Circling the U.S. Chapter 12: Riding the Merry-Go-Round

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Tonawanda had much to do with the history of merry-go-rounds. There were carousel horses sprinkled throughout the town.

 

Our last day on the Erie Canal we stopped at the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum in Tonawanda. Rob and I were the only adults there without any children in tow and I think we had the most fun. 

Carousel animals were originally carved from wood. On display were the animals in various stages of completion. The master carvers did not consider themselves artists and were surprised when, years after they retired they were honored as such.

Animals came in all species and styles.

The same companies that made the music for carousels also made player pianos. We saw the machines that made the music rolls but I still couldn't make sense of it. 

In 1920 there were more player-pianos in the United States than bathtubs.

The first carousels were not meant for children at all.

There were other museums along the trail that I would have liked to stop at, a coverlet museum, clock museum, and railroad museum, but they were all closed on the days we were passing by. We had no interest in checking out the birthplace of Mormonism in Palmyra. It was nice to close out our time in New York visiting such a fun place.

 

Day 21: Thursday, 6/27/19   41 miles to a campground in Ontario, 10 miles north of the Peace Bridge

Riverside Park Motel & Campground

Does it count as two flat tires if they are both caused by the same piece of glass? The good news is that the first one happened as we were leaving a carousel museum in Tonawanda. I was able to fix it in the shade, sitting at a picnic table, while Rob got out lunch. A plain smooth peanut butter sandwich isn't too bad if you're eating it while fixing a flat tire. The second flat happened a couple miles later while we were riding south along the Niagara River and there was a picnic table in the shade where I could fix it while Rob patched the holes in the two tubes. The good news is that I got the rear wheel back on my bike with no swearing.

 

Then there was my mirror that broke when my bike fell down first thing this morning. The good news is that Rob let me have his because he doesn't rely on it all that much. And my odometer transponder fell off. The good news is that I didn't lose it and can put it back on tomorrow.

 

We had a pleasant ride to Tonawanda first thing this morning where we visited a carousel museum which was a delight. But the 14 mile ride from there to Buffalo sucked. It looked a lot better on the map, an off-road paved bike path along the water the entire way. But it wasn't in good shape and was closed in two places and we weren't impressed with any of the cityscape we were riding through so we just headed straight for the Peace Bridge to Canada. Which we couldn't bicycle over but a nice young woman came with a van and gave us a ride and then we didn't have to wait in line to have our passports checked.

 

The day ended very happily with a gorgeous ride heading north along the Canadian side of the Niagara River. It was looking like freeze-dried lamb fettucine for dinner but then we came across a casual dining restaurant and Rob decided that two flat tires warranted dinner out. We had beer and a vegetarian pizza that Rob described as "exquisite."