More Dogs in Art

I am not sure why I feel compelled to do this, but I do. These are from the Genessee Country Museum, sporting life collection. I think it was because there was a dog in almost every picture. Or a fox. One is a fox.

Parting Shots of Niagara Falls

 The morning we left, we stopped before going across the border for one last look.  We had a great trip. One of the memorable things, was our numerous border crossing encounters with the guards both American and Canadian. Cindy will likely write an entertaining blog about that. It was surprising how much they were able to unnerve us with their rapid fire and unexpected questions:
Who owns this car? What are you doing here? How do you know each other?
We got better at it as time went by and even practiced our answers before approaching.

Worth the trip!

Letchford State Park

Cindy and I were told by a couple of friends from the area, that we should go to Letchford State Park. We had a little bit of trouble finding the entrance. The GPS took us to a closed entrance, initially. We spent a fair amount of time driving through beautiful countryside like this, so we didn't mind very much.

We were surprised that there weren't more signs directing us, especially as we discovered this was called the Grand Canyon of the East. And suddenly we were there. And we said Wow!

It was quite dramatic scenery, especially in relation to the more flat, rolling areas that we had been driving through. The park started as the private 1000 acre estate of man named Letchford. He deeded it to the state for a park and they added about 40,000 acres to it. In addition to the gorge, there are the Upper, Middle and Lower falls.

We saw quite a few deer.

At the site of the Upper and Middle falls, is the Glen Iris Inn, the original home. It is beautiful. Today you can stay there, eat there and there is a little gift shop.

Middle Falls

I loved the wall paper on the ceiling and upper walls of the inn.

 I love this shot. For me it embodies, the green, light and water of our whole trip.

Upper falls, that is the railway trestle above. A train went by while we were there. It went over quite slowly.

Genesee Country Museum and Village

Another stop on our trip, was the Genesee Country Museum and Village. I love these types of places. This one was a bit different, instead of just focusing on one time period, it covered a span of time from the late 1700's up to the 1930's. You traveled through time as you walked in different areas. There was also an interesting art and clothing museum on the property.

They had some cool coaches and buggies. They had a large collection of sleighs.

A special exhibit showcased what some of your favorite characters from books would have worn.

This was amusing.

Besides the other clothing exhibits, they had drawers and drawers, that exhibited particular types of clothing. It was fascinating.

 Outside, it was a beautiful day, and a gazebo was the center of the village.

 There were costumed people, throughout the village, who were ready to tell you about the time period and give you a history lesson. This gentleman was from the land office, around the early 1800's. It was interesting to hear how difficult it was to get to the area (pre Erie Canal), and clear the land. Incredible labor. The forests were so thick and the trees so interlocked, you had to cut several trees before any would come down.

 This home was in the earliest era of the village.

The blacksmith made anything metal needed, nails, hinges, tools.

 Turkey dinner.

 Just a touch of fall.

 We spent quite a while talking to this lady. She told us all about how they cooked and managed a household. Lots of work.

 These are cheeses that they made there. They heat the milk to a certain temperature, add rennet which comes from veal stomach and put it in a mold. The cheese sits on salt to keep it from going bad and is kept in a cheese cupboard.

 The beginning of making cheese.

 Interesting to see her meal preparations and find out how she came by all the parts as compared to us today.

 This hexagon house was considered especially healthful, as it let in a lot of light and air. You could see 3 windows form anywhere you were in the house at any given time.

Charles Eastman's boyhood home.