Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is an up-close look at hydro power if there ever was one!  Two things we definitely learned ... the water is amazingly clear - rock bottomed Niagara River means clear water going into the falls and pretty turquoise water below.  And, the wind has a lot to do with whether the mist is a pretty part of a your photo or drenching you.  Tried to be a quick learner on that one, for our cameras' sake.  This is Horseshoe Falls -

A look at the Observation Tower and American Falls...

And the view of American Falls (left) and Horseshoe Falls from the Observation Tower.  That's Toronto on the right.

Not much "wildlife" in the park, but this little guy was intent on following Sophia everywhere and driving Kali nuts...

Speaking of nuts...

Unfortunately, on our way from Niagara to Lockport, NY to see the Erie Canal NHP, UPLNDR's transmission decided the top two gears, 3rd and 4th, had had enough of the Continental Divide and the other abuses I'd put the urban assault vehicle through pretending it was actually a Willys jeep.  We coasted into Lockport, had a terrible experience with the local AAMCO shop, checked into a motel and consulted the Yellow Pages.  Three minutes on the phone with the guys at Redline Automotive and knew they were the answer - they had the rebuilt from Buffalo ordered before we limped into their parking lot!  You can just tell good people from the get-go and even though it sucked to have dead days stuck in a rental car in Lockport, we knew the rig was in good hands, so we settled in for our longest stay at any one locale.

Lake Erie

We visited the Niagara Maritime Museum and were once again cursed by lack of time and the season.  The USS Niagara was winterized, but we did get a 2-on-1 tour under the canvas coverings with a Navy vet docent, who was more than happy to spend an hour on board with us, describing the Battle of Lake Erie and the ship.

This naval battle was as crucial as Clark's victory at Ft Sackville in securing the western frontier during the War of 1812 and driving the British from that theater, so it was nice to tie the two together in our history thread.

Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry took his Great Lakes fleet against the British' heavier ships on 10 Sep 1813 knowing he had a favorable wind and the Brits were short on supplies.  His original flagship, the Lawrence, was badly battered by three British ships, but when Perry transferred his flag to the as yet unengaged Niagara, he smashed into the British fleet and sealed their doom, accepting their surrender shortly after.  Removing their fleet from the Great Lakes also opened up their forts in place like Detroit.

The ship on display now is a replica built in 1988 and at 196' is longer than the photo does justice.  It was designed to sit low in the water, so below deck, the ceiling is only 5', so we did a lot of sitting as he described life in the US Navy in the early 19th century!  But the replica is true to original construction, fully operational (though modernized to meet Coast Guard requirements) and will be involved in a reenactment in 2013 with 7 other tall ships.  Definitely worth the visit if you have any curiosity about Perry, tall ships or Lake Erie.



 

The retired Army officer and retired surgeon working on this 1/2"=1' scale model have over 5,000 hours into it, including hand-tying all of the tiny knots.  All of the rigging works.  They love their baby and really don't know what they'll do with their time when she's complete early next year...

The Moore Monument located on Presque Peninsula gave Sophia her first glimpse of the true size of the Great Lakes...

 

 

which includes lighthouses.  For some reason I love lighthouses and will drive a long way to see them... right up there with covered bridges and cupolas on old barns.  Probably some deep-rooted maritime explanation for my fascination.  Or maybe just 'cause they're pretty, functional, and near seafood!

Saw the sign on the way out of Erie, PA and had to stop in and visit.  Third generation dealership ownership.  Nice salesman didn't even try to talk me out of UPLNDR - maybe it was the deer hide hanging from the front spare...

Drill baby drill

Imagine Indians skimming oil off a creek and using it to waterproof hides or treat skin injuries.  You'd probably name it Oil Creek.  That's exactly what someone did.  Then in 1859, they decided to drill a well where the seeps occurred, assuming there must be a pool beneath.  And there was, 69-1/2' down!  Makes an Eagle Ford horizontal seem pretty easy.  It was called the Drake Well and it's just outside Titusville, PA, the first oilfield boom town!

For the geologists in my life...

And, oh yes, it touches every part of our lives...

