While in Virginia we stayed at Stoney Creek RV Park. A small family run park with lots of trees. A little challenging to get in and out but plenty of room once you’re in!We took a drive through Shenandoah NP; the trees were just beginning to change.
west virginia
In West Virginia we stayed at Pipestem State Park. Very wooded and pretty site, but don’t venture out too far at night or you’ll tumble down the embankment!Pretty spot but the picnic table was useless on that angle!Nice woodsy view out our dining room windows!We got a little rain and it really brought out the vivid colors!There was this lodge at the park so we went to check it out. Not much happening since it was the end of the season but a nice lodge with a tram that takes you down to another lodge that’s only accessible by the tram.The creek at the bottom of the ravine.And a nice picnic area too.The colorful trees go nicely with our red truck don’t you think?We loved the custom wood furniture in the lobby of the lodge.More colorful trees in the park.There wasn’t a lot to do in West Virginia but we did find the park and museum of John Henry. It’s all about his race with the steam hammer to see who could dig more rock for the tunnel. He won but at the price of his life. His legend lives on though!The infamous tunnel. It’s no longer used, there is a larger tunnel nearby that is larger and newer.The museum is pretty cool with lots of artifacts and memorabilia from the old days of coal mining in West Virginia and the railroad that transported it.All the woods used in making these beautifully crafted carvings commemorating John Henry.
We visited New Jersey for a short time to see our friends Jacques and Camille and of course their menagerie of animals. Here’s Jacques with one of their two beautiful horses. Their names are Luna and Joey, but I’m not sure which one this is.And here is Camille with their two Dalmatians Bryce and Brody.The horses love to run, especially if there’s the possibility of a treat (carrot)!Going in for the night and a good dinner.While we were there we went back to their favorite Italian restaurant.Their neighbors and good friends Dottie and Al joined us. It was a great evening with great friends and good food!
delaware
While in Delaware we stayed at Lums Pond State Park. It was a beautiful park and the campsites were enormous!It was late October and the colors were just beginning.They had these cool Yurts you could rent as well. Each Yurt even came with a BBQ and a kayak!Here’s a great view of the beginnings of the fall colors.The pond was huge and smooth as glass!The trail leading down to the pond.
dupont nemours estate
We were very excited that our niece Logan took the train up from Washington D.C. to visit. We visited this estate with her. Here she is with a view of the palatial gardens of the estate.Another view of the gardens. Still pretty colorful so late in the season!One of the fountains on the estate. The glass building in the background is the Dupont Hospital for Children.Another beautiful fountain and pond on the grounds.A beautiful sculpture near the entrance of the mansion.Another sculpture on the Estate. The estate was modeled after the Versailles in France.And, as you would expect, the interior was equally beautiful.This was an interesting grandfather clock.It had glass sides so you could see all the intricate inner workings!And what estate would be complete without a portrait of its owner?And one of his wife..This instrument was fascinating and beautiful!Mr. Dupont’s office.A beautifully hand carved piece above one of the many fireplaces.A beautiful and I’m sure priceless Chinese vase.And on the same mantle a munition; a large part of how the Dupont’s made their fortune.There were numerous stained glass windows too.The huge dining room. This dining table makes the 10 person one we had look minuscule!And in the kitchen a reminder drawing of the proper table setting for the staff!This presidential table was in one of the sitting rooms with pictures of all the past presidents.The ice boxes for food storage.The kitchen.And a chart on how to properly fold a napkin.The hallway where the kitchen help would keep their aprons at the ready.One of the many intercoms in the house; very advanced for the time!One of the many bedrooms upstairs.And it’s bathroom.Mr. Duponts dressing area.Next to Mr. Duponts bed was this set of buttons so he could beckon his help anytime, day or night.This instrument in the main hallway was a wind direction indicator that was connected to the weather vane on the roof. The red light would tell him which direction the wind was blowing!What really intrigued me though was the basement. Here are the two huge furnaces that provided heat to the house in addition to the many fireplaces. That’s a pretty immaculate furnace room, complete with tiled walls and floor!This was the bottling room where they wold fill bottles with the water from the artesian well on the property and carbonate it for drinking. It was quite an operation! He even had a trunk there so the staff could fill it with carbonated bottled water and send it to him wherever he may travel!The pumping system for the water.In another room of the basement was an ice making room to provide ice for the massive ice boxes up in the galley.There was also this huge generator to supply electricity.The basement wasn’t all work; he had quite an array of fun stuff down there including this two lane bowling alley!And who can bowl without a good cigar close at hand!There was also this table shuffleboard game to try your hand at! That’s our niece Logan checking it out.And of course a pool room!Mr. Dupont also had an office down here so he could get away a relax in between his mega-millionaire duties.Amongst the artwork down here were portraits of his two yachts.This one looks more like an ocean liner though!His trophy case.There was even an exercise room complete with this tanning booth!
