On the Shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in Upstate New York

June 2022

Sunset from our campsite at Lake Erie State Park, NY

We stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park on Lake Ontario, in order to visit Niagara Falls, the oldest state park in the U.S. The falls are located in the Niagara River, which flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, so that Canada is west of the U.S. at this point. We visited just the U.S. side, which gets you closer to the brink of the falls, but the better view of the falls is from Canada. We visited on the evening of Father’s Day, so it was very crowded. The town of Niagara Falls, NY is kind of sketchy. We were glad we were staying outside of town. If we ever came back, we would visit the Canada side.

It was too crowded to set up my tripod, so I couldn’t get a nice, sharp photo. We would have had to either go super early in the morning or else stay till midnight to avoid crowds.

Horseshoe Falls (Canada) is in the background and the buildings on the right are in Canada, also.

We were on Goat Island for this view, standing between the American Falls and the small Bridal Veil Falls behind us.

Bridal Veil Falls with Canada in the background

Earlier that same day, we visited Fort Niagara, which is situated where the Niagara River empties into Lake Ontario, and which was right next to the state park where we were camped. The castle at the Fort was built by the French in 1726 and could house 60 soldiers.

View of the castle from the gundeck of the redoubt. Lake Ontario is so blue! The Toronto skyline is just to the right of the castle across the lake.

One of the two redoubts and the storehouse next to it

The castle had two dining rooms, a chapel, barracks, officer’s quarters, and a store where goods were traded with Native Americans.

We watched several boats going from the Niagara River to Lake Ontario and back. Canada is on the other side of the river—so close! Hi, neighbor!

We could see Toronto, Canada, across Lake Ontario. This phone pic is zoomed in—it actually looked much farther away.

This lighthouse was next to the parking lot.

On the way to Niagara Falls from our campground is the small Whirlpool State Park. There were great views of the Niagara River in the gorge below, and a natural whirlpool called Devil’s Hole. These are dangerous Class V rapids, and boats are not allowed here. The Aero Car gondola suspended over the river was on the Canadian side.

Next, we travelled to the northwesternmost area of New York. We managed to nab a lakeview site at Lake Erie State Park—we normally aren’t so lucky! The view was wonderful, especially at sunset, and during the sunny days, the water was so blue!

Not too far away is Jamestown, where Lucille Ball grew up. I am a big “I Love Lucy” fan, so I went to the little Lucy Desi Museum. (Craig sat that one out!) The museum had some of the original props, costumes, and 2 of the Emmy awards given to the show and 1 to Lucy.

Most of the set pieces were lost or destroyed, so the sets of the Ricardo apartment are re-creations, but they look very much as they did on the show.

Our month in New York was sadly at an end. From here, we continued our journey into Ohio.