Tag: Niagara Falls

Virtual Travel – Ontario

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation

Welcome to Ontario – Canada’s largest province by population, and the center of the country’s media.

It is also home to more NHL hockey players than any other place in the world.

2019 07 28 174 Toronto

 

Government/History

1931     1946     1948     1952     1955 – Parliment Buildings     1968     1970     1973    1996 – Yonge Street

 

 

 

 

Ottawa

The Canadian National Capital is in Ottawa. The collection of buildings are on what is known as Parliament Hill. They were built between 1859 and 1927.

The metro area is the 5th largest in the country with 1.3 million people.

2019 07 29 185 Ottawa

 

Many of the buildings are open for tours. The main assembly hall has started a 10 year reconstruction effort, so a new hall was built in what was previously an open space between buildings.

 

 

The city is located at the confluence of the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River.

 

 

During the summer the buildings are lit up in the evenings with an impressive light show.

 

 

 

 

Roads and Bridges

1957     1958     1959     1960     1962     1964     1965     1967    1986 – Ivy Lea Bridge    2010 – Highway 406 St Catharines

 

 

Toronto is by far the largest city in Canada, and one of the major cities in North America. It is also one of my favorite cities in the world.

2019 07 28 6 Toronto

 

 

The CN Tower was completed in 1973 as the worldest tallest freestanding structure, a record it held until 2007.

 

 

The railroads and the lakes built the city. Today the city still has long distance train travel, as well as an extensive subway and streetcar network.

 

 

The lakeshore was once an industrial area, but is now filled with luxury condos and apartments.

 

 

The entire downtown area is filled with great architecture.

 

 

 

 

Toronto is the center of the hockey universe, including the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

Hamilton is located 50 miles from Toronto, but it is one continuous city. Once a steel town, it still has some industry, but has transition to a more diverse economy today.

It is also home to Tim Horton’s #1!!

2019 07 27 5 Hamilton ON

 

 

 

Windsor is across the river from downtown Detroit.

2017 06 17 116 Windsor ON

 

 

 

 

Countryside

1966     1974     1978     1980     1990 – Highway 17 – Wawa      1992 – Algonquin Provincial Park           2001 – Algonquin Provincial Park      2003 – Pancake Bay     2005 – Pancake Bay Provincial Park      2006 – Highway 118 Muskoka      2008 – Highway 141 – Muskoka     2014 – Highway 69 French River

 

 

Niagara Falls is shared with New York, but the Ontario side is much nicer.

2016 09 11 4 Niagara Falls

 

 

 

Scarborough is now part of the city of Toronto but was for many years a separate suburb. It is home to Guild Park – home of relics from down demolished buildings in downtown Toronto.

 

2019 07 29 38 Toronto Guild Park

 

 

It is also home to the RC Harris Water Treatment Facility AKA – Palace of Purification.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual Travel – New York

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

Welcome to the Empire State – New York. While there is some doubt as to where the nickname came from, most attribute it to a comment from a George Washington letter to New York City mayor James Duane where he referred to it as ‘The Seat of the Empire’.

While the state is dominated by New York City, the capital is Albany. The entire center of the city is known as the Empire State Plaza, and is surrounded by government buildings.

2018 05 26 4 Albany NY

 

Unique State Symbols

State Beverage – Milk. The state ranks 3rd in the amount of milk produced. (photos from statesymbols.org)

 

State Muffin – Yes, we have another state muffin, the Apple Muffin. As you may recall we featured the blueberry muffin of Minnesota, however I missed the Massachusetts state muffin – corn muffin.

New York also has a state snack – yogurt. The state is the leading producer of yogurt, likely as an offshoot of that dairy business.

 

While most states have a slogan – New York’s is ‘official’

2018: Summer of I LOVE NEW YORK | Empire State Development

 

 

Highlights of the State

1947     1975     2004     2005/2009/2011     2006

 

 

While all the maps on these postings have been road maps, transit in New York is much more. New York City has a long subway history that is celebrated at the Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn.

 

 

If you are lucky enough you can get a tour of the vacant, but fantastic City Hall Station in Manhattan. This was one of the original stations, but because the platform is curved when they introduced new, longer trains in the 1940s it became obsolete.

 

 

New York has a plethora of great bridges – including the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge (top row). Other bridge featured below include the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, the Thousand Islands Bridge, the South Grand Island Bridge near Buffalo, and of course the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

 

No trip to New York City can be complete without admiring, and photographing the great architecture.

 

 

Back upstate is the Watkins Glen Racetrack. This legendary track hosted the U.S. Grand Prix for 20 years, and has continued to host racing for over 60 years.

 

 

 

 

Beyond the City

1982     1987/2011 Boldt Castle     1989     2009 Fire Island Lighthouse     2013     2017 Whihteface Castle – Lake Placid

 

 

Long Island – Land of endless suburbs and massive estates, Long Island’s most famous residence is likely Sagamore Hill. This was President Theodore Roosevelt’s home.

