles with which to contend.  With about 45 miles to go to our destination we exited the toll road at one of their 'Service Centers' (Rest Area located near Angola, NY), which are located just off the Interstate (no toll both to go through) and have fuel, fast food as well as RV/truck parking.    We had covered over 100 miles by this time and it was time for a stretching break.  While we were stopped we called the Elks Lodge in Lockport to be sure they had RV sites available, and they did.  We discussed our route to the Lodge with Bonnie and she confirmed the route we were taking would be free from short underpasses.

By 2 pm we were passing through the Buffalo toll booths and paying our $11.80 toll (the toll road begins again on the other side of Buffalo, so we're not done with tolls for a long time).  One, or two more exits saw us exiting I-90 to I-290 which takes us around Buffalo to I-990, and eventually to Millersport Highway up to Lockport.  We arrived at the Elks Lodge #41 around 2:30 pm, pulled into site #1 (normally these are back in sites, but the view is better if you pull in forward).  Within minutes we had 30 amps of electrical power flowing into the Newell, and were on our way into the lodge to pay $30 for two nights ($15/night donation).  While we were there we ordered a couple of Blue Moon drafts and spent time talking with Bonnie, John, Beau and Kyle about our trip, and about the local area.....very friendly folks!

We are parked facing a soccer field, and it seems as if we are in parkland.....perfect...another beautiful Elks Lodge!  By the time we had finished our beers the wind had picked up significantly as the forecast had promised and we were getting gusts into the 40's with steady winds at 25-30 mph so we stayed inside.  The winds began to abate just about the time the sun was setting, and I was able to catch this spectacular sunset......

.....we're off to Niagra Falls in about 2 hours....thanks for stopping by!

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The Rain, the Park, and Other Things......

6:43 am - Friday - May 4th - Ashtabula, OH - 65º F, 86% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the south.....heavy cloud cover......forecast high for today is 76º F with a chance of rain later today.  Rain on and off most of the night......

Our Jello plan for Thursday was to drive south to Canton, OH and the NFL Hall of Fame, just as we had driven into Cleveland to the the RRHF* the day before, however, my advance research had failed to unearth the fact that here in Ashtabula we are 103 miles from Canton!  Somehow I had mistakenly come to the conclusion, based on what I don't now know, that it was about the same distance as Cleveland.....how about twice as far in actuality......😞

Well, there was no way I was driving 206 miles round trip in the rain.....maybe 108, but certainly not 206.  So, our team called an audible and stayed put for the day.  It rained for the entire morning, and into the early afternoon before quitting around 1:30 pm......

 Still raining at 11:40 am

.....I observed this large coal ship cruising northeast along the shores of Lake Erie......there is a coal depot in Ashtabula where ships are loaded with coal, so I'm sure that's where she was headed.

When the rain suddenly ceased and the clouds parted we decided it was time to get out and stretch our legs by driving over Bridge Road where the Merchant District is replete with quite a few 100+ year old red brick buildings.  This whole area has been revived and is full of cool little restaurants, bistros and cafes.....

 One from the 1890's

.....we had hoped to catch the local 'lift bridge' in action, but were told that the only time it is raised this time of year (before the summer season and there are a lot more boats in the harbor) is when the Coast Guard ship needs to ingress, or egress.  So, the odds of us seeing it in action were remote......

 Lift bridge

.....we spent time walking up and down Bridge Road, and even went in the local Goodwill store where both TLE and I found some articles of clothing without which life could not proceed.  We paid $20 for our four purchases and headed down the street to see if we could not find a cool place to have a late lunch.  Of course, you know that we always find a cool place to eat, and on this late afternoon we found the perfect place to have a couple of brews, and sandwiches for a late lunch/early dinner.....

......Briquette Smokehouse is located just 1/2 block off Bridge Road right on the entrance to the Marina.....TripAdvisor gives them 4.5 stars on 244 reviews, while Yelp gives them the same rating on just 20 reviews.....they are both right on the money!

We went upstairs to their second floor, which has a great view of the marina, taking bar seats so we could enjoy the view.  I ordered a pint of their North High Filthy McNasty Imperial Stout and TLE a pint of their Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale for starters......

......for our entrees TLE chose their Smoked Ruben and I had their special.....Beef-N-Swiss Melt (smoked brisket).....OMG.  TLE says this is the best Ruben she has ever eaten, and that is saying a lot.  She has ordered and eaten dozens of Rubens all over the USA over the past 6 years of travel.  Previously her all time best was one she had in Cedar Key, FL back in January of 2013.....

 Left to right: Smoked Ruben, Beef-N-Swiss Cheese Melt

.....we sat there for over an hour cherishing every sip of beer, and bite of our sandwiches.  The Beef-N-Swiss Melt was out of this world......'off the hook' as Guy Fieri of Triple D would say......a real 'trip to flavorville'!

