We get so spoiled with having instant internet and phone access but there are a lot of areas that do not have that availability so we have a lot of catching up to do. After we left Clayton and the Wooden Boat Museum we headed west along the south shore of Lake Ontario with a stop in Sodus Point and a visit to an old lighthouse as well as enjooying a beautiful sunset over the lake. After that, it was on to the Buffalo area where we visited with our friends and neighbors from Highland Lakes, Cal and Arlene. We had a few enjoyable days together, tipped a few martinis and had dinner at a restaurant overlooking a waterfall. We got to nervously watch these teenage boys jump over the falls.
While in the Buffalo area, Ken and I drove to Lockport, NY to see a set of locks on the Erie Barge Canal. The unique thing about these locks they were two pair of a flight of 5 locks due to the highest lift on the system. These the only ones like this on the canal system. It always amazes me when I see what people were able to accomplish without the aid of our modern technology. Today there is only one set of two steel door locks which replaced one set of the five in the early seventies.
After our visit to Buffalo we crossed the border into Ontario to visit with more friends and see some of Canada that we had not visited before. Jim, Mercedes and their daughter Katie took us sightseeing to the Elora gorge in northeastern Ontario and we also spent an afternoon wine tasting in the Niagara region. We had some excellent wines, a great dinner at Peller Estates and a very enjoyable visit with good friends. After leaving their place in Stoney Creek, we drove west along the northern shore of Lake Huron with a visit to the largest island in fresh water in the world - Manitoulin Island. It is a very popular summer vacation spot and a great fishing area for bass, walleye, trout and salmon.
We crossed back into the U.S. at Sault Ste. Marie, MI and drove down to the small town of Branch to visit Craig and Ann Finley. Craig and Ann are neighbors in Highland Lakes who are originally from MI and who, like us, leave Florida in the summer. They have a beautiful house on a lake and we spent a very nice weekend with them. We got to see the mid to north western shores of Lake Michigan and the towns of Petoskey, Charlevoix, Traverse City and Luddington. They reminded us of the resort towns along the Atlantic that we are familiar with, minus the waves and salt water. We visited a beautiful golf course that was designed using the native plants found along the lakeshore and a family resort that has been around since about 1919. Western Michigan also produces most of the cherries that we eat.
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| This Fresnel lens is the same as the original but not the original.Iinterestingly this lens came from the south light on Governors Island in New York City where I was stationed in the Coast Guard many years ago |
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| OVERLOOKING LAKE ONTARIO AT SUNSET |
ERIE BARGE CANAL AT LOCKPORT, NEW YORK
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| THIS PICTURE AND THE ONE BELOW ARE OF THE NEW LOCKS |
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| THE ORIGINAL LOCK ( NOT IN USE) |
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| RESTORATION UNDERWAY OF A SET OF THE ORIGINAL WOODEN LOCK DOORS |
LOCKPORT UNDERGROUND CAVE AND BOAT TOUR
This was really not a cave but a tunnel constructed by the Lockport Hydraulic Company in the early 1900's. The purpose of which was to provide water to operate mills along the canal. One such company was the Holly company which invented the fire hydrant. Eventually it went out of business when the factory burned down. It was an interesting tour.
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| One of the water supply pipes |
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| Our friends Cal and Arlene |
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While dining with Cal and Arlene the kids in the picture decided to jump over the falls and they did.
Oh! only to be invincible again |
On to Ontario
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| The boiling waters of Alura gorge |
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| Amazing root structure |
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Peller Estates Winery
As usual we cannot pass up wineries
This one in Niagara Ontario region |
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| We visited Manitoulin Island on our trek across the top of Lake Huron. This is quite a boating and fishing area and might be an area we will return to someday |
MICHIGAN
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| Parked at Ann and Craig's lake house |
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| View of the lake |
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| Craig hard at work at the Green Egg |
WATERVALE INN
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