songbird's crazy world

Sunday -- we drove to Lockport, NY for our Erie Canal adventure. First up was the Lockport Cave tour. this is a manmade cave -- tunnels that were used to provide water power to 19th century industry in Lockport. one of the key industries at the time was Holly Manufacturing -- which made, amoung many other things, fire hydrants (Birdsill Holly had an 1869 patent for the fire hydrant). Ironically Holly Manufacturing burned to the ground and the fire was rumored to have started in the building where fire hydrants were made. anyhow, you walk down a steep, narrow flight of stairs from the street to the canal level, then walk along the canal to the entrance of the cave. the tour is partially walking and partially a boat ride. and it is VERY DARK in the cave, especially when the guide turns off the electric lights. after the boat ride you have to climb back up the stairs to the street. not easy in the hot sun.... next we went over to the Erie Canal cruises. we'd booked a boat...

Saturday -- another very full day. we got out our passports and drove across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada. you can have a very full Niagara Falls experience without crossing the border, but visiting Canada was a very nice treat. we took a drive up the Niagara River to Lake Ontario -- past all the vineyards -- and visted Fort George. DBF is a history teacher and we love old forts. this one was different from what we've seen before, because it was a British fort (not an American fort), and key in the defense of Canada in the War of 1812. on the way back to town we stopped scenic overlooks, the floral clock (it's a working clock made out of flowers, it's quite large and beautiful). our next activity -- the whirlpool aero cars. there's a bend in the Niagara River, downriver from the falls, and a whirlpool forms in the bend. on the American side there's a scenic overlook, but on the Canadian side there are cable cars that actually take you over the river. ...

we did A LOT but I'll keep it brief. we flew to Buffalo-Niagara airport on Friday morning, no issues with the JetBlue flight or the rental car.  Flew home Monday night, ran into a significant delay at the airport because of bad weather. we weren't looking to spend a lot of money on this trip -- we did an expensive cruise in February -- so we didn't opt for a resort-type hotel.  instead, we stayed in a very low budget motel in Niagara Falls, NY, on Niagara Falls Blvd., that's 3 miles out of town.  There are about a zillion similar motels on that street. I won't mention the name of the one we stayed at, i won't recommend them.  the  room was clean and comfortable, although there was water damage to the ceiling and the carpet was torn in one spot.  the room had a refrigerator and a microwave. my chief issues here were (1) the "continental breakfast" included two types of cold cereal, white bread and coffee and (2) the motel's brochure f...

(cross posted at Midcentury Modern Moms College is a real education -- in high finance.  You learn words like "financial aid", "FAFSA", "Stafford loans", "promissory note"... You get to know the difference between scholarships, grants, government loans (subsidized and unsubsizied), parent plus loans, private loans... The enormous amount of money that is required to obtain a decent education... What I found fascinating...I took out 6 student loans (they were called "Guaranteed Student Loans" back them) in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  Those loans, long since paid back, are still in the government's computer database. What's truly sad...those 6 loans (three undergraduate loans, each in the amount of $2500 and three graduate student loans, each in the amount of $5000)  virtually paid for three years of undergraduate study at the state university and three years of law school.   Even accounting for inflation, ...

remember how much fun we had at last year's faire ? well, we've bought tickets for this year's faire. we're going August 21. big group going this year, not just me and Drew. big group -- including the ladies who didn't like the Chinese restaurant last Saturday [insert rolleyes smilie here]. but even so, it should be fun. I'm wondering if I should go in costume this year. I've got a pirate lady costume that would fit in....

"Mom, I want to move into the dorm two days early so that I can volunteer for a community service project."

King Tut was amazing ... but you're not allowed to take pictures of the exhibits. And dinner in Chinatown was great as always. Except for the fact that several of the ladies in our group ...well, F didn't like what she ordered and complained that the vegetables "weren't fresh" and B was convinced that the kitchen workers took half of her leftovers because "there was more food on the plate than could fit into this container..." and she convinced S that they both were cheated ... It was very hot in the city ... walking around was exhausting ... But overall ... a great day.