Niagara Falls, Ontario--Lake Placid NY

We have arrived in Lake Placid. Today was a long day of travel spent mostly in the car.

This morning we enjoyed the beauty of Niagara Falls. The sheer volume of water that flows over the falls is incredible and it's almost overwhelming to be standing right near the brink as it rushes over the top. It would be very easy to spend a few days here marveling at this creation and checking out all the museums, shops and attractions. Obviously with a long drive ahead of us we had to settle for a bit of a whirlwind visit.

The wait at the border took about an hour and our next planned stop was in Lockport NY. We knew we had missed the 11:00 tour and thought we would have to wait until 1:00 but with the holiday they were running tours every hour so we just made the 12:00. The tour took us around Locks 34 and 35 on the Erie Canal. We learned a lot about the history of the canal and how the boats travel "uphill" 60 feet through the locks. Then we actually entered a large penstock pipe to tour the Lockport Cave that used to divert water to run three factories that used to be along the canal. The cave was blasted out of solid rock. The cave tour ended with a short boat ride inside the last portion of the cave.

After finishing the tour we watched several boats travel through the two locks, very interesting.

Then it was time to get some miles out of the way. Unfortunately that meant we had to drive a couple of hours on I-90. Traveling with all the toll roads is quite an experience. We paid $7.05 to travel on I-90 today. The signs are a bit confusing too. As we were exiting I-90 and were getting together the exact change for the toll we saw a sign that said "no cash". We thought that was very odd but put the cash away and got the credit card card ready. Hand the credit card to the toll booth attendant and he tells us "cash only". We thought it was kind of funny although he was kind enough to explain to us how the special express lane worked.

Anyway, after that the country started to get very beautiful. We are seeing lots of fall colors. We drove into the Adirondack Mountains and kept driving until the sun went down. At times it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. After dark, we stopped for dinner at the Adirondack Hotel on Long Lake. Probably a very beautiful spot during the day!

After dinner we drove straight to Lake Placid. Staying in a nice hotel that suddenly seemed to materialize without much else around. Must be on the outskirts of town. We look forward to seeing this place in the daylight.

Tomorrow's agenda includes a ferry ride on Lake Champlain, a drive through the Green Mountains of Vermont, covered bridges, ice cream at Ben & Jerry's factory, a granite tour in Barre and a visit to Hope Cemetary.