New York

[Eastern Canada, continued]

The American Falls are in New York, but can best be seen from the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

Sarah always looks for the rainbow. There's one here almost every day.

We saw a lot more New York license plates in the first few minutes after we crossed the Rainbow Bridge than in the previous month. I guess that there's no surprise in that.

Rochester

We stopped off in Rochester to catch up with a college buddy, Sam, and to visit the Strong Museum. The Strong Museum has morphed from displaying the eclectic collections of Mrs. Strong (a rich guy's widow who seems to have collected every sort of item from art glass and toys to bathtubs) and socially relevant exhibits on topics such as 'Class in America' and 'Psychology' into 'The National Museum of Play.'

Sarah at the Strong Museum's 'National Museum of Play.'

I'm not happy with the change, but have hope for the future: A major building expansion is scheduled to open next year; I hope that they'll bring back exhibits similar to the ones that I have seen here in the past.

In any case (or in every case), there are lots of toys on display (The Strong Museum houses the 'National Toy Hall of Fame.') covering more that a century of playthings and an elaborate playground on the main floor. Young children will enjoy the main floor, older children (and nostalgic adults) will enjoy the second floor. Sarah enjoyed riding on the 1918 carousel.

We finished the day in Liverpool (near Syracuse) and spent a pleasant evening with our machetunim who live there. The next day I quickly had my defective E-Z Pass replaced in the Liverpool E-Z Pass office and headed to the zoo.

Syracuse's Rosamond Gifford Zoo claims to be one of the finest mid-size zoos in the U.S. and I am not about to dispute that claim. As with many new or newly redone zoos, there is a single circular path which makes it easy to make sure that you didn't miss anything and keeps one from getting lost. They don't have as many animals as larger zoos, but what they do have is presented well.

An interesting feature of this zoo is an indoor section which traces the evolution of vertebrate life using representative animals; no dinosaurs unless you count alligators or birds.

Niagara-Mohawk Power Company, Syracuse, NY.

We stopped in downtown Syracuse to take a look at the office of the Niagara-Mohawk Power Company. (Click to see more photos) I consider it to be THE finest example of Art Deco architecture that I have ever seen; Sarah thinks that it's just too much. What do you think?

Binghamton

Binghamton is at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. There are lots of bridges around town. Even Binghamtonians often find themselves on the wrong side of a river as they drive; either they miss going over a bridge or they are forced, by traffic flow, to go over a bridge that they wanted to avoid. It happened to us several times.

Binghamton is the county seat of Broome County. There is a nifty 19^th century courthouse in town. Broome County's is the 'Carousel Capital of the World.' Its claim to fame is having more antique wooden carousels (six) than any other county in America, they're free to ride, and we did.

Ross Park Carousel. You don't need a ticket to ride.

We rode the park model carousel in Ross Park. A 'park model' is one with four horses abreast and is designed to be in a fixed location. Carnival models, such as the one in the Strong Museum, are smaller.

Ibis in the morning.

Ross Park is also the home of the Binghamton Zoo. This zoo, the fifth oldest in the U.S., has fewer animals per foot of travel than any other zoo that we have ever visited. The return half of the circular path has no exhibits; just the back of the wolf enclosure. I guess that one has the opportunity to see a wolf from the other side if it weren't moving: sleeping or dead. The AZA recently revoked the Binghamton Zoo's accreditation because of its antiquated enclosures. As an example, the fish pond only had about five fish each of a size that would best be call 'bait.' The zoo, we were told, has obtained funds and is working to regain its AZA status.

In town, we visited the Roberson Museum and Science Center. It is a combination art , history, science, and culture museum and is attached to the Roberson Mansion which visitors can tour. Some museum exhibits are in the mansion which was built by lumber magnate Alonzo Roberson. The featured exhibits this summer were art used to introduce Anne Frank's diary to children; 'Daniel's Story,' a fictional story that chronicles the Holocaust through the eyes of a young boy who survived; and 'Transfigurations,' rusty metal sculptures which portray Holocaust themes. “Daniel's Story' was created by the U.S. Holocaust Museum and is based on the experiences of real children.

Scranton, PA

The Anthracite Heritage Museum explores the story of immigration and industry in the Anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. From the photographs and literature, it appears that every race and religion had the opportunity to be exploited by the mine owners. Boys as young as nine were working in the coal industry (often 14-16 hours a day) while their sisters had jobs in the clothing industry as New York garment manufactures moved small factories to depressed areas to avoid urban unions.

There is also a coal mine tour, but Sarah said it's too dirty down in a mine; that's what she said.

Lackawanna Station

Lackawanna Station in Scranton is the most elegant station on the Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western line. From the Gilded Age of railroads; it was constructed using cathedral quality marble, ornate chandeliers, and stained glass. It was refurbished and has been operated by Raddison as a hotel for the past eight years. The historic waiting room is now an up-scale restaurant. We ate dinner there the last time that we were in Scranton more than a decade ago; this time we did lunch. Good food, reasonable price.

Steamtown National Historic Site displays the history and technology of steam locomotion. It has many locomotives, other items of rolling stock, and a working roundhouse. Things move around here, so one must look before crossing tracks. At least there's no 3^rd rail to avoid.

Locomotives are a lot biger in real life than they appear when model trains are running around on the floor in your den.

We rode a steam train through town, visited displays about railroads, and took a tour through the workshop and watched locomotives being refurbished. It takes a lot of time to fabricate parts for these ancient behemoths. One piece that we saw had taken about 1,000 man/hours to make and still hadn't been installed. There are several dozen rusting or rotting hulks in the yard waiting to be fixed up. When they leave the shop, they're better than new.

What makes Steamtown different from just reading about railroading or seeing pictures are the sounds, smells, and tastes of railroading. Yes, one can even taste the air.

We finished our trip with a visit to a friend who lives in the Poconos. We had made arrangements to call him from the clubhouse so that he could guide us through the maze of country roads from the state road to his home. At that location, our cell phone had no service, On Star had no connection, and the pay phone just ate money. Fortunately, someone directed us to another pay phone, which would have been locked in a little while, and things worked out well.

The End!

Now we're home!

Genevieve comes to visit us.

Now that we're home, the best trip is going to seeing Genevieve.
When the children were all away at college, I planned to sell the house, move away, and not give them the new address. Genevieve is our reward for not doing so.