Happy 4th of July from Niagra Falls, NY

We've spent more nights in New York than any other state since we began this odyssey. Tonight is the second here, it is after all a big holiday, and it seems fitting that we celebrate by going back to the falls to see the fireworks, which the Canadians set off, for some reason. It was so crowded today that they closed access to the 'island' at 11:30 this a.m. Good thing we got an early start and avoided most of the crowds. The Falls are truly spectacular, and with the sun shining for the first time in weeks, we saw them in all their glory. Tomorrow we'll go to the Ontario side and see them from there, before continuing our way westward.

Yesterday we left a camp called the Gateway to the Adirondacks, north of Utica in Poland (next to Russia), taking State route 20 to avoid the thruway...and then found ourselves on the toll road anyway. Speeding past Oneida (of cult, Native American and silverware fame), and skirting Syracuse, we escaped to drive a more leisurely pace through the Finger Lakes district. Some of this road is just tacky and littered with stop lights and malls, but several towns are charming and we loved driving through them. Geneva was lovely with Hobart and Willam Smith Colleges (Trevor Buck went to Hobart), great brick buildings downtown and darling painted brick row houses. Many towns lined the route with big old houses and huge old trees, several along the shores of Lake Seneca and Canadaigua. Some of the land is very bucolic with cattle, dairies, egg farms (!). On the way to Letchworth State Park (the Grand Canyon of the East) we traveled county roads with no one on them except an occasional pickup. Orange day lilies, especially at driveways, have appeared roadside through Vermont and New York. Cops, fields, mown 'lawns' acres of it, make the country look park-like. More wonderful old big houses in Livonia, Gennessee Valley, Geneseo, Leiscester (founded in 1602). And then a huge wind farm near Sheldon/Wales producing electricity somewhere for someone.

What struck me about the Niagra Falls State Park today was not only the sheer volume of water and falls, but the people from all over the world. There are an amazing number of East Indians, Sikhs, women in head scarves, Asians of all kinds but I'm not sophisticated enough to know the differences among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. Many European languages. And at least one African language, but then again, I really don't know the difference among those either. We skipped the boat ride and the slicker-covered walk down to where it is really wet, having done that in Brazil and loved it. But one only needs to do it once.

I had expected more tackiness, but except for the Visitor Center, which is a huge disappointment that I wouldn't go near again, everything was very well done. The trolleys were jammed, so we spent more time waiting than I would have liked, but people watching was wonderful. If any of the photos of the sari clad come out, I'll send them along.

We're off to the fireworks; let's see if this works out. Hope your Fourth was as enjoyable as ours.