But there are many more estates, thanks to the ultra rich looking to have country homes outside the city.

 

 

When most people refer to Long Island they think the area beyond Queens, but the reality is both Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island – making it one of the most populated islands in the world with over 7 million people.

 

 

Woodstock – Well technically it is nowhere close to the actual town of Woodstock, it is near Bethel since Woodstock. The festival, with 400,000 spectators, took place on Max Yasgurs farm in 1969. Today the site has an amphitheater, arts center and museum.

 

 

Back to Watkins Glen – only this time to the actual Glen. This picturesque park and gorge is just at the edge of town.

 

 

Niagara Falls and other great tourist attractions of the state.

1985     2016

 

 

Niagara Falls – One of the world’s greatest waterfalls.

2016 09 11 68 Niagara Falls

 

 

Buffalo – Just upriver from Niagara Falls. This once great industrial city has some great relics like the Buffalo Central Station (bottom photos).

 

 

Western New York is home to a number of Frank Lloyd Wright design structures. The Martin House is featured in the top photos, the boathouse on the left middle was from a FLW design. The gas station on the middle right is in Pierce Arrow Museum, and finally the lower house is Graycliff, located along the shores of Lake Erie south of the city.

 

 

New York City has a number of major tourist attractions. Featured here is Times Square, Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, The High Line, Radio City and others.

 

 

Public Art abounds in the city. My favorite is the collection from Tom Otterness located in the 8th Avenue/14th Street subway station.

 

 

Public Art is scattered throughout the city. While we could go on for a long time on great sights of New York, we will end here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niagara Falls – Late Summer 2016 Road Trip – Day 16

Nature

The best time to visit Niagara Falls if you don’t want people in your photos – before daybreak on a Sunday. The roar of the falls drew us to the edge of the park to see the white water before it crashed over the edge. The glow of the buildings from the Canadian side of the falls cast some light on the falls but it was a shadowy image for us to see. Niagara Falls seemed exceptionally larger to me than the falls we saw in Quebec.

2016 09 11 2 Niagara Falls.jpg

I believe it is the expanse of the gorge and the enormous volume of water flowing from Lake Erie into the Niagara River over the falls that is so amazing. Niagara Falls is actually three waterfalls; Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and American and Bridal Veil Falls on the American side of the gorge.

2016 09 11 4 Niagara Falls.jpg

After a return to the hotel to get breakfast and checked out, we headed out for some more views of the falls. We parked the car in an empty lot and walked across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada for a better view. The bridge gave us a great view of Horseshoe Falls and as the sun rose above the falls; the lighting improved the beauty of the scene even more.

2016 09 11 68 Niagara Falls.jpg

2016 09 11 15 Niagara Falls.jpg

Since we were going back into Canada we had to pass through immigration, where we were reminded that we had to stay behind the little black line on the floor before approaching the window, even though we were the only people there. But they let us back into the country, and we proceeded up the hill onto the Ontario side.

2016 09 11 18 Niagara Falls.jpg

The area was nearly empty and perfect for photos. The sunlit mist rising from the gorge was very pretty. The Ontario side is very well landscaped, obviously built for the crowds that regularly view the falls from this vantage point. But on this early Sunday morning we had the place to ourselves.

2016 09 11 32 Niagara Falls.jpg

One of the attractions is a zip line down into the falls. I have read that the tacky commercialization of Niagara Falls in the 1800s lead directly to the push to create the National Park Service, and it is clear that in the 150 years since the people of Niagara Falls still haven’t learned their lesson. Even with the beautiful landscaping of the park along the Ontario side, they still obstruct the view with zip lines.

2016 09 11 65 Niagara Falls.jpg

Usually met with objections one of my favorite photo subjects are people posing for photos. This morning I was presented with a perfect opportunity, one man fussed with his turban while the other man, a version of Joe Dirt, played with his rooster-comb styled haircut.

2016 09 11 29 Niagara Falls.jpg

But you can only have so much fun, so we decided it was time to walk back to America, and we headed across.When we had crossed the first time a couple of hours earlier I had noticed the immigration entrance was void of any cars at all, so it was surprising on our return to come up on the bridge and see traffic stopped fully across the bridge.

As we walked on I noticed all of the entrance lanes had red lights lit, indicating they were closed. It was then I realized it was September 11th, at the time that the first airplane hit the World Trade Center.

From the walkway on the bridge you could see the immigration workers standing at attention around the flags, which were at half staff, in tribute to the tragedy.

2016 09 11 70 Niagara Falls.jpg

Once they completed we walked inside where I complimented them on the sincerity of their tribute, and they seemed genuinely thankful for the compliment, and we passed quickly through and on to our car.

Our long drive back to Columbus went without event, and we arrived home safe and sound and extremely pleased with yet another fantastic road trip. This passion has allowed us to see amazing places and meet lots of cool people, and as soon as we are home we are looking forward to the next one.

2016 09 11 83 Drive Home.jpg