Flagler College

Flagler College forms one of the pillars of the community, making this old Spanish town a college town too. The grounds and main building of the college was converted from a Gilded era hotel. Lots of expansive, yet cloistered rooms give the place a feeling of grandness. The many details in wood and stone contribute to the elegance.

Eats

Joy and I wander around our vacation spot for dinner. Sometimes we’ve heard of places to eat. Often we ask our host, the owner of a B&B or the hotel clerk, to point us to a favorite place. We found an English pub, a Spanish creole mainstay with great shrimp and grits, and a little shop with ice cream and cookies.

River Walk

Joy and I spent the heat of the afternoon walking along the sunken river walk. Joy’s friend Carrie directed us to Boudro’s on the walk, where we had the best guacamole of our lives. The steak was delicious, but the guacamole was only topped by the double chocolate brownie. The guacamole recipe is available on their website.

Canadian River Walk

After an easy passport control check, we went straight to Skylon Tower for the best view of the falls. Two ferries take passengers into the mists of the falls, one from the American side and a sister from the Canadian side. We walked along the riverside after riding up the tower, and spent the evening touring the city looking for dinner.

Niagara Falls, New York

The American side of the falls feels like a tourist trap. The main attraction consists of a large state park and the concrete jungle of junk shops that abut it. The roar of the falls amazes bystanders, and visitors get very close on the American side.

Posing next to the statue of my hero, Nicola Tesla, made one of the highlights of my park visit.

Night Lights

We tarried on the Canadian side of the falls in expectation of the show. As night fell, giant spotlights blazed forth across the river. The ever-changing red, white and blue colors made for a very patriotic display, for an American at least.

Riverfront

Our first night in town we ate in the trendy Station Square shopping district. After dinner, we meandered through downtown, looking at facades of skyscrapers, churches, banks and theaters, crossing two bridges on our walk back to the hotel.

The Steelers

I wanted to see a pro football game. Pre-season tickets can be had for a reasonable price, so we took a trip to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play. All sorts of watercraft moved along the river or moored alongside the stadium. We spent the day enjoying parks and historical sites along the river, then crossed a bridge and ate dinner in a local restaurant near the sports complexes. The sun slid behind Mt Washington as we joined the river of fans flowing toward the stadium.

Overlooking the Potomac

Gunston Hall, like many Virginia plantations, made it’s money by shipping tobacco and other good back to Great Britain for sale. The plantation was located right on the Potomac river, allowing easy access for loading ocean going vessels arriving from or going to overseas ports. This was a rather cold and dreary day, and we declined to take the 3/4 mile walk down to the wharf.

On the River

One of the most surprising parts of visiting the Stratford Hall estate is finding the sandy cliffs. A wooded trail runs along the cliffs from the mill to the perpendicular point from house to river. Occasional breaks in the trees yield long views across the river and along it for miles. We had a nice walk listening to the animals in the underbrush. The river is gradually eroding the cliff so a split rail fence stands guard. The house is now closer to the river by a few miles than when it was built.

A Beautiful Beach

The estate lies on the river and contains one of the few water level accesses from the West side of the Potomac for miles. This access was the source of the estates prosperity. It allowed convenient loading of ships with cargo from the area around Stratford Hall.

A River Runs Through It

A WPA project dammed the Moorman River and created the reservoir. When we visited in early October, the recent rains still ran down from the hills and fed the river. The water was very cold. We scrambled over rocks as a group trying to protect our camera gear.

The Falls

Our uphill hike ended at the main falls, a rounded stone slide about eighty feet tall with a small shallow pool at the bottom. Two people hiked up to the top of the falls and called to the rest of us below.