In Rhode Island we stayed at Fisherman’s Memorial State Park, a beautiful park with lots of space and greenery (Jan’s hot-button!) surrounding us.There was wildlife entertainment daily in this lone Groundhog who came out to eat grass every evening.We did a little exploring and went across the bridge to Newport harbor. the first stop was this food trailer for some lobster rolls!Here’s a view of the harbor there, very New England with the colorful lobster trap buoys!We went to a nearby pier in Narragansett to catch a ferry to Block Island, a place that our good friend Steve Bergman told us about.A couple of the many fishing trawlers that ere docked there.Lobster traps ready for use!
ferry to block island
It was a rather large auto ferry, but we chose to just park the truck and walk on to it.One of the things we saw was what remained of a large hotel that had burned down years ago. It was a part of a map we got that took us to a few key sites of the area.This was an ocean view pavilion overlooking the beach.Lots of greenery and flowers along the way.Part of the walk was paved with these artistic man made stepping stones.Interesting choices of items to include in these stepping stones!This was a beautifully restored “Double Ender”, a sailing craft from the late 1790’s.This was the Historical Society museum of Block Island. Nothing really picture worthy inside, but an interesting look at life back in the 1790’s.We came across this Yellow Kittens Tavern, but unfortunately it was closed for the season, as were many businesses.One of the many beautifully kept houses from the late 1700’s to late 1800’s.This is the National Hotel, a beautiful hotel from the 1800’s. We had lunch there overlooking the ocean. This place is open year round but as you would expect it was pretty deserted.the view looking towards the bay.The surf was pretty impressive crashing on the rocks of the jetty.And there were a couple of brave (crazy) souls surfing in this VERY chilly water!Some attempts were not quite as successful as others!
connecticut
In Connecticut we stayed at this lovely little park, Nelson’s Family campground.Our campsite backed up to this cool little creek.And every afternoon these geese came by to feed in our grass.We took a driving tour and came to Gillette Castle State Park. The park land and this stone castle, built by William Hooker Gillette, was purchased from his estate in 1943. He was an actor most noted for his role as the original Sherlock Holmes. The castle took 5 years to build from 1914 to 1919.This was the main entry driveway. It was lined with this unique wall, built from the stones from the property as was the castle.This was a scale model of the castle.Here is a view of the rear of the castle that sits high on a cliff overlooking the Connecticut River.The entry arch over the driveway.This was the river view from the castle.The inside was just as unique as the exterior. This castle took 20 men 5 years to complete the main structure. Everything was hand made from wood or stone when possible. This is the main living area.This table in front of the fireplace in the main living area was also hand made. Did you notice the wood things hanging down? They were put there solely to entertain the many cats they kept on the property.This was the workshop where the workmen built the many features of the home, including hand made wooden light switches, curtain rods and windows to mention a few.One of the many hand made light fixtures on a unique wall covering that added insulation as well as being decorative.Some of the many beautifully crafted light switches!All of the doors were also hand hewn wood.We loved the red tint in the interior stonework!One of the many hand carved windows; complete with wooden gears to open and close them!The exterior was pretty much fireproof, but with the interior being made of wood and textiles, he even devised a fire suppression system. You would pull this handle and the water in a huge tank upstairs would come through pipes and into spray reeds located throughout the castle. Pretty ingenious for the time! He went to these measures because he knew that because of the remoteness of the castle the fire department would have difficulty getting there in time in case of fire.This was the steel tank for the system. Luckily the system was never needed and the state now has a more modern traditional fire system in place. When they installed it they did try to use similar materials so it looks like it belongs there.I mentioned the many cats before; he was very fond of them as is shown by the multitude of cat figurines throughout the castle.This is the bell he used to alert the cats it was time to eat!There was even a rock fountain indoors.More of the unique hand carved fixtures in the castle.Even the kitchen sink was hand made!The massive wood burning stove in the kitchen.One of the beautiful bathrooms. Notice the cat rug?Aunt Polly was the name of his yacht; named after his aunt Polly who nursed him back to health at one point.One of the bedrooms; note the handmade apparatus to turn off the light without getting out of bed. i guess an early version of the clapper and/or Alexa!After visiting the castle we continued on and had to take this auto ferry to cross the river.While crossing we got some final views of the castle from the river. Another boater enjoying the beautiful fall day on the water.One of the tour boats on the river.Since it wasn’t too far away, we decided to visit the PEZ Museum, it was pretty cool! As this original poster reveals, the original PEZ in Austria (where it was first developed) was an adult breath mint.The brand expanded and eventually they put a factory in Connecticut to supply the U.S. demand for their product. They also expanded to be the popular candy we know today.Their store is filled with any PEZ related item you could want.Star Wars sets.Some of their historic products.Even the Tuttles got in on the act, building a custom PEZ motorcycle for them.Those aren’t guns they’re pointing, they are PEZ dispensers!The custom chopper, awesome!They even had a small packaging line set up so you can see how it’s done. Even though they have factories worldwide, they are still based in Austria.
