Aug. 19, 2013

Playing in Water at Niagara Falls

The last few days we have been working our way west in northern Pennsylvania and then north to Niagara Falls.  Today we did three major tourist events. 

A note on tourists.  There are more here than we have seen in total in our trip so far.  There are tourists everywhere and we can see that there are many more at other times by the facilities layout.  The majority of the tourists here are either East Indian or Oriental, primarily Chinese.  You have 'heard the phrase ‘Ugly American’ – I have a counter – ‘Ugly Oriental’ – specifically ‘Ugly Chinaman’.  They are rude, they are loud, they are pushy, they act like they own the territory around them and will push their way through a crowd or walk a path like they are the only ones on it.  They do not acknowledge the existence of others.  If someone is taking a picture they jump in the way so they can get a picture of friend or family instead of waiting 5 seconds for others to clear.  They jump into the front of lines.  This was a unanimous observation of all Chinese we saw.  All other tourists we saw were friendly, courteous, and polite. 

Off the soapbox and on to the day.

We left early for the falls park so we could maybe get close parking and get early ride on our first attraction.  Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest State Park in the country by the way.  Got a close and free parking spot (Lots cost $10) and were near front of line for ‘Maid of the Mist’ boat trip.

You have all seen pictures of this.  Boat takes you to the base of the falls so you can experience the might of all that water close up. 

Everyone gets a poncho which is actually pretty sturdy.

As the boat leaves the dock and heads to the falls there is a canned narration that gives history and particulars about the falls. 

Another Maid of the Mist

Just as the boat reaches the falls the narration concludes with “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Niagara Falls”.

We were closer than this but had to put camera away because of ‘mist’.

  We then spent about ten minutes less than 50 yards from the base of Horseshoe Falls with the boat held stationary pointing at the falls.  Heavy ‘mist’.    Tons of water per second landing right in front of you. The only sound the roar of the falls.  Awesome. 

The elevator that takes you to the boat landing descends from an observation deck built out from the bluff to give views of the falls.  Pretty impressive structure.

Falls from tower

Bridge to Canada (on left)

 

Another view of boat

At one point I saw a full 180 degree rainbow but light and mist changed before I could get picture.

The park has lots of green space, many walking paths, and an auto bridge and foot bridge to get to Goat Island.  Large island that separates American Falls from Horseshoe Falls.  Also location of our next water adventure.  The Cave of the Winds used to be an eroded area behind the falls where one could actually walk behind the falls.  Continued erosion and collapse have made that no longer possible but there are wooden catwalks that get you to the base of one side of American Falls.  One platform gets you within 15 feet of the base.  Lots of water spray.  Ponchos and water shoes provided here but extremities still get pretty damp.  Fun to do though.

View from a lower deck.  No picture from upper deck.  Too much spray for camera.

After Cave of the Winds we drove through the park and strolled another walkway to some small islands on the other side of Goat Island.

Niagara Falls from behind.

Rapids a hundred yards above the falls.

Back to the carbus for lunch and then on to our third water adventure.  Best for last.

I have wanted to do this for years.  One of the first things I put on my map of do not miss if we went east.  The Whirlpool Jet boats run up the river below the falls through some class 5 rapids and alongside the Whirlpool which is a class 6 rapid.  Large boat specially designed for this spot. Three big engine/jet power trains pushing it.  Boat holds about 50 people.  Did I mention that the boat is open.  Yep, shooting Class 5 rapids (big, wide, Class 5 rapids) in an open boat.  When you sign in for the trip they point out some complementary lockers and tell you not to take anything with you that you would not jump in to a swimming pool with.  They also tell you ahead of time to bring a change of clothes which are stowed in another set of lockers at the landing.  Water shoes are provided if needed.  Ponchos are available.  Heavy duty rubberized.  Of course everyone wears a substantial life jacket.  The day was warm so we passed on the ponchos.  They call the first three rows on the boat the ‘Power Rows’.  We got seats in row two.  Don’t know why ’Power’ but wet is the name of the game.  All seats will get wet but when diving into a rapid water hits the front of the boat first and most.  A woman who had been on the boat before said she got wetter than she ever did in a shower.  Hard to see how that could happen but we found out.  We started out with a couple of 360 degree turns.  Brought back memories.  Felt exactly like those I did in our boat.  We were toward the front so did not get the full whip but fun to do.  Then up river.  Through some gentle rapids and past huge power plants on both sides of the river.  A pause for some instruction and then into the narrow canyon and the monster rapids.   Zigzaging  through the troughs going up stream, turning and diving into the troughs going down stream.  We spent half an hour doing that (probably eight trips) and then a trip further up stream to view the Whirlpool.  Combination of lots of water moving very fast (35 mph)through a narrow canyon and making a turn of more than 90 degrees makes some nasty looking rapids and a a large whirlpool that they have no idea how deep it is.  Something getting into it could stay under water for a long time.  Pretty awesome to view at eye level.  One final trip down through the rapids where the boat pilot made every effort to hit the deepest troughs and then a fast jet boat ride to the dock.  How to describe wetter than a shower – hard to do.  Think of the water in five or six 50 gallon drums.  Now think of all that water being thrown in your face all at once.  Not poured on you.  All of it thrown directly at you all at once.  The person next to you is getting the same amount of water at the same time.  Even the people in the back, wearing ponchos, were wet when they got off the boat.  Great adventure.  We bought the video because it is impossible to describe and their video shows pretty well what goes on.

