Centre Hall, Pennsylvania

Your friendly travel guide taking a selfie at a stoplight

After leaving Connie's home we drove through upper Ohio and stopped for lunch in a church parking lot. I checked with the lady at the reception desk first.

Later that day (Tuesday 8/27) we arrived in Huron Ohio at an RV park called, appropriately enough, Huron River Valley Resort. We didn't do anything fun here since it was just an overnight stay. But we did get our showers done. Like you needed to know that?

On the way to Niagara Falls we passed through Cleveland and got a glimpse of this great city and its skyline.

After a long day of driving we finally arrived in North Tonawanda, New York and the AA Motel and RV park.

We were not particularly impressed with this park and for $46 a night, not including a sewer dump drain, we bit our lips and paid the fee. What sucked us into this place was a big ad in the Wardall's directory which said it had tours to the Falls.In any event, we got our tickets for the Canadian side tour and the next day showed up at the office and boarded the small bus. Our driver, Jim, was friendly and informative all throughout the day.

We stopped at a local motel and picked up a German couple, Marianne and Jurgen Mitze .

Marianne in pink and Jurgen in the green striped shirt

They spoke somewhat broken English and had a difficult time keeping up with Jim's rapid speech. They've been traveling around the US in a small rented RV for the past five months. Very nice couple too. We first went to the upstream side of the Horseshoe Falls and you could see the mist rising.

Here is a video of this area showing the mist rising and the river rushing over the shallow rocky bottom
A view of Horseshoe Falls from upstream
One thing of note. It appears that Niagara Falls is the name given for both Horseshoe Falls and American Falls. Arriving at the main visitors area we stood at the railing and watched in awe the amazing sight of Horseshoe Falls. Words are inadequate to describe a sight this awesome. I took a video of this amazing sight and you can see it here. The boat in the water at the beginning is one of several "Maid of the Mist" vessels.
View from above Horseshoe Falls
Afterwards we were whisked past the ticket line and, by elevator, taken down to the "back side of the falls". Here one walks through a tunnel hewn into the rock many years ago.

There are two viewing areas where there is lots of noise. Through the "portals" one sees the water from the perspective of the back side of the falls. In other words, you see pretty much nothing but a cloud of mist and the occasional splash of water as the rushing water splashes on the adjoining rock face. I took a couple of photos but they don't really show much. Of far more interest was the outside viewing area which is adjacent to the falls but near the point where the water crashes upon the rocks.

 I've uploaded a video file of this on YouTube and you can see it here-->> View of the falls from below


Next we went to the boarding area of our boat ride which starts around American Falls and goes into the mist of Horseshoe Falls. This was especially exciting to see the falls from the water.

 The boat dock is just right of center

Looking at the US side and American Falls

The viewing platform on the US side

 I've uploaded a video file of this on YouTube and you can see it here -->> View from the boat

How can you do something this far out and not get a selfie out of it?

You might think that this was the highlight of the tour and you'd be right but there was more to come. Our friendly driver took us to an overlook downstream a mile or so and showed us a gigantic whirlpool formed by the eddies around a large bend in the river.
Here is a video I uploaded to YouTube-->> Whirlpool
Afterwards we visited a small shopping mall where we ate lunch and shopped, not bought, around the touristy type of stuff.

Then Jim took us to the famous flower clock maintained by the school of horticulture in Toronto.

The next day we traveled to Centre Hall Pennsylvania to visit Jay and Shannon Reeder. Jay is the son of our old friends Pete and Judy Reeder whom we've known since our days in Kent WA. Our kids knew each other in grade school through high school. They live in an old and beautiful home just outside the city.

Shannon Lucy Jay and Ava with Scotty

Looking SE from the fields behind house

Looking west from the fields in front of the house

This property houses one of the few remaining round barns in Pennsylvania. Neff Round Barn, also known as the Red Round Barn, is an historic round barn located at Potter Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania. It was built about 1910, and is a white pine structure on a limestone foundation. The interior has two floors: the cattle floor and the mow floor. It is 88 feet in diameter and 56 feet tall at the cupola, encompassing 6,000 square feet. It has a conical roof.^[2]It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979

The Reeder house is on the right obscured by the trees

Inside the barn are various historic farming implements, two horses and two goats. At one time this was a working farm. But now only the horses and goats are present plus stray birds that nest in the many nooks and crannies. Jay takes care of the animals.

All hand set limestone foundation

An old threshing machine....no, not Marilyn

We will stay here through Monday Sept 1 to avoid the holiday traffic. On Tuesday the 2nd well move on and pay a visit to our nephew Craig Beringer in Philadelphia.