We took the train into Boston with our good friend Patty. After we got there we took the hop on/hop off trolly tour, (because nobody wants to drive in Boston)!It was a nice day; here’s a shot of downtown with the clock tower in the background.One of the highlights was seeing Cheers!I only have outside pictures because they were charging admission to go in on top of any food or drinks you wanted; no thanks! Plus the line to get in was out the door!We did stroll through this old park. Very pretty with lots of history throughout.A statue of George Washington .People and geese enjoying a nice day in the park; all completely ignoring the “KEEP OFF THE LAWN” sign!Another critter enjoying the park.The Boston Fire department.A statue of a hometown hero, Bobby Orr, for making the winning goal for the Boston Bruins in the 1970 Stanley Cup game.And finally a beautiful bridge, kind of obstructed by the bumper to bumper traffic!
glochester
Another day we met up with Barb and Zach and Barb’s friend Nancy. she took us on the grand tour of Gloucester (pronounced Glowster) This was a statue in tribute to all the fishermen lost at sea.Beautiful day to tour the coastline!This was a statue in honor of the fishermen’s wives who lost husbands to the sea.Another statue in honor of the fishermen.Typical rocky coast of New England.This house was actually in Salem, but I included it because of the witches of Salem 🙂
gloucester, the hammond castle
We of course had to visit this castle! For those that don’t know, when Jan and I met, she was Jan Hammond. It’s an amazing Medieval castle built in the early 1900’sBuilt by John H. Hammond, Jr. ( No relation to Hammond organs, typewriters or Jan’s ex’s family) to house his massive collection of Medieval artifacts and his laboratory where he worked on many inventions in guided missiles and radio communications.This entry door is massive, solid steel!A proper Medieval castle entry complete with tower and moat (dry moat, but then alligators wouldn’t fair well this far north!)And of course gargoyles!The inside is very impressive! Lots to look at and take in! This is the main room.His castle is complete with a massive organ (no, it’s not a Hammond organ)There was this intricate and beautiful hand laid glasswork!An interesting and whimsical statue.This is a shot of the balcony where part of the 8200 pipes were for the organ, along with a stained glass window.One of the many rooms, this I believe was a sitting roomThe dining room.It even has an atrium courtyard! Depending on his mood, he had it rigged up so he could make it rain in there! Pretty cool!And in that courtyard; a nude self likeness statue of Mr. Hammond, just to creep out his guests!The library, complete with this unusual piano with a vertical string bed. It looks like a cross between a spinet piano and a harp!This door leads to the families private residence. It was specified in his will that these rooms were not to be accessible to the public when this property became a museum.They had very elaborate ornate furnishings for sure!And many beautiful stained glass windows too.The work area was particularly fascinating to me! He was working on some very advanced stuff for the time! This was a Dynamic Multiplier he developed to pipe his organ music or even recorded music throughout the castle! Very advanced for the early 1930’s; it involved over a dozen patents he was awarded! It was even stereophonic.More information on his many achievements in sound and radio.His first patent in 1909 for wireless communications! The boat is his yacht, I’m assuming he was able to communicate from the castle to the yacht, amazing for that time!And lastly, he even developed his own RV; made from a tractor-trailer! It had an automatic sand and salt spreader in case he wanted or needed to drive it in snow or ice!
