Days 60 - 62

Day 60
October 15, 2010
Niagara Falls, ON

We awoke to a partly cloudy but cool morning. We boarded our tour bus at 8:30 am, for a guided tour of the Niagara Falls area. Our first stop was to get a permit for the bus to drive on the Niagara Parkway. Then we headed for the Mount Carmel Monestary and Spiritual Centre. One of the Friars gave us an explanation for the wood carvings, stained glass windows, and flooring in the chapel. This order of Friars was established in the 1500’s. Our next stop was an overlook of the falls. We were able to get within about 15’ of where the water went over the edge. When then went to the town of Niagara on the lake. We were on our own here. Most everyone found places to eat lunch, then there was time to wonder around town to sightsee or shop. Corinne found a Christmas store. Need I say more. After leaving Niagara on the Lake, we stopped at Pickard’s Peanuts. They had just about any flavor of peanuts you could think of, and a lot more. Our last stop was St. Catherines, ON, and Lock #3 on the Welland Canal. This canal was built in the 1800’s to allow shipping between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to bypass Niagara Falls. Prior to the canal, ships were unloaded on one side of the falls, goods transported by carts , wagons, or horseback around the falls, then loaded on other ships. The first canal had 28 locks. The current and 4th build of the canal has 7 locks. Due to high winds making it difficult for ships to navigated the canal, there were no ships locking until this evening, so we missed that. One interesting fact told to us was that when the winds on Lake Erie are out of the west, the water level at the east end of the lake rises 4’ and drops on the west end by 4’. After returning to camp. We could not use the rec hall at the RV park, and it was too cold and windy, so we passed on our usual social time.

Day 61
October 16, 2010

This morning was clear and cool. We gathered for our last day of the tour at the Wagon Masters rig for a Continental Breakfast. We all said our Good Byes to each other, broke camp and began our journey home. We had a short driving day. After crossing the border at Buffalo, NY, we got on to a highway that followed the shore of Lake Erie over to Erie, PA, where we spent the night.


Day 62
October 17, 2010

Today we took another short drive from Erie, PA to Washington, PA. Great weather! It got in to the 70’s. We’re just trying to wind down from a hectic 33 days.