Well, all good, wonderful things must come, eventually, to and end.....we paid our bill and then set out to walk up the hill to Point Park and the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum.  As luck would have it the museum is not open until Saturday.......

A lot of stairs to climb to the museum

......then our luck changed.....as I snapped a picture of the inactive lift bridge I noticed there was a cabin cruiser waiting for it to lift.....it was about 4:25 pm at this time, and the bridge is only lifted, when it is lifted, on the half hour.  We waited for 5 minutes and then the bridge began to rise.....I took this 3+ minute video of it in action......

I took this video of the lift bridge in action......fascinating!

Ashtabula lighthouse left of center, in the background

.....the perfect ending to a perfect afternoon!  You can't make this stuff up!

We were home about 5:15 settling in for the evening.....as we went to bed we could hear the rain on our aluminum roof again.....sweet!

Thanks for stopping by!

* RRHF - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

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Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame.....

8:26 am - Thursday - May 4rd - Ashtabula, OH - 64º F, 87% humidity (surprised it's not 100%.....been raining all night), wind 6 mph out of the southwest......heavy cloud cover with more rain forecast for today, and a high of 75º F.

The main reason we stopped at the Elk's Lodge in Ashtabula was so we could drive back into Cleveland, OH to visit the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame.  It has been on my 'bucket list' for a couple of decades at least.  We left Ashtabula in the VW about 9:30 am figuring it would take a good hour to arrive at our destination, and we arrived exactly at 10:30 am.....we had purchased our tickets online the night before to save $3/person.  The Hall of Fame is right  off SR-2 at the 9th street exit.....literally.  We snagged the last street parking spot right across the street, and quickly inserted 9 quarters for 3 hours with the possibility of throwing in 3 more quarters for a fourth hour if we needed it.

TLE and I spent almost 3 hours walking through the various exhibits, and took over 100 pictures during that time.  As you walk from exhibit to exhibit there is non-stop music playing.  At each exhibit you can put on head phones and listen to the artist associated with that particular exhibit.  We were mesmerized......I think 90 minutes had passed by and we were still in the Rolling Stones section......there is so much to see it could take 3, or 4 posts to verbally cover it all, so I will let the pictures tell the story.......

If you are so inclined you can visit the food court inside and spend all your time in the 'Hall of Fame'

Howlin' Wolf was a big influence on the 'Stones', and they covered several of his songs in their early years

 

 Robert Johnson's music is considered by many to be the source of modern rock and roll

 Of course Les Paul must be in the Hall of Fame.....he invented the solid body electric guitar....some of his early guitars are worth a fortune today

 

There is an entire exhibit dedicated to Rhythm and Blues, and the influence of those early artists on the birth of modern rock and roll.....totally fascinating.....you could literally spend hours there reading about each 'R&B' artist

Young Rolling Stones

 Del Shannon hand written lyrics to 'Hats off to Larry'

 Joe Walsh's hand written lyrics to 'Life's been good to me'

 'ZZ Top' electric guitars....pretty cool looking

If you go the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame you must go into the Connor Theater to see this 15 minute movie.....very, very powerful

 The first inductees into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame.....I cannot disagree with any of them

The Beatles inducted in 1988.....

....and the Stones in 1989

Deep Purple.....finally!

Moody Blues....about time!

The Hall of Fame is built right on the shores of Lake Erie......just off the freeway

 Parting shot

......frankly we could have spent a fourth hour, but after a while your mind is on sensory overload and it is time for a break.  TLE found a little food court over on 4th and Prospect where we paid $18 for valet parking so we could walk down the street (no cars) and find a place that peaked our interest.........

....we settled on 'The Corner Alley'.....a sports bar/bowling alley.....very cool....

 The Corner Alley

.....the bar was mostly empty at 2 pm, so we had the place to ourselves......just a couple of blocks away is Progressive Stadium where the Cleveland Indians play baseball, and there was an afternoon game in progress explaining the mostly empty bar.....no doubt it would fill up shortly after the end of the game.  We each ordered a draft brew and then a couple of appetizers to split.......sweet potato fries and bacon bleu sliders......perfect amount of food!

We were on the road back to Ashtabula about 2:30 pm, and home by 3:30 pm.....we did buy a couple of souvenir t-shirts at the Hall of Fame.......here is TLE's......

......it was a wonderful day which took me back to my youth, and I am still basking in the glow of the experience.  Were the 60's really that long ago?  If you are a fan of Rock 'N Roll plan on visiting the Hall of Fame.....it will be worth your while.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defer the costs of producing this blog each day.