This tour took us along some beautiful rocky Maine coastline.Along our tour this seagull followed us for quite awhile.Seagulls resting on the rocky shoreline.If you look closely at this shot, you can see a pair of Eagles soaring above the trees.Luckily, they landed in one of the treetops long enough for me to get a closer shot!Along the way we also had some friendly visitors looking back at us.Sunning themselves on the rocky outcroppings!And of course all along the shoreline many gorgeous estates.Here we see some crazy folks taking advantage of the sheer cliffs to do some rock climbing. Don’t fall, that water is extremely frigid!Our captain took us by this beautiful waterfall. Not much water but pretty.The rocky coastline is beautiful with all the different colors of granite !One last wildlife shot!
sailing on the Bagheera
One of the highlights of our time in Maine was our day tour on the Bagheera, a beautiful 1924 Alden Schooner that Jan was able to locate. It was in San Diego back in the 1980’s-90’s, where she took many clients and friends on for trips while she was working in title. She was able to track it from San Diego to Dana Point and then to Portland, Maine!We were joined by our niece Logan, her parents Lane and Ron, Ron’s sister Carrie and Joni and her friends Dawn and Diane. It was a cold, but beautiful day of sailing!That’s the famous Portland Head Lighthouse in the background.There were a few others on board as well, but plenty of deck space for all.The crew and a passenger helper tending the sails.I love this crew; very meticulous with their lines!As I said earlier, it was a bit brisk!There were some beautiful estates along the shoreline.A couple of lobster fishermen tending their traps.Another shot of the Portland Head lighthouse.Here’s a shot of the galley. It brought back good memories for Jan of Bryce entertaining her clients and friends in there with his magic; although she was disappointed that they had painted the beautiful woodwork white.We moved to Wells. Lane and Ron took us to one of their favorite restaurants in Ogunquit for, you guessed it, lobster!And of course something to wash it down!Jan and Lane enjoying the beautiful day!A beautiful wide sandy beach with hardly another person around! End of the season I guess.We weren’t completely alone though!
kennebunk with joni & friends
Left to right; Dawn, Joni, Diane, Jan and Carrie.On another day we stopped by a seafood market to pick up more lobster for a dinner with Joni and her friends Dawn and Diane. I think this might be a distant relative of our Jimmy! Ah, more lobster! Can never get enough! Thanks to Dawn and Diane for hosting us at their beautiful home!
When we got to Maine we couldn’t wait to get some lobster, so we found this place in Bass Harbor. We enjoyed some very delicious Lobster Rolls. We loved all the multi-colored Lobster trap buoys.A quaint typical harbor view.There were some very cool boats at this harbor too.
acadia national park
One of the Maine (get it?)things we wanted to see was Acadia National Park and it did not disappoint! Although it’s relatively small compared to some other National Parks, it is a beauty all it’s own! Here’s a view looking out over the many islands in the Maine harbor.The massive granite rocky coastline here is awesome! The typical Maine rocky shoreline.This woman sitting gives you some concept of how massive these rocks are.Even the steps they provide in some places are made of the same pinkish granite.Even though this area is mostly solid granite, the vegetation survives and even thrives!It seemed a bit strange to me to see pines and ferns growing together; a very diverse eco-structure I guess.A shot of the iconic Maine coastline!These plants and flowers are somehow growing out of solid granite! They find any little gap or crack to get a foothold.This was kind of cool; one strip of black granite in all this pink granite!Just offshore, this lobster fisherman setting his traps. Do you see all the trap buoys? We read that there are about 3000 lobster boats here that are allowed up to 800 traps each. That’s a LOT of lobsters!More of this beautiful area.Further along in our tour of the park we saw Thunder Hole. The first time Jan and I saw this; not very thunderous!However, on another visit a few days later with our friends Claude and Hope, it was much more active. Watch out people, don’t get swept out to sea!This is the sign at the entrance showing just how thunderous it can be. They close it for obvious reasons when it gets like this, although I would imagine some adventurous (aka stupid) people jump the barriers at times!Here’s an artist capturing the beauty of the Maine coastline!No caption required; beautiful!Here’s Claude taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. Notice the warm clothes? Very chilly winds that day.And here we were a couple of days later at the same area and it was beautiful weather!Jan, Hope and Claude enjoying the views despite the chilly winds!This was a beautiful part of the park that is apparently not visited as much for some reason. We loved it. Remote and quiet except for the sounds of the ocean.After a long day exploring the park it was time to eat! We went to Union Lobster Pound for dinner. Here we are waiting for them to open, enjoying their river front views behind the restaurant.The view was very tranquil.They had quite a selection of lobsters from 1 1/4 lbs. to this monster 3 lb. one!Claude enjoying his feast!I opted for the wood planked Halibut; it was delicious!Jan opted for the seared sea scallops; also delicious!We usually don’t order desert but I couldn’t resist this Maine Blueberry pie with cheesecake whipped cream topping! So decadent!After dinner at the same place the next night, we had the waitress snap this picture of the four of us. It was great to see Claude and Hope up in Maine for a few days!
