UPSTATE NEW YORK

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie, 7/29/22

Niagra Falls was cool! It was a lot of walking and a lot of water! Abuela and Grandpa Bill came up to visit us. When we got there, we went on a walk and had to cross a bridge to get to an island called, Goat Island. I don’t know if it is the “greatest of all time” island or if there was a goat at one time? [I didn’t see a goat.]

There was a fun restaurant over-looking the falls where we at lunch. They had good fries, but not the best. [Table 33 had the best fries ever!] We kept walking to Luna Island and a lot of other islands. That night we saw fireworks over the falls. We also saw a whirlpool in the middle of the river [Whirlpool State Park] and a natural fire lit behind a waterfall [Eternal Flame Hike in Chestnut Ridge Park.] We also did a fun fossil dig thing where everyone found a few small fossils. We also all did this power plant thing, too, that was really cool. We had a lot of fun with Abuela and Grandpa Bill and were sad when they had to leave.

Jett’s Wild Flight:

By: Jett Lillie, 7/29/22

Hi, and welcome to the Niagra Power Plant.

So here I had a blast because there were things I could touch! And I got a thing called a power badge! It was a pretty cool badge and you got to customize it. You used your badge to play games and activities to earn points. My favorite part was the electricity grid table. It was hard to get the cities to have the right amount of power, but I got it working.

Earlier that day I burned the tar out of my hand trying to make a waffle and it hurt SUPER bad! We saw this elevator thing and went down it to a sort of scary place, because it had a creepy dummy [mom said it was used for CPR]. When we were down there, I saw a snake and my mom thought it was a juvenile banded watersnake, but I thought it was a milksnake. Turns out I was right! First time to see a milksnake in the wild which my mom and I were excited about.

I had a good time with my grandparents digging for fossils at Penn Dixie. I got a cool Trilobite fossil and lots of horned coral fossils. I had a lot of fun with my Abuela and Grandpa in NY!

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie, 7/29/22

We set up camp at the Niagra Falls KOA on Grand Island which was only 15 minutes from the falls and only 15 minutes from Buffalo, NY so we were really in a perfect location! My mom and stepdad, Bill, flew up to join us for a few days and it was SO GOOD to have family with us! It was refreshing and comforting getting hugs from each of them. And it was also nice to talk to adults for a change! We did treat these few days moreso like “vacation” in that we crammed a WHOLE LOT of fun things into the few days we had with Mom & Bill.

Mom & Bill stayed at the Hampton Inn in Niagra Falls, NY which was only about a 15-minute scenic walk to the falls. So we parked at the hotel and decided to explore the Niagra Falls area by foot. We walked everywhere: Down the Niagra River looking across the vast rapids leading up to the falls, Goat Island, Green Island, Luna Island, and all over the Niagra Falls State Park. I never actually realized that Niagra Falls was made up of 3 different waterfalls: American Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls. All were magnificent to gaze upon. The sheer size and power of these waterfalls is just mind-blowing.

Here we are on Goat Island in front of Horseshoe Falls:

The nighttime viewing of Niagra Falls is a whole different experience as well. They light up the falls with color-changing lights once dusk hits. And then at 10pm they have the nightly fireworks show. We viewed from the observation tower the first night and it was really beautiful! Overall, we ended up with 15,600+ steps that day!

The next day we were able to experience Niagra Falls by boat: the Maid in the Mist tour. It was a 20-minute ride and by far was my favorite way to experience the Falls! Just being down there the view is so much more beautiful! You can see the rocks towards the bottom of the American Falls which you can’t see from above. And you’re just able to view the entire waterfall from top to bottom. Yes, we got wet! When we were nearly surrounded by the horseshoe falls it felt like we were in a hurricane! The force of the water creates high winds that carries the water and feels like swirling rain. But the spectacular views & adrenaline of being up close and personal with the waterfalls overpower any fear or uncomfortability!

