I am quite sure I would not want to drive the Niagara Scenic Parkway in the winter. Maria B.'s…read morepicture suggests black ice and low traction and me ending up in a ditch and getting to write a new review of a towing company. No, thanks! Instead, I'm cruising along a stretch of the highway in July when it's green and smooth and there's no ice on the road. Beautiful to look at, the Niagara Scenic Parkway is only 16 miles long, going from New York Route 18 along Lake Ontario to Lewiston near the bridge to Canada. Two lanes in each direction with a median, at least on the part that I drove. And no toll which makes me happy. [Review 1419 of 2024 - 423 in New York - 22442 overall]

This roadway gives easy access when driving between LaSalle and Fort Niagara, it follows alongside…read morethe Niagara River. From the North Grand Island Bridge to Niagara Falls you have great river views (on one side, factories on the other). The section from Niagara Falls to Whirlpool State Park has been redone and is beautiful with a winding bike trail and native wild flowers and trees alongside the road. There are access points to gorge trailheads and parks. The road goes from 30 mph in Niagara Falls to 55mph past Lewiston. Four State Parks Niagara Falls, Whirlpool, Devil's Hole, Deveaux Woods and Fort Niagara State Parks are accessed by this road. Unfortunately it isn't very "scenic" on the North end from Devil's Hole to Fort Niagara but there are plans to beautify the road as was done at the South end already. So many cool stops along the way make it a must do when visiting the area.

Road trip side step…read more On my way to my final destination I made a stop in the Buffalo area to see some things before I could check into my hotel. I have been in search of some Presidential sites recently and came across this while browsing for things to do before I left for my vacation. If you happen to stop by the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site they kind of point you in this direction. If not done on purpose, it's in a passing manner. There you will understand my Teddy had his swearing in ceremony because of what happened near this site. In this beautiful, planned out community you will stumble upon a median in the road that holds mostly trees and a variety of plants. Every so often it is dotted with rocks. This rock was purposefully put here. This community once held the Pan-American Expo, an expansive exposition of the countries from the Americas. With the expo there were many makeshift buildings built that could easily be torn down once the expo reached completion. The building that this stones represents, in a manner, was the Temple of Music. Just outside the temple, President McKinley would be shot by a man and ultimately pass away due to the gunshot. This stone is meant to be a monument or maybe a placard to remind you of what once happened in this area. It is well maintained and as other reviews have stated, usually flanked by small American flags. Some housekeeping here. Be mindful of the area, this is a neighborhood and you are visiting. Do not block a driveway. It is a road, be aware of your surroundings and traffic. Do not trample the area. Lastly, make it quick, there isn't much else to see here.

It may seem morbid, but it is history. The Pan American Exposition was build to be leveled…read moreafterwards, so nothing (save one building, I believe) remains. So, this rock is the only thing to remind the USA of McKinley's assassination and the only president to be inaugurated outside of DC. If you're looking for the full tour, add a stop to Delaware and W. Ferry, which is where McKinley died (there's just a sign there). And then go to the Roosevelt Museum/National Park. It's work the small price of admission and is a small, yet well done museum (perhaps a bit too patriotic, but that's to be expected I suppose).

I featured our local Love Canal as an example for a high school presentation on the importance of…read moretaking care of our ecosystem (I also used the Chernobyl disaster, ha). Love Canal's history is thick and ugly. You can do a quick google search if you want to read all about it, but I'll give a summary: Originally intended to be the "perfect urban area," William T. Love purchased the land and quickly abandoned his project in the span of ten years. After that the area became a landfill. Hooker Chemical eventually comes along and purchases the land in 1947, and proceeds to dump all sorts of chemical waste into the canal. Something like 21,800 tons of chemicals would sit in the canal as Niagara Falls entered a population boom. So, the Niagara Falls School Board approached Hooker Chemical, acquired the land they were dumping wastes into, and had two schools (93rd Street & 99th Street) built, along with low-income family residences. Construction would drill into the chemical drums buried here, and toxic wastes would escape when rainwater washed through them. Twenty or so years later, Lois Gibbs is a local mother who is concerned for her son's poor health, learns that her and her neighbors' homes are built atop chemical waste. She faced many barriers in attempts to expose the awful conditions in which they were living (ignored by city officials, even the mayor stated there was nothing wrong). Eventually Jimmy Carter declared a federal health emergency and sent officials to remedy the site. At that point the 99th street school had been demolished. Hooker Chemical & the school board refused to accept liability. The federal government eventually had residents relocated, and demolished most of the homes on the land. Today, Love Canal is a grim reminder of what costs we pay when dealing with chemical companies, and that it's important to know your history. The area is essentially a ghost town, with a small handful of homes still standing (some families refused to move during the evacuation). This place is creepy. Recently I decided to take a little drive through the area, and a couple of the streets have road blocks that prevent you from driving down them. You can drive down 100th St. (a completely barren road), turn down Wheatfield Ave and check out the couple of houses that still stand on 101st St. (that's what I did). The space that I assume was the dump site seems to be completely fenced off. Frankly, I think I prefer to stay outside of that fence. Day 15