Our boat loading the tour before us.

Hi from Niagara Falls. 

Aug. 15, 2013

Valley Forge

If one lived nearby or had several days to visit this would be a fun place to visit.  Large park with many open spaces and walking/biking trails.  Also road tour of the park.  Not much ‘get you involved’ stuff to see.  Washington and Continental Army spent winter here.  It was cold and wet.  They were hungry and under clothed.  Late winter and early spring things got better with food and clothing and they received much needed military training.  In June they defeated the British in several important battles and went on to eventual final victory.

With more time it might have been nice to do some biking but we needed to move on to find lodging.

Aug. 12, 2013

Harpers Ferry,  Antietam

Layover day with touring.  We are now in an area where things are closer together.  Tens of miles instead of hundreds.  From Gettysburg it is only thirty to fifty miles to many points of historical, cultural, and natural interest.  Today we went southwest to visit the historical town of Harpers Ferry and the Antietam battle site.

Harpers Ferry is a small town at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.  It has much history not only related to the Civil War but before and after as a center for some industries, westward expansion, tourism, recreation, etc.  We learned some more Civil War history, admired the views, and strolled the town. 

More Civil War history at Antietam.  Battle here only lasted 12 hours and basically ended in a draw.  But,  more soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing in that 12 hours by far than in any other similar time frame in the entire war.  It was also the first time that pictures were taken of dead soldiers in the field and shown to the general public.  The scope of the fatalities and the graphicness of the pictures opened peoples eyes to the realities of war.  Until then people not connected with fighting had a very naive impression of what war was all about. 

Our little trip today took us into four different states. Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. 

Aug. 14, 2013

Historic Philadelphia

Drove six miles to train station and took a quiet one hour train ride to the heart of Philadelphia.  Train depot is five blocks from Independence Visitor Center.

When center opened we hustled to get tickets for Independence Hall tour.  Tickets are free but needed to keep group sizes reasonable.  We got first tour of day.  Interesting to see and be in buildings you have heard about all your life.  The places where the concept of this country was hashed out and the reality came to pass.  And to see the seat of government for the countries’ first decade.

First Senate chambers

 

 

Across the street is the building that houses the Liberty Bell.

We went there next – still early in the day.  Walked right up to security and passed right in.  Things were a bit different two hours later.

That building is almost a city block long and narrow.  More like a long corridor. The line is longer than the building.  The line is to get to security check station.  Once through that and inside you will be part of a crowd probably twice that size.

We visited a number of other sites in the area.  Eye opening to see cradle of the country is just a few square blocks. 

First US Post Office.  Still in operation.  Stamps hand canceled with Franklins’ signature.

Keeping our sub-thread of visiting famous dead people we visited Ben Franklin’s grave. 

The US Mint is also in the same area.  Great tour showing history and all phases of coin minting.  Unfortunately they weren’t making money today.  Would have been fun to watch.

Tomb of Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.

Easy hour train ride back to the car and back to carbus by 5:00 pm.  Glad we did it that way.  Driving and parking in Philly Would not have been fun and much more expensive.  Old folks only pay a buck to ride the train.

Aug. 13, 2013

Hershey

Today we went through Hershey, PA.  There are two attractions in the Hershey complex.  Hershey Park is a big amusement park similar to Six Flags, etc. 

Hershey World is a chocolate related area with a free ride (similar in design to Haunted Mansion) showing the chocolate making process.  There are several other pay-for chocolate related attractions mostly aimed at kids.   Large gift store and even larger candy store filled with everything Hershey.  

The ultimate PB Blossom.  Center is whole peanut butter cup.

 

On most of our travels so far we have not seen huge crowds of vacationers.   Gettysburg was pretty busy but everything else was pretty tame.  Until today.  Zoo doesn’t begin to describe the crowd inside and out.  Hershey could use some serious help from Disney in crowd and parking  management.

