Best Valentine ever

Have you ever seen a Valentine made with a snowblower?

I'll be back

Niagara Falls, NY is definitely a place to put on you "Places to see before you die" list. It was gorgeous - even though the weather probably put a damper on how much I could see. I visited this place on February 7, 2008 at about 5:30 PM. My pictures didn't turn out so well, so I borrowed some from NiagaraFallslive website. Click on the photo for the panoramic view. The land mass between the two falls is called Goat Island. This is a great place to be if you want to get close. I would recommend going to the Canadian side if you really want to get a good view of the Falls. (don't forget your passport).
I'm going back. I hope you get a chance to see it too

Low bridge, everybody down......

While driving on the first leg of my cemetery road show through NY, I had the good fortune to drive through several small quaint villages with very familiar names from literature of my childhood. I drove through Tarrytown ("Frog and Toad"), Sleepy Hollow ("The Legend of"..... starring Ichabod Crane), and Wappinger Falls (what is this from?????).
I drove along the Hudson River and saw sights that must be much more beautiful in the spring. And the hillsides whose trees are now barren of their once beautiful fall foliage. I saw the Vanderbilt Mansion and the home of FDR. I saw the Rip Van Winkle bridge. I drove through Scarborough and West Point. I drove through Peekskill, Pigskill, Catskill and Fishkill, the "'ville's" and the Manors and the "somethings-on-the-Hudson". It made me want to spew poetry with city names in the verse.
There are also some wide open spaces in New York where I thought there were only apartment houses and train stations. I saw several abandoned mines, and textile plants and lots of hills where dead bodies could hide for decades without notice. I wondered if the Red Coats had marched through these hills and if Deliverance could have been filmed in this area.
I saw the signs pointing to "Erie Lock 2, 3, and 4" and then had to sing the song for the next 15 minutes.

"Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge for we're coming to a town,
And you'll always know your neighbor,
you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal."

I'm in love with New York as long as I don't think about airports and luggage. I want to come back here on a road trip when I retire...... maybe sooner.

I think I can, I think I can ...... just look straight ahead

New York is surprisingly mountainous. I missed that part of US Geography - must have been when I had the measles and the mumps in the third grade.

When I think of George Washington crossing the Delaware River, I think of a small boat pushing off from the shore and landing on the shore on the other side. Of course, it was cold in the river and George had to stand up in the boat.

I never expected that the Hudson River would have freaking steep mountains and bridges that are 25 stories tall. (That's right - 250 feet clearance above the water). I wasn't worried about the bridge to get over to Kingston because I didn't know this amazing little fact - The Tappan Zee bridge in to White Plains is only about 10 feet above the water.

Then I got on the road approaching the bridge and realized that the bridge went from the top of one mountain to the top of the other. Not really, but sort of. (Oh shit, oh shit......can't turn around now.)

The only way I survived this 7,793 foot trip was by not looking either up or down river but by looking straight ahead as I drove over the bridge. This was scary. I wasn't standing up like George, but I made it across.

Thanks Julie Sitney for the photo you placed on the web.

Overheard in Elmsford

At the Sunoco Station
Driver of bird shit covered 328i BMW a.k.a. Driver: I'm going to Norwalk. Am I getting closer?
Me: Depends on where you came from.
Driver: My Google says I need to be on 287E. Is that this way?
Me: Yep. Just about 1 1/2 miles south of here.
Driver: South?
Me: Do you want to see the map?
Driver: No. I wouldn't know how to work it. I'll follow you.

Good thing I was going towards 287E.