The Erie Canal–Canal Boats–Locks–and the Escarpment . . .what on earth?

As soon as I heard Lake Erie in conjunction with this trip,

I knew I absolutely must see the Erie Canal. . .up close and personal.

the nearest and best place to see it was Lockport New York,

located about 45 minutes from our RV Park in Niagara Falls. . .

 

and of course any time there’s a trolley tour. . .we gotta be on board. . .

$5 pp for a one hour tour. . .leaving from the visitor center. . .

what a great way to get an overall picture and learn some history to boot. . .

 

Now, sharing a lot of details is not really my blogging style. . .

however I was absolutely fascinated by the story of. . .

DOLOMITE – look at this stuff. . .an entire wall of it

and that’s only the beginning. . .there are miles and miles of this stuff. . .

I won’t even try to explain the Niagara Escarpment -

you can read more about it here. . .and see a map of how vast it is here. . .

but when the idea of a waterway (Erie Canal) was conceived. . .

reaching from the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River  to Lake Erie

this wall of rock needed to be gotten through. . .

I highly recommend you read much more of

the story of how it all happened at this website. . .The Erie Canal

anyway. . .to get back to why I was so intrigued by dolomite. . .or dolorock. . .

is that when they were digging and blasting the canal. . .the rock was free to the community. . .

you could have as much as you could haul. . .

so there were buildings, churches, homes of every shape and size built of the stuff. . .

and they were all really, really fascinating to me. . .I know. . .to each his own. . .right?

this is the “Flight of Five” the way the canal originally looked. . .

there are some excellent depictions and video clips if you click the link. . .

I wanted to see real canal boats operating on the canal. . .

but alas. . .this was the best that I could do. . .

we did get to see the locks in action. . .

and some boats passing through. . .

we enjoyed our day in Lockport and learning more about the Erie Canal,

and it’s importance in the History of Transportation as featured on the History Channel. . .

an added bonus to the day. . .in the First Presbytarian Church. . .

located directly across from the Visitor Center

was an entire collection of stained glass windows designed by Tiffany’s of New York. . .

no pictures could depict how glorious they were. . .

this clip and this link can only give you a small inkling of the beauty. . .

I hope if you ever visit Lockport, you will make it a point to enjoy the tour. . .

 

and as an absolutely perfect ending. . .we met Margery and Paul

in Niagara Falls for some pretty yummy mexican food. . .

I told Margery, that being a Texan. . .

eating mexican food away from “home” is always a bit dicey. . .

but it was a great choice. . .as you can see. . .

I’M the only one at the table with anything that looks the least bit healthy. . .HA!

too bad I look like a stroke victim in the picture. . .oh well. . .what’cha gonna do?  LOL. . .

Til next time,

Janice and Dave