Flight 93

Back when we owned the local newspaper, the editor and I agreed we'd devote however much space was required to recognize the names of every victim from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  Each Sunday evening for a number of weeks, I would compile the ever-growing list of names, noting military or police or fire service, and where their death occurred.
Typing those thousands of name was never easy and it was a task I truly dreaded, but I felt obligated to let the world, or at least as many folks as read The Countywide, know about these unfortunate victims.  The banner on the page(s) was "We Will Not Forget."
I remember the wide variety of ethnic names and was often struck by the melting pot that is America.  And by the likelihood that the Islamic extremists had no doubt killed many Muslims.  I certainly felt sorrow over time, but I don't think my anger has ever fully subsided.
Have we forgotten?  I know one brave young man that made up his mind to attend West Point after the attacks.  I heard the talking heads that said we deserved it.  I cheered unabashedly when Bin Laden was killed.
We visited the field outside Lambertsville when the Flight 93 Memorial now stands.  It is a somber place.  They have planted groves of trees in groups of 40 across the hillsides.  The National Park Service intends to let the fields grow with natural vegetation and wildflowers, to heal naturally if you will.
The crater was surprisingly small to me, considering an airliner traveling upside-down at 563 mph slammed into it.  Remains of every passenger and crew aboard were recovered and identified, a privilege many victims in the Towers did not receive.  The local coroner requested that the remains be re-interred at the site, so it is now a national cemetery, fitting for the heroics that saved God knows how many lives at the remaining target.

 

 

 One more time, because they certainly deserve it:

Captain, Jason M. Dahl
First officer, Leroy Homer
Flight crew, Lorraine G. Bay, Sandy Waugh Bradshaw, Wanda Anita Green, Ceecee Ross Lyles, Deborah Jacobs Welsh.
Passengers:
Christian Adams
Todd M. Beamer
Alan Anthony Beaven
Mark Bingham
Deora Frances Bodley
Marion R. Britton
Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.
William Joseph Cashman
Georgine Rose Corrigan
Patricia Cushing
Joseph Deluca
Patrick Joseph Driscoll
Edward Porter Felt
Jane C. Folger
Colleen L. Fraser
Andrew (Sonny) Garcia
Jeremy Logan Glick
Kristin Osterholm White Gould
Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas and unborn child
Donald Freeman Greene
Linda Gronlund
Richard J. Guadagno
Toshiya Kuge
Hilda Marcin
Waleska Martinez
Nicole Carol Miller
Louis J. Nacke II
Donald Arthur Peterson
Jean Hoadley Peterson
Mark David Rothernberg
Christine Ann Snyder
John Talignani
Honor Elizabeth Wainio


 

We haven't been starving...

We've actually been on a pretty good food run the past couple of days...
Starts with Chapz, a biker bar outside St Clairsville, OH.  Lady at our motel said don't let the exterior fool you, the food is good and Tuesday is $9.99 steak night.  Sounds dubious all around, but the people were hardly Hells Angels material (lotsa Ohio St gear though) and the steak was one of the best I've had in a long time, regardless of price.  Also perfect fries and cole slaw "almost as good as Jim's!  Started with a Rolling Rock, then realized they weren't brewed in Latrobe any more, so switched to Yuengling brewed in Pittsburgh.  Really good beer.

Yep Burf!, they butter the toast!

No, we didn't eat the kitty, but Luke greeted us at the motel office and is the first cat I've ever known to reach around your neck and give you a hug, while he purrs and rubs on your ears.  Made us miss our kitties at home.

After a visit to the Ruffed Grouse Society in Coraopolis, PA (told them I was turning in my window sticker which had failed after only 60,000 miles of desert, snow, forests, and rain on UPLNDR), we drove into downtown Pittsburgh to Mallorca, a Spanish restaurant listed on several Basque websites.  Our young waiter was unfamiliar with Basque despite my elaborate description, but luckily for us, Luis (from Spain), the manager of a sister restaurant (Portuguese!) that bakes the bread, came in and told the kitchen what to prepare for us.  We had shrimp and scallop stuffed red peppers, cod with garlic, onions, and peppers and garlic pork chops.  Served with fluffy Spanish rice, kettle-cooked potato chips, and fresh salad.  The sides were served family-style so there were Basque traditions present, even if unintentional...

 We were a little hungry when we shut down last night not far from Slippery Rock, so we crossed the street to My Brothers Place where I ordered the Pittsburgher - seasoned steak, fries, and cole slaw on a herb-crusted sourdough bun.  Thing was huge!  But reeeaaallllyyy good - especially with a Yuengling!

(phone just for size reference, although this thing could probably order it's own take-out!)

Those magnificent men and their flying machines

Dayton, OH is considered the home of aviation and "Wrightfully" so.  While the first sustained flight may have occurred at Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers did all of the design and experimentation inside their bicycle shop in Dayton.  They started out as printers, then dabbled in repairing bicycles when that craze began in the late-1800s, ultimately designing and selling their own cycles.
But the allure of flight got hold of them and they tinkered, designed, practiced, tested and built until they had their first glider in 1902.  It didn't perform as they expected and they suspected the flight dynamics calculations they had been relying upon.  So they built their own wind tunnel, did their own measurements, and came up with calculations still in use today.
Add a small engine built by an employee in their bike shop and voila ... the Flyer III ended up with sustained flights up to 59 minutes ... might have been longer, but they didn't top off the 1 gallon fuel tank that day.