While in Vermont we stayed at Moose Creek Campground. It was a beautiful site right on the creek!Our view for the week!And we had these daily visitors. Two or three groups would float by every day! Pretty awesome!On a suggestion of the camp owners, we visited “The Bird Man”. He was fascinating! He lives alone and he loves making these small birds that he carves from a single piece of wood!Here are just a few of his beautiful creations, they’re amazing! He sells them too, and for way too little money: $11-$13 depending on size.His living room is his workshop. It looks a jumbled mess but he knows right where everything is (pretty much!)His kitchen had this great wood burning stove next to a stone chimney he did by hand.His yard was also beautiful! A very interesting man but if you do go visit him don’t expect to get in and out in a hurry, he loves to talk!Also near by our campground was the Dog Chapel. The man who built it did so as a place for people who love dogs to visit, bring their dogs to the dog park and leave notes and/or pictures of the dogs they’ve lost. The front of the chapel; no those are not real dogs they’re carved wood!The inside of the chapel is covered everywhere with sticky notes and photos of peoples beloved pets.Notice the angel dog in the stained glass?Even the church pews have carved dogs on each end!A view looking out from the front of the chapel.Even the weather vane was a depiction of a dog!There’s even a guard dog on each lamp post base at the base of the driveway! A very cool tribute to man’s best friend!
rock of ages granite quarry
I remember visiting this place with my dad when I was very young. I’m sure it wasn’t the huge operation it is now!The quarry itself doesn’t look much different. A bit deeper I’m sure though. They’ve been mining granite here for over 100 years and their geologists tell them there’s enough granite to mine for at least another 4200 years! That’s a LOT of granite! This is the largest deep hole granite quarry in the world! At present it’s about 600 feet deep.They cut the granite using water cooled cable saws. It takes about 5 weeks to separate just one of these huge cubes of granite weighing thousands of tons.Here you can see the cable saw at work (see the wet area and the stream of water coming out from the saw cut?)On the road up to the top of the quarry we could see some of the giant blocks along the way.There’s a great view from up on top. That’s a debris pile you see in the distance.Back at the plant they’re busily cutting, carving and polishing the stone into beautiful headstones, memorials and statues. Outside they even have a granite bowling alley! Back in the 1950’s they experimented with this idea to replace wooden alleys. Unfortunately it was too hard and the bowling balls would sometimes shatter when they hit it!I had to try it! They use plastic pins and a foam rubber bowling ball for this demonstration alley!If you must know, I threw two gutter balls! It’s hard to use a foam rubber bowling ball accurately!
covered bridges
We couldn’t leave Vermont without visiting at least one covered bridge!Obviously not used in quite awhile but still pretty cool!
on to new hampshire!
In New Hampshire, our campground we were planning to stay at was, let’s just say, not as advertised! Jan was able to get a refund and get us this great spot in another place instead. It turned out to be a better location for day trips.
castle in the sky
We visited this fascinating house after learning about it from brochures we found. It was built in the early 1900’s but had many very modern amenities I didn’t know even existed back then!This gorgeous view is probably why it’s called Castle in the Sky!These stone planters everywhere follow the “castle” theme in their appearance.The grounds were beautifully maintained as well.One of the modern conveniences; an intercom system throughout the house!The range was coal burning.Much of the upstairs had these skylights in the ceiling!The secondary sink in the kitchen was pretty cool too!There was this pipe organ built into the house. The music was piped throughout the house. Some interesting decor!They were in the process of renovating some of the rooms. This was the owner’s “get away” room under the main stairs. He could go in there and no one would know he was there!These “Needle” showers were pretty interesting!A beautiful granite fireplace front!
winnipesaukee rail and boat tour
They even have this party caboose you can rent out.Getting ready to board.After a tour on the train we stopped at this pier to get the boat part of the tour. After that tour ended back here we would take the original train back to the station.Our tour boat, the Mount Washington.On our way out of the harbor we could see the train we would be taking back later in the day.The views along the banks of the river were not unlike the views we saw on our Thousand Islands tour in New York; lots of expensive homes!And back to port where we once again rode the train back to our original station. Fun day!
and last but not least… more covered bridges!
