Heading for the Border

2019-09-01
Corning and Niagara Falls, NY

Sunday is a filler day. Because I couldn't get a campsite until Monday, there's no reason to head across the border just yet. While there are still a lot of hikes in the Finger Lakes region, with the weather threatening we decided to head to the Corning Museum of Glass. They cover a lot of different topics there, from the history of glass dating back thousands of years to the present, to the uses of glass including bottles (presumably for beer and maybe a few other things), lenses for telescopes, microscopes, cameras, etc., thermometers, space suits, and of course brownie pans. They also had a fine collection of glass art pieces.

I left the museum in the early afternoon. I certainly could have spent a lot more time there with all their cool demos (as it turns out, I have a history of getting kicked out of museums, usually because they are closing). However it was time to move on so I headed up to Niagara Falls for the night. Josh said that border crossings are best done in the morning, so I booked a room within walking distance of the falls because let's face it; if I had to leave a hotel and drive in this traffic I wouldn't have seen them. After figuring out the parking situation and checking in, I immediately walked over to the falls to get there before dark.

I've been to the Canadian side just a few years ago, so I can compare them. From a photographer's perspective, the Canadian side has much better views of the falls. I suspect the viewing platform on the American side may be a good place for a picture, but there were hundreds of people up there with that very idea (even at 5:00 pm). There are a couple parks on the American side, where the Canadians built right up to the edge of the river. Both sides have "walk under the falls" and "ride a boat to the falls" options, of which I have done none on either side. Okay, it sounds like my only opinion is that I got better pictures on the Canadian side.

The rain started pouring while I was putting away my tripod, so I had a soaking walk back to the hotel. It is nice to be in a hotel during this weather though, even if my dry clothes are five flights down, a block over, and three flights up.