Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Catching up: Photos from June 29 - July 7

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Scenes from our relaxing off-day in Conneaut, Ohio on June 29:







Back on the road, traveling through the Pennsylvania and New York shoreline areas off Lake Erie, much of the land was devoted to vinyards, supporting a significant wine-making industry there.






Historic stone lighthouse in Barcelona, New York. It was built in 1829.



While we went through areas with a lot of economic vitality, we also saw signs of businesses from by-gone eras that have not survived. Below, a drive-in movie theater and a failed shopping center, both abandonned to overgrowing weeds.


Our bike trip goes international. Mike, crossing the Peace Bridge from Buffalo, NY to Fort Erie, Ontario.




A view of the Buffalo, NY skyline, as seen from across the river in Fort Erie, ON.

Posing with Niagara Falls as the backdrop, as millions before us have done.


Mike's cousin Fred and his wife Danette, from Rochester NY, paid us a July 4th visit in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Here they are in front of some of the many flowers on that city's main streets.



The wine industry appeared to be very strong in Ontario as well. This vinyard was just west of St. Catharines, Ontario.




On the edge of the Escarpment, overlooking the cities of Hamilton and Stoney Creek.






In Dundas, ON, we thought we'd lost our way for a time. We were supposed to turn left off the road and onto a bike trail, but could find no easy way to the trail. We saw only this set of stairs that led up to the bike path, which ran on an embankment 20 feet above the roadway. Then someone pointed out that there was a groove alongside the staircase that you were supposed to wheel your bike in to get it up to the path. It worked, but the designer was obviously not thinking about people with heavily-loaded bikes when he or she conceived of this!

One of the big surprises for us was how large the flower and fruit growing industries are in southern Ontario. We saw many, many groves and plant nurseries like this one as we rode through the countryside.



For those familiar with the U.S. TV program "The Beverly Hillbillies", they will remember the opening of the program where the family is shown in their old jalopy truck, moving to Beverly Hills. All their wordly possessions were packed onto the truck, which was loaded to the brim, pots and pans, etc. just hanging off the back of the truck. Well, we often felt that way on our bikes. Here is a typical morning start. Still-damp clothes that we washed out in the motel sink the night before are fastened by bungi cord to the back of our bikes, along with a baseball cap and an extra bottle of gatorade here. On mornings such as this, we would hit the road humming the Beverly Hillbillies theme song!


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