Friday, August 8, 2008
Welcome to our "road trip"!
Here is our "blog" of our Atlanta --> Baseball Hall of Fame --> Niagara Falls --> Pro Football Hall of Fame --> Atlanta road trip. Stay tuned for picture updates...most likely starting around August 22!
Map of The Road Trip
Here's a map of our 2,215 mile (3,565 km) roundtrip journey...and a list of the states that we'll drive through (click on the picture to enlarge):
*Georgia
*South Carolina
*North Carolina
*Virginia
*West Virginia
*Maryland
*Pennsylvania
*New York
*Ontario, Canada
*Ohio
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Equipment
A Red 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SE. Automatic with a 3.3 Liter V-6 engine. From the time we left our driveway on Wednesday, August 13 until the time we returned to it on Friday, August 22, we put 2,782 miles (4,477 km) on this beast!
Driving Cost of The Trip
Above is a graphic (click on the graphic to enlarge) of what type of "mileage" we got out of the van and what the gas prices were when we stopped to fill up. Note to self: DO NOT EVER AGAIN FILL UP IN CANADA!!!!
Laura at the "Natural Bridge"
Laura at the "Natural Bridge" in Virginia...located right off of Interstate 81 at Exit 175.
Southern Man in "Yankee" Territory
Bill and Connie Turner at the New York State Welcome Center on Interstate 81, Broome County, NY. For Bill, this is the first time he's ever set foot on New York soil!!
Famous Footsteps
Bill at the entrance to the "first building" of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY. If you look at the previous "post", the silver Lincoln Town Car is parked in front of this initial building housing baseball's Hall of Fame.
Pete Rose IS in the Baseball Hall of Fame!!
Pete Rose's jersey and other artifacts from the "Big Red Machine" days of the early 1970's Cincinnati Reds.
Braves vs. Reds
Mike & Laura in front of their respective team's modern-day lockers at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery
A "wide shot" of the gallery and an example of the plaques (click each picture to enlarge).
Niagara Falls / Whirlpool Rapids (US Side)
The "Whirlpool Rapids" from the Whirlpool State Park vantage point. Here, the Niagara River makes a 90° right turn as it heads towards Lake Ontario. With the volume of water running through the gorge, the river generates a massive "whirlpool" here so that it can make its "hard right turn". The Falls are about 3 miles south (towards the LEFT of the picture) from this point.
The Rainbow Bridge
The "Rainbow Bridge", linking the US & Canada taken from "down in the gorge". The cliffs of the "American Falls" are about 1,500 feet (460 m) behind us.
The Maid of the Mist
The "American Falls" as seen from the tour boat "The Maid of the Mist". The "smallest" part of the American Falls is called the "Bridal Veil Falls". They have a tour called the "Cave of the Winds" whereby you can literally walk up to the base of the Bridal Veil Falls (see highlighted picture). And yes...you will see pictures from the "Cave of the Winds" soon!
The Horseshoe Falls
The American "edge" of Canada's Horseshoe Falls. The people standing in the upper-left of the picture are at "Terrapin Point" on Goat Island, NY.
Takin' Pictures
Bill taking a picture of the American & the Horseshoe Falls from atop the "Observation Tower" that provides elevator service to reach the "Maid of the Mist" on the New York side of The Falls.
Goat Island, NY
Mike & Laura at Terrapin Point on Goat Island, New York. Goat Island is situated between the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls on the U.S. side. Behind us is the American "edge" of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
The "Cave of the Winds" Tour
The current version of the "Cave of the Winds" tour opened in 1924, bringing visitors to the front of the American "Bridal Veil" falls on a series of decks and walkways. Tropical storm-like conditions can be experienced on the "Hurricane Deck", as winds can reach up to 68 mph (109 km/h) literally just in front of the Bridal Veil falls. An elevator takes people from Goat Island down to the level of the Niagara River right between the American Falls and the Canadian "Horseshoe" Falls. A series of redwood steps, decks and platforms allow sightseers to walk right up to the base of the Bridal Veil falls with water crashing down right in front of them and flowing beneath the decking.The decking is removed each fall and re-installed each spring for sightseers to enjoy the experience. Tragically, I did not take the "underwater" digital camera with me, so the pictures that follow are few.
The Welland Canal in Canada
The Welland Canal is a ship canal that runs 27 miles (42 km) from Port Colborne, Ontario on Lake Erie to Port Weller, Ontario on Lake Ontario. As part of the "St. Lawrence Seaway", the canal allows ships to avoid Niagara Falls by traversing the Niagara Escarpment.Approximately 40,000,000 tons of cargo is carried through the Welland Canal annually by over 3,000 ocean-going and lake-going vessels. The original canal and its successors allowed goods from Thunder Bay, Detroit, Cleveland and other heavily industrialized areas of the United States and Canada to be shipped to the Port of Montreal where they were reloaded onto ocean-going vessels for international shipping.
The canal's southern terminus at Lock 8/Port Colborne on Lake Erie is 326 1/2 feet (99.5 m) higher in elevation than the northern terminus at Lock 1/Port Weller on Lake Ontario. The canal comprises eight lift locks, each 80 feet (24.4 m) wide by 766 feet (233.5 m) long. Due to the "Garden City Skyway", which carries the "Queen Elizabeth Way" superhighway connecting Toronto and Buffalo, the maximum ship height allowed is 116 1/2 feet (35.5 m) high. All other highway crossings are either moveable bridges or tunnels. The maximum permissible vessel length is 740 feet (225.5 m). It takes ships an average of 11 hours to traverse the canal's length in either direction.
The Edmund Fitzgerald??
A succession of pictures of the "BBC Elbe" heading north into Lock 3 of the Welland Canal.
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