Whirlwind Weekend / The Road Not Taken

 I started out on Sunday, Oct 9th, to go to Ohio.  I was to meet my family, and enjoy dinner before bringing back my visiting sister from California for a visit back to W PA for a few days.  What a great week for road travel. The trees were really into their Fall changes.

  These first few photos were taken on the way to Cleveland.  Just took some random shots as I was driving.  A bit of yellow here.

  Some red here

   And here, on Monday at the start of our adventure on Monday, we passed some grape fields.  As you can see, grapes are ripe and just about ready to be picked.  Click on any of the photos to make them larger and easier to see.








  My sister and I would stop anywhere along the road and take photos of almost anything that caught our attention along the way.  Here are some wild flowers along the road.


















  We stopped once again when we came to Barcelona NY.  We espied this lighthouse and stopped to take some photos.

  By the way, I forgot to mention that our destination was to be Niagara Falls.  I know, I let the cat out of the bag on what to expect in some of the further photos to come below.

This lighthouse is in Dunkirk NY.  It is just outside of Gratiot Park.  I did not post many photos from there, but we did spend a lot of time in that park before  going to the lighthouse.














This is a view from Gratiot Park, in Dunkirk NY.  This shows the beach stairway to the beach.  That is Lake Erie in the background.  This park has many parking lots as well as picnic areas as well as play grounds and bike paths.  We spent a few hours here at this park.  Let me just say that we started today around 10 AM, and we never got to the Falls until around 3.

View across Niagara River back towards the States

Horse Drawn Carriage Ride

This is from along the Niagara River that joins Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.  Along this scenic drive, we came across this bird.  It is a loon!  This is the first one I could say that I have ever seen in person.  It kind of looks like a submarine periscope here.  A bit later, we came across more filling a tree, but we were unable to stop to photograph them.  Am sorry that I could not get that photo.  In the tree, we saw at least 8 pairs of the loons.

Finally!  We arrived at the Falls.  This is a view of the American Falls from Canada. If you are on the American side, you are much closer, but you fail to get the whole panoramic view of it.

Here is a bit of a zoomed in photo.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see the walkways that are available to get up close and personal with the Falls.

Here is full zoom of what I had mentioned above.

Now is a close up of the Horseshoe Falls. As you can see, I was quite close to the edge.  Alas, no rainbow that day, because it did turn out very overcast in the afternoon.

Here is Horseshoe Falls in a full view

Seen here, is one of the Maids of the Mists.  It takes passengers pretty close to the falls for a personal up close encounter.  Cannot see in this photo, but all passengers are clad in  raincoats.  They sure do get a dowsing there.

Here is a close up view, of the people who go behind the Falls as well to an outdoor deck near the base of the Falls. This is also on the Canadian side.














Finally, we departed the Falls around 6 PM, and this photo was taken on the Skyline drive in Buffalo just near sunset.  This was last view of the day on the road. We did stop for dinner, but this is a good way to end day one.

 DAY 2  Brings is to the Peninsula at Erie.  Just a nice photo of the trees chaging colors and their reflection.

 Here we saw this deer crossing the road, and we stopped where it entered the wood, and we spied upon one another for a few moments before moving on without further disturbing it.

 Panoramic of North Pier and furthest tip of the Peninsula facing North to Canada.

 Hmm, had two thoughts on how to express this photo.  First that comes to mind is " Big Boys Sand Box."  The other is, " I finally got all the sand out of my shoes."

 This is another panoramic of the lake shore with the break walls protecting the beaches.

 And a panoramic of the inland ponds call "The Water Works"




  Next we had traveled about an hour inland, and we arrived at Pymatuning Resivoir.  This is the place where the ducks walk on fishes backs to get at the bread that is being fed to all.  The video will show this!

Finally, arrival back in Cleveland area to drop off my sister, so that she can continue the rest of her vacation.  On this trip, we decided not to take the fastest road to any destination.  We chose a bit slower route, and one that may at time offer more views that just what you can see from super highways.   All thru these two days, I had a song in my head.  I could hear Chuck Berry singing, " Riding along in my automobile.........With No particular place to go.............................."  and the other thought was a poem that I will share from the Poet Robert Frost.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20