In our souvenir ponchos ready to board:

Jett in front of the American Falls feeling the mist:

Video of American Falls and Bridalveil Falls from the Maid in the Mist Boat. I did not get any photos or videos of Horseshoe Falls as I didn't want my phone to get ruined... that was the hurricane storm!

There actually is a lot more to do in Niagra Falls (the town) than just the waterfalls. And there is A LOT of history associated with the town as well. We visited the Underground Railroad Museum and learned that there was a span of about 10 years where the slaves were trying to flee to Canada for freedome. I just always thought when the slaves crossed over into the North, they were free. That wasn’t the case when President Taft ordered the law for US citizens to turn in fleeing slaves back to their owners in the south. And rewards were also used to incentivize US citizens to abide by this law. So the slaves were not truly free until they reached Canada. And Niagra Falls, NY was an easy place to cross over either by bridge or by boat across the narrow point in the river. The museum did a great job of sharing people’s stories from all walks of life with different perspectives. Many US citizens in Niagra Falls either aided in the Underground Railroad to free slaves or simply turned a blind eye allowing it to happen.

We visited the Freedom Crossing statue where the river is the narrowest and calmest. This place was used by Harriet Tubman to transport many slaves across the water by boat. She personally freed about 70 slaves and aided in the freedom of hundreds more. This place was very cool for Jett since he read the “Freedom Crossing” book last year in school. Freedom Crossing Statue & steps down to the Niagra River in the narrowest section:

There is also a lot of science behind Niagra Falls as engineers have harnessed the power of the Niagra River. The Robert Moses Niagra Power Plant creates enough clean, hydraulic energy to power the entire state of New York! The Niagra Power Project has created a hands-on learning facility geared towards children & families to teach them all about this process and ways we can save energy. This was by far Jett’s favorite stop! He could’ve played all day here and I could just see his little engineering mind soaking up all of the information and applying it to the different games and simulators. The best part of this stop was that it was FREE!

The next day we packed even more in and traveled closer to Buffalo, NY to visit the Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Preserve. This was an old excavating site where all the top soil had been removed leaving the shale layers exposed. Shale is a very soft rock where many fossils are found. This site is the largest archeological fossil digging site in the US and every spring the experts dig another section finding all sorts of interesting fossils. Once the experts are done with that site, it’s the public’s turn! We spent 2 hours looking/digging for fossils. Many of our finds were just resting on the surface, it was crazy! We found crinoids (sea lilies), brachiopods, several different types of horned corals, and even some rare trilobites! And here its finders keepers! The weather was overcast in the low 80s which made it very enjoyable!

Some of Jett's fossils he found:

That afternoon we ventured a bit further south to Orchard Park, NY where we visited the Chestnut Ridge Park. This park is known for the extremely rare phenomenon of an eternal natural flame positioned behind a waterfall. The hike was a bit treacherous, steep descent with cragged roots and slippery wet rocks, but with was WORTH IT! Once we reached the bottom of the ravene there was the slow trickling waterfall… and sure enough, the eternal flame was burning in all its glory. We got to climb all over the creek bed which was made of shale (big clue natural gas lives underneath) to see the flame up close! It truly was incredible! Definitely worth the treacherous 1.5 mile hike!

Video of the natural eternal flame burnin. In the Spring, this waterfall is roaring from all the snow melt, but now it's just a slow consistent trickle.

We ended our time with Mom and Bill with a nice Italian dinner at Cas Antica in Lewiston, NY and treated ourselves to Swordfish (at least the adults!) It was a first for all of us and was very delicious!

Swordfish meal:

It was very sad to say goodbye to Mom and Bill as we won’t see them again until Christmas time. But we were very grateful they made the journey to visit us and will cherish our memories made here together!

We had one more day in the upstate New York area and spent it exploring the 1000 Islands! (Yes, that’s where Thousand Island dressing came from.) We were out the door by 7:30am as we had a 3.5 hour drive to Clayton, NY. We arrived by 10:45am, picked up our picnic lunch and boarded the boat by 11:15am.

