MATTHEW BURNETTE

Staff Writer

As I’m typing this right now, my view is of the water gently ebbing and flowing on Lake Ontario on our final day of vacation.

I can just make out the skyline of Toronto in the distance through the hazy morning sky. The air has a chill, but it beats the sweltering heat that’s probably already developed back home.

The morning’s flock of geese have already flown by, the leader of the pack honking the others along. I assume they must be going to work of some kind due to the regimented schedule they seem to keep, but unfortunately the language barrier is far too insurmountable for me to ask.

This trip overall has been one of my favorites. Our typical move is to head south to a beach town in Florida for a week, but this year we took a different approach.

One of my grandmother’s dream destinations has always been to visit Niagara Falls, so we all decided as a group to make that dream a reality. Eleven family members loaded up their cars and made their way to a smaller town just northwest of the Falls called Youngstown.

Now you’re probably at this point wondering to yourself “Wow, eleven people sharing a house together for a week. How do you keep the peace?” Well, we don’t always. When you have that many people and personalities blending in a small space together there’s bound to be disagreements, but we ultimately work it out.

After all, no one travels that far to not enjoy themselves.

Our week started with a pair of travelling days. We stopped in Ashland, Ohio for a night to grab some dinner and rest our heads at a Motel 6. Probably not the greatest of accommodations, but they served their purpose.

From there, a few of our group decided to make their way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton while the rest of us went to Cleveland and enjoyed some time at Edgewater Park right on Lake Erie with a beach and, as we found out after arriving, an abundance of water snakes in the rocks that line the water.

We then headed off on the rest of our journey to the lake house that would be our home for the week. The website we booked through had pictures, but they in no way did justice to the incredible view we were treated to during our time here.

The sunsets were some of the most magnificent I’ve ever witnessed.

Day one in New York consisted of a visit to Old Fort Niagara, a 300-year-old structure built by the French to protect shipping interests in the region. The building was meant to look less like a fort and more like a mansion as to deter any interference.

We got to witness an old musket being fired. As a planned demonstration, not an impromptu siege on the fort.

At this point, I’d like to share more of its history, but I dozed off during the video presentation that preceded our walk around the premises.

Day two was spent at Whirlpool State Park and Devil’s Hole State Park, both along the Niagara River. The views at each park were exceptional with the emerald green waters flowing into white rapids, all to be seen along a pristine and peaceful walking track.

From there we went to the nearby city of Lockport along the Erie Canal and enjoyed a lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant that served New York Style pizza by the slice as well as a host of other offerings, both of the savory and sweet variety.

Because, I mean, if you’re going to New York, you’ve got to get some pizza, right? If you think the New York style from your favorite pizza place is good, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

After lunch, we boarded a double decker boat and toured two of the locks along the Canal and got to see firsthand how each lock uses its intricate system of raising and lowering the boat to move along the canal by using a gate system to fill the lock with water.

Day three was our big day: the day we finally got to see the Falls.

We waited until the third day because it was forecasted to be slightly warmer than the rest of the week, and it was totally worth the wait to see one of the Wonders of the World.

Hours could have easily been spent just leaned against the guardrail staring at the water cascading down. But as one must do at Niagara Falls, we got even closer on the Maid of the Mist, a staple of the attraction that takes passengers to the bottom of the Falls to be sprayed with the resulting mist.

There are a ton of things to do in Niagara Falls, none that we found that were disappointing.

A close second in highlights for the day were breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was had at the Youngstown Village Diner, a nice little spot for a good breakfast. One of my favorite things about coming to the northeast is the availability to order a bagel and cream cheese with breakfast as opposed to the more boring toast.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good piece of toast, but come on, I think we can all agree it’s no bagel and cream cheese.

Dinner was eaten at Ray’s Diner and Tavern where I had my first experience with a regional classic: Beef on weck. I had heard about the roast beef sandwich from friends who originate from the region, and it was everything I had hoped it to be.

A good portion of roast beef and horseradish on a kummelweck roll, essentially a Kaiser roll with Caraway seeds and coarse salt on top. Ray’s serves theirs with sweet, house-made pickles, and though I’m not privy to the nuances of a beef on Weck as a novice, I would recommend that version.

Our final day before making the trek back home was spent in the town of North Tonawanda at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum that was built in the original Herschell Carrousel Factory on Thompson Street.

We learned about all of the intricacies of the carrousel making process, from hand carving in wood to painting. They also had a room dedicated to hand organs, the instruments that produced the music for old school carrousels.

Following that, a nice lunch was had at Mr. Ventry’s Pizza on the Boulevard for some more New York style pizza and Buffalo wings, another Northwestern New York staple.

It was a packed-full week for sure with twists and turns and ups and downs, but as I sit here listening to the water of Lake Ontario, enjoying the crisp chill of an early June morning, I can’t help but smile.

Not only did I get to enjoy a week of firsts, but I got to do it with the people I’m closest to, making memories that will last us all a lifetime.

What’s better than that?