A belt-driven wind tunnel ... of course.

The actual Wright Flyer III with about 80% original parts!

Some of the original parts ... the Flyer III weighed 112 lbs without fuel or pilot.  The cotton canvas material was sewn on a small household machine, similar to some in Daphne's collection.

When they solved wing warping - having the wings 'warp' when banking into a turn, they solved flight.  While they used handles to control the elevators and rudder, the pilot lay on a saddle which slid from side-to-side, feathering the wing ends to accommodate the turns.
Cool stuff - touching history again.

Older structures

Long before there were covered bridges and furnaces, there were people building in southern Ohio.  At the Hopewell Culture NHP, there are mounds and berms that were constructed by indigenous peoples from 200 B.C.-500 A.D. using stone digging tools and wicker baskets.  Scientists can only speculate how long the construction of the numerous sites may have taken, ranging from decades to centuries.  Their purpose is purely speculative as well ... perhaps burial or some other ceremonial reason.  They were not defensive nor used as a village.  The artifacts found here can be traced to points across the country, whether its shells from the Gulf Coast or obsidian from out west or copper from Canada.
Archaeologists are amazed by the symmetry and precision with which they're designed ... each site is laid out with a large circle, a large square which would fit inside the circle, plus another circle.  I figure there was some big chief who had a radius rope and a precise stride, plus they had figured out how to do equal diagonals to make squares, so not that amazed by the precision.  But the work involved ... and the motivation?  That's something to make you go hmmm.  Aliens perhaps?!

Copper working

Ceremonial pipes

 Perimeter berm about 2' tall, extending for hundreds of yards around the site ... and in a perfect square.

Structures

The industrious folks that populated and thrived in the Ohio River Valley were incredible craftsmen undaunted by the numerous obstacles the area presented, whether it was forests, rocks or streams...some of their handiwork that has lasted over a century.

Note that the barn door curves with the round side of the barn!!

We came upon this old bridge while grouse hunting in southern Ohio ... old road to somewhere, I suppose.  Not to Grouseville, though...

The hills between Ohio and Pennsylvania were rich in limestone, iron ore, and timber, the three ingredients mixed together in the 65 furnaces built across the region where the timber was used to make charcoal which was used in the limestone furnaces to melt the iron ore into slabs known as "pigs" which were then shipped to manufacturing centers in Cleveland, etc.

And of course, there are numerous Amish in the region, even at Wally-world.  Sophia got a big kick out of cart parking!

The other Clark

Would be remiss if I failed to mention the George Rogers Clark Natl Park in Vincennes, IN on the Wabash River.  We crossed into Illinois so Sophia could notch an extra state on her list, then crossed the bridge just above the memorial.
The impressive structure is suitable for Clark's accomplishment with his small band of frontiersmen during the Revolutionary War when he caused the British to surrender Ft Sackville, thereby allowing the colonies to establish a claim to the western frontier.  His forces including French from the area (plus volunteers from VA and PA) whose feelings were still a little hurt by the prior French-Indian war.  The Brits also had Frenchmen in the fort, but they basically said they weren't going to fight their brothers, so they did the French surrender thing from the beginning.
It's a fascinating story, especially given the lack of communication and roads on the frontier and the hardships Clark's men endured en route to the fort.  The net result was the opening of claims to territory as large as the original colonies.
He may not be as famous as his little brother William ended up being, but his contribution to the opening of the West is indisputable.  Full story here:  http://www.nps.gov/gero/historyculture/inside.htm

The Old Cathedral pictured in the background is St Francis Xavier, a parish that was formed in 1764.  Mass was at 5:15 so we enjoyed Advent services there, but only after Sophia got to fold another U.S. flag at another national park!!!

Here comes Santa Claus

Indiana that is ... complete with Holiday World amusement park, Lake Rudolph, and all the other kitschy things you might expect.  But we did get the family Christmas card postmarked and mailed...

Tenn-tucky roads

The forest and hills of Tennessee and Kentucky make for beautiful winding two-lane roads.  There usually a little town every 8-12 miles along the way.  Not many pull-outs which is unfortunate since there are numerous scenic overlooks.
There are a lot of rivers and streams in the valleys as well.  Too many to build bridges over, so they still operate a number of ferries, just as they've done for centuries.  Couldn't help but think of the scene from the Outlaw Josey Wales and his Missourah Boat Ride.  Fortunately that didn't happen!

