Branches of Niagara Falls Campground - Grand Island, NY

So many plans, so little accomplished

I had so many plans for our two weeks here!

This was going to be a huge genealogy research trip and a visit to Niagara Falls. My dad’s maternal great grandma was born in Buffalo, but very little is known about her life before she settled in Iowa. Buffalo has a huge genealogy section in its library and I had plans to spend several days going through their microfilm and books. I also wanted to spend some time at the Erie County Genealogy Society in Lockport. However, weather and a sick Speedy cat kind of put a damper on my plans.

I had heard of lake effect snow before, but didn’t realize that there is also lake effect rain. It rained - a lot - while we were in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area. Add in my worry about Speedy, I, unfortunately, spent my time being very unproductive.

Shortly after arriving in Grand Island, I started looking for an emergency vet for Speedy. There were several options, but all of the close ones had awful reviews. The one with the best reviews was a 30 minute drive away. So off we went. Amazingly, we had a very short wait! Speedy was checked over, given some medication, and we headed back to the camper. For a little background info, Speedy is an 18+ year old cat who is not interested in doing anything he doesn’t want to do. Taking a pill? Not interested. Needless to say, the medication did not go well and Speedy didn’t really improve. He and I returned to the emergency vet about 10 days later and I think we were all worried about the outcome of this visit. This was not a short visit - the clinic was very popular this day and we were not high on the priority list. He was checked over again, a few blood tests were ran, he was given more fluids, and poked and prodded more than he liked. Several hours later, we were on our way back to the camper with a small pharmacy of meds for him. Surprisingly, as soon as we returned, his appetite returned and within a few days he was back to his normal self. I’m not sure what happened at that second visit, but he’s been fine ever since!

I only made two trips to the Gosvenor Room at the Downtown Central Library in Buffalo. I found out that public transportation stopped not too far from the campground, so I took the bus to the library instead of trying to deal with parking a truck that wasn’t meant for parking ramps. On my first trip, I got off the bus way too soon and meandered through downtown while looking for the library. After a short walk, I finally arrived at the library and spent a few hours looking through records. Trying to read Catholic Church records in Latin on microfilm was enough to give me a headache! I decided that a walk would be good and tried Tim Hortons for the first time. Maybe it was the location, but I wasn’t impressed. I spent the rest of the afternoon looking through books and other non microfilm records. As I was finishing up for the day, I realized I had just missed a bus, so I tried another coffee shop between the library and the bus stop. Public Espresso was worth the stop and I wished that I had found it earlier! Between my two trips to the library, I found lots of info that could be helpful, but nothing that I knew for sure was related to my dad’s great grandma and her family.

I was also able to make a quick trip to the Erie County Historical Society. I did find some info that was useful here, but it was all related to extended family and not directly to my dad’s great grandma.

The best part of this whole trip was the trip to Niagara Falls! It was one of the few nice, sunny days, and a beautiful day for walking and exploring. It was also my birthday and Tracy had taken the day off so that we could go visit the falls. Based on reviews and what friends had said, I knew that I wanted to see the falls from the Canadian side, and I am so glad we did that! Walking across Rainbow International Bridge and seeing the falls was awesome! I think we both stood there for a couple of minutes just enjoying the view.

After going though customs, we spent the whole day walking along the river and frequently stopping to view the falls and the surrounding area. We eventually ended up just past Horseshoe Falls, where the Niagara River flows into the falls. For me, while I loved the view of the falls, I was so amazed by the power, and sound, of the water before it goes over the falls. Just not something I thought of before.

If we ever go back to this area, I would love to explore the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario. We spent all of our time wandering along the falls and didn’t explore the city at all.