Erie Canal - Western Half - Albion to Tonawanda - August 2008
Leaving Albion, we soon came to the town of Medina - home of the famous Medina Limestone and, more importantly (at least to me), home of the only remaining aqueduct on the Erie Canal.
Now I have to say that I was REALLY looking forward to crossing my first aqueduct. And I wasn't asking for much - but I have to say that this is a pretty pathetic excuse for an aqueduct. It is built over Orchard Creek - which you can see running under the Erie canal in the picture to the right below.
Now, THESE are aqueducts. The one to the left is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct on the LLangollen canal in Wales. Jeremy's cousin Rodney and his wife Kate crossed that aqueduct years ago - and mentioned it to me when I said that I was looking forward to crossing the aqueduct on the Erie. The one to the right is in Pont du Gard, France and was built by the Romans circa 19BC. It is, unfortunately not passable by boat - but the one in Wales is. So yes, Rodney, I really DO want to come to Wales and travel over this myself one day! (BTW - These are not my pictures. I ripped them off of Wickipedia. Gotta love that site!)
But I digress... Midina is also home to a 'Big Apple' - a monument to NY State's nick-name. I did that this picture. What can I say, I will take pictures of almost anything - and worse, I will share them with YOU!!
You don't even need your own boat to travel this wonderful canal. There are several canal boat rental companies operating up here on the western end of the canal. We particularly liked the ones from the Midlakes Naviation Company near Syracuse (shown in the picture below), Low Bridge Charters in Spencerport, and The Erie Canal Cruise Lines in Fairport and Seneca Falls as they have that European canal narrow-boat look. There are also some nice-looking houseboats available from the Canal Princess Charter company in Tonawanda. If you decide to do a canal boat rental - check all of the details in the contract. Some provide fuel and some don't - something to think about in these times of high fuel prices.
The NY Canal Corporation has been working at converting the old tow path along the canal where the mules used to walk pulling the canal barges in the mid to late 1800's into bike and hiking paths. They have done a phenomenal job - including this stretch that runs for 100 miles between Newark and Tonawanda (near Buffalo). By the way, most of the canal boat rental companies provide bikes with their boats - so you will be able to enjoy this aspect of the canal as well!
This area of upstate NY is also known for Barnside Quilt blocks - large wooden panels of painted quilt block designs hung on barns for decoration. I spotted this one going past on the canal one day.
Traveling west, we came to the town of Lockford where the flight of 5 locks with a combined lift of 50 feet were replaced by two large locks, each with a lift of 25 feet in 1918. The town was actually named for the flight of 5 locks which were opened in 1825 as part of the original Erie canal.
There are two gates at the top of lock 35. This is the only place on the Erie with two gates on a lock. When we asked about it, we were told that the extra set was added as a safety measure. Since this is the highest point of the Canal, if the gates here failed most of the valley below would flood.
Leaving Lockford, we traveled under what was the widest bridge in the world in 1914 when it was built. It's 129 feet long and 399 feet wide. Going under it on the boat was sort of like traveling through a giant tunnel.
On to Tonawanda and the western end of the Erie Canal. There are two big draws in Tonawanda - it's the home of the Herschell Carrousel Factory and Museum and it's the closest point on the canal to the Niagara Falls.
Allan Herscshell manufactured carrousel's with beautifully carved animals and wonderfully loud calliopes in the in the Tonawanda area from the late 1800's through the early 1900's. He not only had horses and carriages in his carrousels, but also all manner of animals - including pigs and chickens like those shown below. Originally, they carved these animals without saddles - have you ever seen a chicken or a pig with a saddle?? But they found that the kids wouldn't want to ride and animal without a saddle, so they decided to add them.
There are not many people left today who still know how to carve a wooden carrousel horse - but those that are still here in Tonawanda are happy to try to teach you. The museum offers classes in wood carving for those who want to learn.
The picture to the right is of the calliope in the carrousel that they have at the museum for you to ride.
I got to ride the lead horse, Wild Billy. Before we visited the museum, I didn't realize that all carrousels have a lead horse - it's the outer-most horse right in front of the carriage.
Tonawanda is about 14 miles south of Niagara Falls, so we decided to saddle up our 2-wheeled horses and ride up to see them. There is a great bike path that runs along the river through the town of North Tonawanda (maybe about 4-5 miles) - then we were onto the streets following the Niagara River north for the rest of the trip. We could see the current getting stronger and stronger as we rode north along the river, until we started to see rapids. This is NO place to take the boat and definitely no place to go swimming.
We took this picture of the American Rapids maybe a couple of hundred yards before it spilled over the falls.
Having made our epic journey to the falls, we headed off to get wet! First, we went on the Cave of the Winds tour - where they give you a yellow poncho and a pair of waterproof shoes and then send you out to play at the base of the American Falls.
When I said you get wet, what I meant was that you get SOAKED! I took these pictures of Jeremy on the Hurricane Deck. He's waiving me to hurry up. I was taking my time and enjoying the view. Didn't catch me over there. Besides I had to keep the camera from getting wet, didn't I??
More views of the American Falls from down below.
With this much water, there's bound to be a rainbow or two. I caught this one below us in the falls. I have to confess that the No Smoking sign on the walkway did give us a chuckle. Just TRY smoking out there!
There are actually two falls in Niagara - the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. The American Falls are solely in the American side of the Niagara River, while the much-larger Horseshoe falls is a curved falls across the Niagara River that connects Canada and the US. This is a view of the edge of the Horseshoe falls from the nearby restaurant where we had lunch.
The Maid of the Mist tour boat takes you up into the center of the Horseshoe falls, where you can get even more wet. The picture to the right is of the Rainbow bridge which connects Canada and the US.
We took the Maid of the Mist tour, where we got some bright blue ponchos to go with our stylish yellow ones. I took the picture to the right just as we were heading into the Horseshoe falls. I put the camera away after I took it, as it was getting pretty wet on the upper deck of the boat.
Lookout tower on the American side - beside the American Falls.
View from the lookout tower pictured above. The American Falls are in the foreground and the Horseshoe Falls are in the background.
Updated September 14, 2008