Tonight we are in a nice quiet RV park tucked in some Pennsylvania hills.  Our drive here followed a large creek (could be even classed a small river) and our camp spot is right on that creek.  Driving up the creek we noted it was very dirty and flowing very fast.  Last night we had rain in Gettysburg.  About three hours duration and pretty heavy at times but didn’t think much of it.  When we got set up here and turned on the news we found that it had rained in this area also.  The town we drove through on our way to the park (town is about three miles downstream) had had significant flash flooding.  We didn’t see any of it where we drove.  The RV park does have a fair amount of standing water. This area received over six inches of rain in 3-4 hours.  Nearby spots had 4-5 inches in the same time.  Even a possible tornado. 

Hershey is in the middle of PA Amish country

Amish farm

Aug 10 and 11, 2013

Gettysburg

Visiting Gettysburg is a task.  There is a lot here to assimilate.  There are also lots of people trying to make a buck off of what happened here.  There must be six or eight ‘ghost’ tours.  Horseback tours, bus tours, several audio tours, guided tours,tours of houses, farms, streets, restaurants named after various people in the battle, and on and on.  Lots of information to be had but learning from a ghost seems a bit much.

We spent several hours yesterday afternoon in the visitor center.  Started with a 20 minute movie giving an overview of the battle.  Next was the cyclorama.  Pretty hard to describe except to say Amazing!.  360 degree picture, 44 feet high, depicting all the events of the battle.  The whole thing was restored several years ago inch by inch.  Visitors stand on a rotating platform and view painting which is presented with narration and special effects lighting.  Truly impossible to describe adequately. 

Portion of cyclorama depicting Pickett’s Charge

Next a trip through the museum, laid out in chronological order and filled with information on battle  locations and participants.  A trip through the gift store was next.  Pretty typical.  Same shirts and cups with different names on them. (Not quite that bad but still pretty typical.)  One difference – tons of books on the battle and the Civil War.  After the store a 45 minute presentation by a ranger describing the progression of the battle.

Today (8/11)was a long one.

First thing, back to visitor center to take bus to Eisenhower Farm.  Only home Eisenhowers ever owned.  (They lived in over 40) Lots of information from rangers and docents and thorough tour of house.  Tour passes through or looks into just about every room in the house.  Over 95% of furnishings are original.  Self guided tour of grounds and Farm 2 (Eisenhower raised prize winning show cattle).  Beautiful place.  Everywhere you look you see green fields and farm land.  No traffic.  No noise. 

Bus back to the visitor center (bus driver gave a nice narration of battlefield sights along the way)  to catch another, smaller, bus.  Goal this time – The Spangler Farm.  This farm is located about a mile from the site of the battle and was used as a field hospital during and after the battle.  Over 1900 men occupied the house, barn, and farm land.  The farm is being restored by a nonprofit historical organization.  Three days a week they give informational tours and the story of the dead and wounded is presented by several  re-enactors who give very emotional presentations.

Back to visitor center to get car and prepare for next tour.

Exterior of Cyclorama building to give some idea of size of painting.

After lunch we toured the battlefield.  We purchased an audio tour which guides you along the auto tour and gives a description of what you are seeing and lots of historical information and some little known tidbits.

 

This monument is located approximately where Lee watched Pickett’s Charge and the defeat and decimation of his army. 

These trees saw the Battle of Gettysburg.  They were in fact the focus point toward which Pickett’s Charge was directed.  Monument at lower left marks the ‘High Water’ point.  Farthest advance of Confederates before being routed.  It took two more years for the Civil War to officially end but the beginning of the end started right at this point.

The audio tour takes over 2 1/2 hours to play.  It took us nearly six hours to do the tour.

Last stop for the day was the national cemetery. 

Monument to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  Not location it was delivered.  Plaque on right is address.  Plaque on left is invitation given to Lincoln on the occasion of the dedication of the cemetery and inviting him to “say a few words”.

Address was given from a wooden platform near where this memorial now stands.

Aug. 9, 2013

Flight 93 Memorial

In a field in southwest Pennsylvania, several miles from anything remotely resembling a main road, is an almost inconspicuous part of the National Park System.  The memorial to the passengers and crew of Flight 93.  The whole memorial is very low key.  The road in is a simple lane through the country.  The visitor center is a simple one room building.  The path to the memorial is unadorned with a low black granite wall on one side.

The memorial is a series of marble slabs in a line along the path the plane took prior to impact. 

Each slab has one name.

At the end of the wall is a symbolic pathway with a large gate across it.  Through the gate you can see the path that leads to the site of impact, marked by a large stone.