Trip Report: May 12 - June 2, 2002
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
SPRING JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT AND RETURN
PITTSBURGH TO NIAGARA FALLS
Saturday, May 25, 2002
We had to turn in our Premium Size Grand Marquis as Hertz would not permit us to drop it off in Canada. We were going to miss the legroom, the automatic climate control, the compass, and the smooth ride, but would not miss the rattle in the dashboard's wood-grained plastic trim. The Pittsburgh Airport was as quiet as a mausoleum this Saturday morning, surprising for the first day of the Memorial Day Weekend. We exchange the premium car for a Ford Taurus. (Hertz calls the Taurus a Full Size car, which it is if you are not over 6'3" tall.)
We wanted to began our trip to Canada on Interstate 79, but learned that Airport Parkway interchange does not permit the option of going north on I-79. However, PA Route 60, Montour Run Road, on which our hotel is located, cuts diagonally across the hills to a junction with I-79. What the map did not warn us about was the unsigned fork in the route. We took the most heavily traveled tine of the fork, but this led us into a maze of unfamiliar and unmarked roads which is so typical of Pennsylvania. Eventually we met a signed route which ultimately led us to yet a third interchange with I-79, losing only 15 or 20 minutes.
The surface of I-79 is heavily broken up by heavy truck traffic, but we moved right along bumper to bumper at 80mph in a 65 zone. Soon tiring of the stress of high speeds, we turn off at Slippery Rock, PA, and begin following state and US route numbers towards Buffalo, New York. We are rewarded by quiet college towns, such as Slippery Rock, 19th century oil towns like Titusville and Oil City, long scenic miles on the banks of the upper reaches of the Allegheny River, lavish mansions of 19th century lumber barons in Warren, PA, quaint New York byways carrying Amish horse drawn buggies, and an Iroquois Reservation on the shores of Lake Eire. We had these byways practically to ourselves this Memorial Day Weekend and felt we had traveled back to a time which existed long before the Interstate Highway System.
New York Route 5, on the shoreline of Lake Erie, is lined with beautiful homes, including Graycliff, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1927 as a summer home for Buffalo industrialist Darwin Martin and his wife Isabelle. It had gone to seed over the years and is being restored by the non-profit Graycliff Conservancy. Click on this hyperlink to learn more:
http://home.earthlink.net/~vericarl/index.html
Route 5 drops us off in the heart of downtown Buffalo. The town square is surrounded by beautiful buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, such as this beautiful art-deco city hall.
http://bfn.org/sigs/links/preserve/bam/deco/city/city.html
It would appear to the casual observer that Buffalo was at one time populated by citizens with enormous civic pride. Today, the buildings are poorly maintained, and hardly a single pedestrian can be seen. On the edge of downtown, the crumbling tower of the long abandoned New York Central System passenger station can be seen.
I assumed, incorrectly, that once in downtown Buffalo, there would be easy-to-follow signs directing motorists to the bridge across the Niagara River to Canada. This was not so, but after wandering around aimlessly for a few minutes, we eventually spot a tiny sign for the Peace Bridge. It leads to an Interstate highway, which is well signed, directing us to the bridge across the Niagara River border. After a short wait in one of many lines at the border station in Canada, we are admitted with the briefest interrogation and without even being asked for any ID. However, we are still glad that we are carrying our passports to ease our reentry into the USA.
We have been enjoying our byway tour so much that we ignore the entrance to the expressway leading to the Falls and instead follow Niagara Boulevard, which like NY 5, is lined with beautiful homes all the way into Niagara Falls. The Niagara Parks Commission maintains a lushly landscaped strip park on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Beyond this narrow strip, anything goes.
On the glacial moraine overlooking the Horseshoe Falls, we find our hotel, the Renaissance Fallsview, on Fallsview Avenue. Also on Fallsview Avenue are the Hilton, the Ramada Plaza, the Sheraton Fallsview, the Marriott, and the Radisson. It appears as if the hotel area will soon double, as there is a vast construction project between the Renaissance Hotel and the falls, where once there was a greenbelt park.
http://www.renaissancefallsview.com/default.html
Checking in is easy as there is short term registration parking at the main entrance. Behind the registration desk in the spacious and well illuminated lobby is a twelve foot mural depicting a view of the falls from the Honeymoon Bridge area, as it looked one hundred years ago. We park in the hotel lot and find our room on the second floor. It is a spacious mini-suite with two windows overlooking the construction project, a sofa, and a comfortable king-size bed. Although it is cool outside, the air inside the room is warm and stuffy and the air-conditioning unit is struggling to put out a puny stream of only slightly cooled air. This appears to be a signature feature of Renaissance Hotels, inadequate or non-existent air conditioning. We open the windows and hope for the best.
We are able to find last minute reservations at the roof-top restaurant and enjoy a well prepared dinner with a view of Horseshoe Falls. Looking forward to viewing the falls at the first light of false-dawn, we retire early, setting the alarm for 5:30am.
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