This is a newer one but still cool!Notice this one has steel I beams underneath.As we went out onto it, this cool Chris Craft boat went under it. Very “On Golden Pond”! It belongs to the Inn where the movie was filmed. This was a really long one, one of the longest we’ve seen.Can you read the sign? There’s a $5 fine for driving faster than a walk across this bridge!This last one is really cool! Notice the structure, very interesting I think!
While in the area we decided to check out these locks. They don’t really have a tour but we lucked out and got there just as their only ship for the day was coming through!These locks are much bigger than the Soo Locks in Michigan. Those locks only change 21′ in elevation; these change 42′!Also, at these locks instead of using lines to keep the ships centered they have these pads that hold it in place as the water level changes.Quite the parking job! There’s just a foot or two on both sides as they enter!Once in and gates closed it only took about 10-15 minutes to raise the water level (and the ship) 42′! Amazing to watch!A unique view under the chainlink fence!She’s on her way up to the upper Great Lakes!This is a spare Culvert Valves they keep on hand just in case (or maybe just for display for the visitors). It’s easy to see how they can move so much water in such a short time!A unique perspective of the seal on the culvert valve! By the weathering on the seal I’d say this was an old valve they replaced and then painted top this for show!
Our site for the week at Coles Creek State Park. Another beautiful spot! Man, we really have a great travel agent!A view of the St. Lawrence River from our dining room window. Just across the river is Canada!We met up with Tom and Carol and we did a river cruise; The Thousand Island Tour.Our tour was on the boat. Nice view from all sides!As the tour name suggests there are literally over a thousand islands of all sizes!Some quite small.Others much larger with beautiful summer homes. In the foreground of this one is a small “Guana” island full of the culprits!A beautiful traditional New York summer “cottage” complete with dock and boat house.This is two adjacent islands owned by one owner. If you look close the water is quite high and is actually covering their dock. Still from Spring run off?A few of the islands are very small; this one just large enough for one small tree!These are two islands connected by the world’s smallest international bridge!As you can see; Canada on the left and the USA on the right! What, no crossing sentries!?This by far was the most impressive; Boldt Castle!The main house on the right and the gate house on the left.There was a tour available but we chose not to do it; it was threatening rain any minute!On another nearby island sits the quant little boat house for Boldt Castle! The tours for it were cancelled due to the high water flooding. It’s a boat house, isn’t it supposed to have water in it?!?While on the tour we went by this Osprey nest in the trees along the shore of one of the uninhabited islands.One of the smaller quaint summer houses!Tom and Carol also invited us up to her family camp for a lunch. Such a cool little cabin deep in the woods of the Adirondacks on Joe Indian Pond!When she was going there as a child there was no electricity or indoor plumbing. This was the outhouse, now used for storage.Very lush greenery all around, just beautiful!It has it’s own boat dock on the very serene Joe Indian Pond!Another view of the pond.A view looking up from the dock. Really nice back screened porch to enjoy the view from!I spotted this little guy in the greenery near the house.We toured around the Adirondacks with Tom and Carol. We stopped for lunch at a nice spot near Potsdam, where Carol grew up. A great picure Jan took of Carol!Jan and Carol after lunch. Just so you know, we had to buy the bottle!Da boys enjoying a cigar and cocktails at the cute motel we stayed in while there!
While visiting Niagara Falls we stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park. This was our spot for the week! All of it! This is the largest spot we’ve ever stayed in!We were very excited to visit here! Jan had never been and I was maybe 12 or 13 when I did!Our first view of the falls was very impressive!The rainbows were constant from the mist caused by the thundering falls!Across the river on the Canadian side you can see the folks on the Cave of the Winds Tour.Even from a distance it’s impressive. You can hear it before you even see it! This is a glimpse of the American Falls from where Horseshoe falls is.This close-up of Horseshoe Falls shows the sheer power of this place! They say that 750,000 gallons per second go over the falls!While there we figured out that the best view of the falls would have to be the Maid of the Mist Tour. Here’s a shot of the loading area for the tour from up on top; it’s 167 feet tall and the 3 falls span 2700 feet!This is the observation tower from the Maid of the Mist docks.All dressed in our snazzy ponchos and ready to see the falls!From down on the river you really get a feel of the power of the falls. The sound is deafening and the mist and wind is like being in a torrential rain storm! Amazing!You can’t get a better “up close and personal” view than this!A view of all three; Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and Bridal Falls.Here’s a view of the Canadian side from our tour boat. The structure at the river level is part of their hydro electric plant.Here’s a closer look at the American and Bridal Falls.Back up on top is one last view of these amazing falls from the observation tower!
