June 25, 2008

June 25, 2008

After dinner last night, we took the shuttle back to the Niagara Falls for the night view. After dark they light the Falls with multicolored spotlights. The Falls are pretty at night but nothing to write home to mom about.

This morning we drove to the Niagara River at a point below the Falls where the river makes a hard turn. Here the boiling river forms an immense whirlpool. The Niagara River connects the higher Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. Below the Falls the river is at the bottom of a steep gorge. Thousands of years ago the Falls were in this area but the power of the water continually cut the rock moving the location upstream. Niagara Falls no longer erodes upstream as most of the flow is now diverted to drive hydroelectric plants. They only spill enough water over the falls to keep tourist dollars coming in.

After viewing the whirlpool we cross over the river into the US and head east to Lockport, NY. Lockport is a city along the historic Erie Canal that connects New York City and the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. When it opened in 1825, New York City quickly replaced Philadelphia as the nation’s largest port and center of commerce. At Lockport the Erie Canal has to climb up the steep Niagara escarpment. Originally a double set of five locks raised canal boats the sixty feet. When the canal was widened in the 1900’s one of the sets was replaced with two very large locks. After taking an interpretative walk around the locks we decide to take a two-hour cruise on the canal. Most of the cruise time is spent passing up the two locks and later passing back down the same locks. It is a nice relaxing ride on a beautiful sunny day.

From Lockport we head southeast and spend the night at Letchworth State Park.