We had an 11:30am departure on the 5-hour “Ultimate 1000 Island Tour.” We traveled all throughout the international waters of the St. Lawrence River which consists of 1,864 islands… hence the “1000 Islands” name. Lake Ontario feeds this river and it eventually reaches and dumps into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then into the Atlantic Ocean. This area is just absolutely gorgeous which is the reason so many prominent and wealthy NY families established vacation homes here! We enjoyed traveling through the “Millionaire Row” gauking at all of the magnificent mansions built in the guilded age by families like the Vanderbilts, etc. The water is calm & looked like glitter shining in the afternoon sun.

One of the many Millionaire Mansions we saw:

Another Mansion on 2 islands. The island on the left with the house is Canadian land. The island on the right is US land. And the bridge connecting the two makes this the shortest international bridge! (Zoom in on the bridge, you can see the country flags) My guess is when the husband is in the doghouse, the wife kicks him out of Canada and he has to spend the night in the US. But the question is... would he have to check in with US customs first?? Hmm....

We visited the famous Boldt Castle & were able to explore the immaculate grounds consisting of gardens, fountains, bridges, towers, etc. We also got to tour the 4 stories inside. The castle has 120 rooms! Only the first 2 floors have been restored thus far. The story goes that George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, set out to build a full size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on Heart Island. The grandiose structure was to be a display of his love for his wife, Louise. In January 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegraphed the island and commanded the workers to stop immediately. Louise had died suddenly. A broken-hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his beloved wife. Boldt never returned to the island, leaving behind the half built castle as a monument of his love. When the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977, they began restoring and improving the Heart Island structures based on Boldt’s original plans. And it is still a work in progress today. We thoroughly enjoyed the self-guided tour and here’s some of the photos we snapped:

The grounds were just beautiful!

And a few photos of the inside:

Sitting Room & Reception:

Stain glass ceiling in grand entry:

Dining Room:

Daughter's Room:

Our boat also stopped at Rock Island Lighthouse so we could explore there. They had a fun treasure hunt on the island for the kids and we got to climb up to the top! I absolutely love lighthouses and touring them… it’s sort of my thing!

The kids found the treasure!

View from the top of the lighthouse looking back towards the house.

During the 5-hour tour we were able to see some wildlife. We saw 2 minks, one on Heart Island and another on Rock Island. We saw 1 loon in the water and 4 Osprey perched in their nest. It was a fabulous day overall and was very much worth the long 3.5 drive BOTH WAYS! Highly recommend to anyone traveling to upstate NY! Here's a short video of one of the mink we saw:

So, life on the road isn’t all sightseeing bliss! Last night, Jett woke up around midnight and threw up all over himself and his bed. We think it was food poisoning from a hot dog he ate the previous day. (Jett and I both thought it was an odd-looking hot dog in the provided picnic lunch…and it wasn’t very hot by the time he ate it. Should’ve gone with our gut on that one. Lesson learned!) Poor guy! This was quite the fiasco in the trailer but we were able to get him cleaned up, showered and all the bedding bagged up for a laundry trip early the next morning. He ended up sleeping on the couch without anymore episodes, thankfully! This morning we woke up and started laundry at 7:30am washing his bedding, pajamas, towels and stuffed animals. Thankfully we were staying at a KOA with a huge laundry facility onsite! We were able to do the laundry while we got ourselves around and packed up the camper. It only set us back about one hour for our travel day today. We are traveling to Albany, NY currently and will only stay one night there tonight. (We needed to break up the trip from Niagra Falls, NY to Stowe, VT, hence the overnight stay halfway between.) We’re going to try and squeeze in a visit to the NY State Capitol Building this afternoon after we set up camp. But we are all EXHAUSTED from the fast pace of the last 4 days plus lack of sleep last night. Looking forward to some down time this evening and an early bedtime tonight! Tomorrow we will travel to a new state, Vermont, and will stay there for 4 nights. We are looking forward to readjusting back into a steady “livable” groove.