Holy Smoke! 6 open gardens in total? What happened? I kept telling them to do the garden walk…read morelater, because its too hard to get everything ready by mid June, or I would take part with my own garden. We've had rain for weeks out of the last 3 months, and this puts everything behind.

This is one of my favorite festivals each year. Its usually a weekend mid June. This year its june…read more19th & 20th. First off it's in the town of Lewiston which is a beautiful setting for a garden festival. The majority of the vendors at the festival are selling items that focus on your garden and outdoor living areas. There's a wide assortment of flowers, plants, bushes, and trees along with things like bird baths and outdoor decorative items. At the end of the walk through 5he festival is the town gazebo where the local gardening club is set up with a master Gardener and all kinds of information to share. They conduct a container gardening contest that everyone can vote on. Naturally there are also several food vendors along with all the local restaurants and businesses that welcome you with open arms so don't forget to check them out. There are also garden tours through some of Lewiston's local residences. Or just walk around and enjoy the beauty of the entire town. You'll truly enjoy it. 2021-90

Awesome collection of murals along Main St near Depot Ave. There are several, including Harriet…read moreTubman, Cataract House, Black Lives Matter, and more. I recommend parking and exploring the murals by foot since there's a lot of detail in each. While you're nearby, I recommend stopping in the Amtrak station as well to see the free exhibit in the foyer about the Underground Railroad. Some information in the exhibit ties back to these murals. If you have more time, I highly recommend exploring the museum too ($10).

If you walk along this mural you will learn alot. It starts with an actual timeline, so really,…read moreyou need only read that to understand the mural. While its considered one mural, its on a serves of panels, each with a different ficus, The first shows the Native Americans and the actual Black Rock the area is named after. Around 1700. Before the Black Rock was destroyed. The next is the actual War of 1812. The Erie Canal, which opened Buffalo up to trade on a huge scale, is depicted. Then some nods to the local architecture and local Black Rock present day communities. There are a variety of artists and designers of the various murals, including (but not limited to): J Tim Raymond Russel Mott Doreen DeBoth Jerome Mach Cynthia Van Ens Joe Tempski This is another mural best viewed on foot.

I "Love" this mural! This mural is by Casey Milbrand, the same artist who produced the "Greetings…read morefrom Buffalo" mural downtown and the "Looking Good" mural on Hertel Avenue. This beautiful mural boasts a rainbow of color along the building on 1st St in Niagara Falls, featuring a pattern of hearts and the phrase "Let's Fall In Love." This is probably his best mural yet. I love the gorgeous array of soft color and how the entire thing spans half way down the block. I brought my dog here to take pictures for her instagram (is that not the most millennial sentence ever?) and it's so big that you could take photos in multiple spots and get a good variety of different background. This mural is only a few blocks from Niagara Falls State Park, so definitely worth checking out!

I'm Ferry Ferry surprised that this isn't on Yelp yet. It's right next to my girlfriend's house -…read moreoh the memories. One of the less-heralded traffic Circles of Buffalo which is a very unique and special City in the sense of having all of these wonderful gorgeous spacious big wide green Traffic circles all over the center of town. Yes they can be tricky to drive around if you're not used to it but if you grew up in Europe, then it makes perfect sense. The circles of Buffalo are nothing short of beautiful and extremely unique to the city because let's face it - most cities don't have anything like this and it makes the town unique end they should really put these at every intersection everywhere in the country because then the whole country would be more smooth - as long as I and I don't have to educate all these awful drivers on how to actually drive around roundabouts. Even the Buffalo drivers don't really know and they actually live among some of the greatest ones in the country.