Niagara Falls, ON to Buffalo, NY. 24.4 miles.
By Victoria Curran
It's hard to believe it, but, we're packing up and shufflin' off to Buffalo; that means we're done, the trip is over. When we get to New York, we'll have covered 740 miles, incredible! That's the distance of nearly the entire state of California, from the south to the north ends of the state.
Panniers packed, and heat and humidity already suffocating at 10am, we loaded up our bikes and said goodbye to our hosts of our last B and B of the trip. We were glad to stay here, in a neighborhood close to the falls but out of the tourist fray. Our hosts were friendly and kind, the breakfasts they served each day were delicious, and they graciously gave us a safe place to store our bikes in their home.
As we cycled out of town, we passed by these huge concrete structures. "What are those?" I asked Judd.
They are the hydro control gates. These gates control two tunnels 13.7 metres in diameter (that's 44 feet to all us Americans) that carry water to the generators located downstream. To get a sense of the size of this thing, if you look really closely, you will see Judd standing with his bike to the left of the the fence surrounding the gate.
The gates are opened to divert water from the river to the generators, and closed to allow the water to continue to the falls. If you recall from my last blog, the falls are allowed to flow more freely during the day (gates closed) and more restricted at night (gates open). In addition to generating power for Canada and New York via this diversion, the erosion of the falls decreases as well. As you probably know, the falls haven't always been where they are today; they've shifted back further and further as the falls erode the land beneath and behind them. Less water falling, less erosion, more stability.
We continued on our journey to Buffalo and said one final goodbye to our Canadian companions.
The trip was really quick! Clearly my legs had gotten stronger, and my endurance better, because when we arrived just a few miles from the Peace Bridge (which crosses the international border in the US), I was surprised to learn we had already traveled 18 miles. We were really hot and thirsty, the heat and humidity were nearly unbearable, so we stopped at a coffee shop in Canada and both ordered frozen cappuccinos.
Cooled down and better hydrated, we headed for the border.
Ending this journey is bittersweet and preparing to cross the bridge was a little sad.
So, we made the crossing. On foot. We were not allowed to ride, we had to walk the bikes all the way across.
Not really a big deal, but it was so darn hot and we were glad to still have the remnants of our frozen cappuccinos to sip on along the way.
Midway across the bridge, we came across the flags that made it clear that we were leaving Canada and heading into the US, marking the official end to our journey.
As we got into Buffalo, I was really excited by all the beautiful architecture.
After a brief while, we got to our hostel. It was about 1:30 and, unfortunately for us, the hostel was closed until 4pm. What to do, what to do? Naturally, we headed to a coffee shop (honestly, did you expect anything else?). Looking across the street from the coffee shop (The Spot), I noticed this large building; the headquarters of Delaware North.
Delaware North, Delware North...why is that name so familiar? Ah, yes! They are the vendors at nearly airport or sports arena you can think of, including Petco Park and Qualcomm Stadium here in San Diego. You know why it might sound familiar to you, especially if you are a fan of Yosemite? Yeah, they're the guys behind the name changes of the Ahwahnee Hotel, Curry Village, and Yosemite Lodge. Since a new concessionaire (Aramark) took over, Delaware North claimed intellectual property rights (even though those names were in existence for more than 70 years before DN became the concessionaire) and forced Aramark to change them. Now you can stay at "The Majestic Yosemite Hotel." Oh, and they're also the concessionaires at Niagara Falls where they charged $3 for a water normally sold elsewhere for $1.
Fully charged with caffeine at this point, we went back to our hostel and went on a quest for our bike boxes. After unpacking our bikes back in Milwaukee, we folded up the boxes and shipped them to the hostel in Buffalo. Judd was bound and determined to get both bikes taken apart and boxed before the end of the night so we could enjoy the rest of our stay in Buffalo without having to think about the bikes anymore.
And, he was successful! Bikes packed and boxes loaded, he taped the boxes up and placed on shipping labels. We ate a late dinner I prepared in the amazing kitchen in the hostel, and fell asleep dreaming of our plans for the next day.
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