Travel Adventures in Upstate New York, Part 4: Niagara Falls to Rochester

This is the fourth post about our travel through upstate New York. I suggest reading the first, second, and third posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given comped admission tickets and other benefits for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places are free for everyone. We paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews. If you see any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love that particular attraction, restaurant, or hotel enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

---------

Niagara Falls to Rochester, New York

We woke up on Saturday, September 6 eager to see more of Niagara Falls. Specifically, we wanted to visit Goat Island. 

Goat Island is on the American side of the Falls, accessible by car (with limited parking), trolley, bike, or on foot. We chose to walk. We left our hotel (located under the left edge of the American flag on the map) and headed toward the Visitor Center. 

We walked down to observe the Falls from the same location we'd gone the previous night...

... then headed to the pedestrian bridge across the Niagara River to Goat Island. That's it in the background. 

Unfortunately, you can't get great photos of the river from the bridge itself, but this gives you an idea of how cool it was to walk over the river. 

Goat Island is beautiful. 

  

There are paths all over the island, including some that take you to dramatic overlooks. See those people? 

This is the view they were enjoying. 

  

There are signs telling you the height of the waterfalls and their flow rates. Even looking at them, it's hard to wrap your head around the numbers. 

We walked to the farthest part of the island, Terrapin Point, with views of Horseshoe Falls. We were greeted with 3 minutes of rain, the only bad weather we had on the trip. Between the rain and the mist, it was hard to get a decent photo of Horseshoe Falls, but here you go: 

We took our time strolling back to the mainland, enjoying the stunning scenery on Goat Island. 

We headed back to our hotel, checked out, and made our way to our next destination. Can you guess where we went? Here's your clue. 

If you guessed "working sunflower farm with tons of fun activities to do, like a pumpkin patch" - you're right! This is Sunflowers of Sanborn and it is awesome. Of course there is a buffalo there to greet visitors. 

You can walk amongst the 100 acres of sunflowers, admiring the 18 different varieties. They have U-pick sunflowers to take home...  

... as well as wagon rides, a corn maze, apple cannons, hand pump duck races, the sunflower sifter (like gold panning), and more. 

There is a general store packed with sunflower-themed stuff, as well as a nice variety of options for food and drink. 

Naturally, it's easy to find buffalo stuff. 

There was a vendor faire going on when we were there. Guess what they were selling? I couldn't Billieve it (affiliate link). 

Buffalo (and Sanborn) LOVE their Bills. 

  

Steve and I had a fantastic time at Sunflowers of Sanborn. We must have said a dozen times how much Trevor would have loved it when he was little. We would have been there every day! If we didn't live on the opposite side of the continent, we'd definitely go every year. 

Our next destination was the town of Lockport. 

We started at the Erie Canal Discovery Center. 

It's a fantastic introduction to the Erie Canal and the famous locks of Lockport. The visit starts with an introductory film, but there's a fun twist. Partway through the movie, you board a 'boat' for a simulated ride through one of the locks. It's neat. There's a lot of other interesting stuff in the museum as well. 

This fun activity provides a visual explanation of how locks work in the form of a game. 

I love when museums have dedicated spaces for kids. 

  

  

We enjoyed our time at the Erie Canal Discovery Center and appreciated the background information we got about the locks themselves, as that was where we headed next. The Lockport Locks District showcases one of the most iconic features of the Erie Canal. The historic Flight of Five was an engineering masterpiece; today you can visit two restored locks that allow boats to climb the Niagara Escarpment. 

As long as it's not blocked off, you're allowed to go anywhere you want. It was awesome watching the locks operate from such a great vantage point. 

  

I really enjoyed watching the locks in action, but as an engineer, Steve was positively giddy. He spent a long time examining all the mechanics while I read interpretive signs. 

  

Of course we had to pose at the Lock Tenders Tribute Monument. 

Don't miss the tiny (but excellent) Locks District Museum. 

The main attraction is a model of the Flight of Five. 

As we were walking back to the car, we spotted this plaque on a wall. Lockport has a second claim to fame, as the home of the Harrison hexagon honeycomb radiator. I don't understand radiators, but according to the sign it was "a vast improvement in early automotive engine cooling technology." Cool. Literally. 

Next up: our second boat tour in two days! This one, the Lockport Locks Cruise, was just as great as the tour we did in Buffalo. 

Over the course of two hours, it took us through Locks 34 and 35, past Lockport's Upside Down Bridge, and to the Big Bridge. 

As we floated along, we learned all about the history and geology of the area and enjoyed canal music popular during the 1800's. We also heard "Low Bridge" which is about the early days of the Erie Canal but wasn't written until decades after the time period it is about. It was a fantastic way to spend a beautiful afternoon and definitely something you should do. 

  

I love that we went through the locks in each direction. By the way, there are no pumps at these locks. It's all gravity fed. 

My very happy engineer. 

After our boat ride, we said goodbye to Lockport and drove an hour to Rochester. We checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn Rochester Downtown. It was a great place to stay, and not just because our dinner destination was so convenient that it was visible through our window. 

Nerdvana was incredible. It was filled with nerds (our favorite kind of people), the food was outstanding, the service was impeccable, and the options for game play were great. When you arrive, you're asked what kind of table you want and what console you'd like. We chose a booth... 

... versus a table.  

We picked Switch for our console. But since I don't really enjoy video games, we ended up selecting a game we'd never tried from their huge board game library. This is NMBR9 and it's so much fun!

There were tons of other games to choose from. 

Like I said, the food was outstanding. I wish Nerdvana was near us. We'd go all the time. 

  

As we crossed the street back to our hotel, I stopped for a picture of the next day's main destination. 

Out of the dozens of places we were visiting on this trip, it was the one I was most excited about. It ended up being the highlight of my trip. I'll tell you all about it on Monday.