The hardwoods and crops also provide plentiful forage for the region's white-tailed deer population.  Makes 'em grow big too.  But, not necessarily smart.  One spike in particular, about 150 lbs., just refused to ignore my flashing lights and swerving on the Western Kentucky Parkway.  It was either him or the ditch.

If you don't have a grille guard for your vehicle, let me try to talk you into one ... and putting an extra spare tire on it can be helpful as well.  Do the math on a 150# deer hitting a 2006 suburban doing 65 mph about 1,000 miles from home and you'd calculate an expensive and complicated trip back to Helena.  Nope ... buck-fifty at the car wash because the front of the truck looked and smelled like it had hit a deer, and $18.50 for a headlamp and turn signal and we were back on the road.  Have about $350 into the grille guard and a $500 deductible, but moving on to Sophia's next state ... priceless.

Mammoth Cave NP

This Park falls into my 'favorite' category because of the combination of geologic and natural significance coupled with man's interaction and ingenuity.
Discovered by a bear hunter in the late 18th century, the owner discovered the cave had an abundance of saltpeter, an essential ingredient for gunpowder, an essential ingredient for the US victory in the War of 1812.  With the British naval blockade during the war, internal production of gunpowder was crucial and Mammoth Cave provided the saltpeter for Mr. DuPont to make the gun powder.
Perhaps most interesting of all, the slaves (the cave is in Kentucky) tired of hauling water into the cave to make the slurry from which the saltpeter was produced.  So they took the poplar trees in the area, cut them into 8'-12' section, bored them out, tapered the ends, and created a conduit or pipeline to transport the water into the cave from the spring at the entrance.  Brilliant!  And lucrative!

The cave has 27 entrances, but we went into the main, or largest, entrance for this tour.  The tour passages are huge, the size of subway tunnels, except for a passage known as Fat Man's Misery.  They forgot to mention Tall Man too...

One long-standing tradition at the Cave has been for the area residents to donate a Christmas tree and light it up at one of the trail intersections.  Then, on the first Sunday in December, the Park allows visitors into the Cave free of charge to sing Christmas carols.  Except, unfortunately for our guide, Ranger Joe, he now has to call it a holiday tree and refer to them as seasonal songs ... and you could tell it pained him to do so.

Lincoln Heritage Trail

I knew we were near the Land of Lincoln, I just didn't know how many states that actually covered.  Honest Abe was born near Hodgenville, KY ... his dad, Tom, picked a really nice place next to a spring with good soil and lots of timber for the cabin.

Next stop for the Lincolns was across the Ohio River in Spencer County, IN, where Tom again picked good soil and timber and a nearby spring as the homestead for his family.  It was here that Abe's mom died and where his new stepmother similarly encouraged his passion for reading and education.  The NPS created a very nice facility at this place with homage to the places Lincoln lived via the twelve stones and the sculpted murals on the edifice...

The entire structure was built with sturdy hand-hewn timbers and solid chunks of limestone ... very simple and sturdy, like the man they honor.

The trail continues into Illinois where Lincoln began his political career and then of course jumps to D.C.

For the Birds

There may be those who believe we brought Kali and shotguns along on this trip so we could bird hunt.  Well, maybe ... but there's a lot to be learned when afield in pursuit of upland critters.
In September I had called a WMA in Tennessee to discuss the likelihood of finding a wild covey of quail or two.  Spoke with Pam McDonald, a former game enforcement officer who had recently made the transition to wildlife management.  She asked me to stop by when we could so she could tell Sophia about that career from a woman's perspective.
Pam has some beautifully managed acres ... 15,000-plus ... and she spent a full hour of her busy day chatting with Soph about the opportunities and challenges for women in wildlife management.  We then spent a couple of ours coursing the fields with Kali ... looked nice, but no bird sign.
This part of the world is waterfowl central, especially around Stuutgart ... just clouds of them.  Fine if you like those clunky Lab-type dogs...

We also wanted to try the most highly-regarded WMA for quail in Kentucky, then found out you have to put in for a draw, can only be drawn once each season, and are only allowed three hunters with a two-bird limit.  Didn't sound very promising, but since we hadn't put in for the draw, we hunted another section - again, very nicely managed property, but no bird sign ... well, except for turkeys.

Interestingly, on our way further east, we saw one of those knot-headed pointers running along the highway with its locator collar whistling away.  She came to my whistle right away and as I called the number on her collar, her owner rolled up.  Said he'd been hunting KY his whole life and watched the constant decline in quail.  Had just hunted four dogs for four days in the area and hadn't seen a single wild bird.  Grim ... and it doesn't look at all promising.  Where have they gone?