A Bucket List Item Checked Off the List

Somehow, in my excitement to share the Women's Historical Park and Hall of Fame, I left out another highlight of our trip.  We visited Niagara Falls.   It was that side trip that put us on a path leading to Seneca Falls.  Since I rarely plan out where we are going in advance it is always an adventure to discover what lays ahead.  But Niagara Falls was a destination that I have long wanted to see and experience.

I am not always ready for the Tourist Attractions, but without passports, to view the horseshoe falls, one must take a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist to ride out into the river for the best views. 

 

This was taken with my phone....I think I am impressed with some of the pictures it takes.  I did not want to subject my camera to the super wet conditions so it was put away when we were in the wet areas.  The mist....or I should say drenching spray did not harm my phone as it was in a waterproof case. 

Now my hairdo....that was another story!!

Our Pictures fail to do the falls justice.  They are too big, the angles not great..and for me not enough time to get the pictures we wanted.  But I am glad we faught the crowds and went on the boat tour.....  It is definitely a bucket list item that was worth it!!

  

"Before I die I want to see the world"

We have stayed our fair share in Walmarts....Not bad when we are on the road or have had a full day of sharing in the sights.  It is also funny, that when parking in a Walmart there is rarely interaction with others who a parking around the perimeter of the parking lot.  The friendly banter that ofter happens at campgrounds rarely happens at Walmart.  We are generally busy until dusk out seeing the sights and then pull in and there is always room.  But we do enjoy finding a nice out of the way place to spend the night with real wildlife.  In the central part of New York in a group of lakes called the finger lakes.  Narrow Slips of a lakes tucked in the rolling hills of New York, we found a wonderful state campground to spend an afternoon and night.

Hailey spent her time at a sandy beach swimming while I parked my self at the beaver pond near our campsite.  We only spent one night but it is easily a place that you could spend more time.   I didn't see the beaver but it is clearly a feeding spot for other wildlife.

Near our camp spot was the Hyde Hall Covered Bridge (built in 1825).  It is not only the oldest existing cover Bridge in New Your State, But in the United States.
 

Also on the Glimmerglass State Park ground is Hyde Hall,  Built by George Clarke the house is considered one of the finest examples of neoclassical country house in the United States. The house was completed in 1834 after 17 years of construction.  The owner George Clarke died the following year.  His son and his wife (who did not get along with his parents) asked his mother to leave Hyde Hall.  Upon her departure, she is said to have cursed the manor as she left. Family continued to live in the manor for 130 years.


Of the many people who have passed through Hyde Hall over the years—family, friends, workers, servants— some haven’t left, or so say the legends.  At least three family members and one family friend, each with their own story of love and loss, died tragically. Some say they haunt the halls of Hyde Hall.  The TV show on the Sy-fy channel Ghost haunters featured a Halloween special on the location.  Periodically, special tours share the stories of Hyde Manor hauntings.

 The view from the Hyde Hall.....not bad for the view from your living room!

Not all homes that catch my interest are as stately or come with a history so colorful.  I love to randomly stop and take pictures of homes along the way.  I am always interested to discover the history of the houses which are often stated on signage on the house.

Others will simply state the date of the original construction of the house.  

 
The house shown above is the birthplace of Henry J Raymond became the first editor of The New Your Times.  He was born in 1820.  Not a tidbit I would have likely discovered doing research.

It is amazing all the historical information you can learn just by taking a turn of the interstate highway an stopping periodically.    My stops usually start with, "I wonder what that is about?"
 .

Just down the road was another historic find.  Harriet Tubmans house, where she lived the later years of her life in Auburn, New York. 

Tubman herself escaped slavery near Madison Maryland, and went on to help other slaves escape through the underground railroad to freedom in the US and Canada.  She said "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven." 

 Other stately manors in the area

 Another impromptu stop revealed a monument recording the place of the first Memorial Day.

May 5 1866, the town of Waterloo in New York State held the first Memorial Day Celebration to celebrate those who died in the Civil War.  It became an the first state to proclaim Memorial Day or Decoration Day as it was first called, as a public holiday.  In May 1966 President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Waterloo as the birthplace of Memorial Day...

~ HAPPY TRAILS ~