Day 72: Teddy, Eh?, Niagara, Poutine

Day 72:  Saturday August 16th, 2014.

Buffalo, NY, USA to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  30.6 miles.

I have a short day today of roughly 30 miles to reach Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  But, I was up early, hoping to take advantage of any extra time to see a few things in Buffalo before moving on.  Recommended by the hostel receptionist, I first headed over to Betty's restaurant for breakfast.  Having a reputation of long wait times, I was there at 8:50 am, 10 minutes before they opened.  

Everything about the place was great - the service, food, coffee, atmosphere.  I've always been hesitant to order Mexican food outside of San Diego, but the descriptions of the dishes they served all looked great.  So, I took a leap and went for the chilaquiles plate, and I'm glad I did.  It was delicious.

After breakfast, I made my way over to the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, the Ansley Wilcox home.  

The initial structure was built in the 1830's, and later rooms were added.  

It was 1901, and the Nation's richest city per capita, Buffalo New York, was abuzz with excitment over hosting the International Pan-American Exposition.  Due to its close proximity to hydroelectric power, Buffalo was a natural choice for hosting the event that occurs every 2-3 years somewhere around the world.  It would be the first expo to be illuminated at night.

The exposition, funded by Congress, was intended to be educational, foster and promote trade, and to showcase innovation and inventions.  Many ornate structures were constructed for the exposition, most intended to be temporary.

Today, only one of those buildings remains, and is currently home to the Buffalo Natural History Museum.

At the time, William McKinley held office as President of the United States, and Theodore Roosevelt was the Vice President.  Both were sure to attend the grand exposition, and a speech was customary.

Speaking to a large crowd at the event on September 6th, 1901, McKinley said, "Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan.  The world's products are exchanged as never before, and with increasing transportation facilities come increasing knowledge and larger trade."

After giving his speech, McKinley stepped down into the crowd to shake hands with the people in the audience.  One of the gentlemen, anarchist Leon Czolgosz, was lucky enough to make contact with the President.  With one hand, he shook McKinley's hand, and with the other, he pulled the trigger of a gun twice, lodging 2 bullets in the President's abdomen.  Chaos broke out, and the President was rushed to the hospital.

Teddy Roosevelt was notified that the President had been shot, and he rushed to see McKinley.  Out in front of a hotel in Buffalo, Roosevelt ran into Ansley Wilcox.

A Yale-educated lawyer, Wilcox married into the Buffalo elite Rumsey family.  In the 1880's, he worked on several state projects with Teddy Roosevelt, who, at the time, was an Assemblyman from New York City.  The consequence of their unanticipated meeting, hours after the President was shot, would change history.  Wilcox immediately invited Roosevelt to stay with him at his house on Delaware Avenue for a few days while he visits the President.

Initially in serious condition, but stable, the President underwent surgery and one of the bullets was removed.  He was alert, speaking with his cabinet over several days, and most were under the impression that he was on the road to recovery.  After staying for several days in Buffalo, the Vice President, confident that McKinley was stable, left his side to participate in a long-planned vacation to the mountains with his family.

A few days later, on September 14th, 1901, with a high fever from an infection that developed in his abdomen, President McKinley passed away.

Teddy Roosevelt was handed a note with the news of McKinley's passing in the mountains where he vacationed.  Roosevelt rushed back to Buffalo to the Wilcox home.

At age 42, Theodore Roosevelt was rushed to be inaugurated as President of the U.S.  He met in the dining room of the Wilcox home with several others, grieving over the news.  While here, it was reported that he drank 2 pots of coffee.  He had a reputation for drinking lots of coffee, and sleeping 2-3 hours per night only.

Then, they moved to the library of the Wilcox home, where the Vice President would take the oath of office to assume the position as President of the United States.

I felt a powerful feeling standing in this room, knowing that 113 years ago, Theodore (aka: Teddy) Roosevelt was standing in this same room during the first moments of his presidency.

The President then moved into the living room, and sat down at a desk in the corner to take care of the first order of business.

The task at hand, to write the first proclamation of his presidency.  As he wrote, he scratched out and edited his thoughts, focusing mainly on the grave loss of McKinley.

The final draft was finished quickly, asking  Americans to join together in grieving the loss of the former President.

Immigration, race relations, and child labor were among the issues Roosevelt faced when he took office.  A year later, he traveled to the South to settle a boundary dispute between the states of Mississippi and Louisiana.  His hosts arranged a hunting expedition for the President.  To insure the President's success, a black bear was captured in advance and tied to a tree.  Being a true sportsman, Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear, stating that it didn't have a fair chance to outsmart the hunter.

The incident resulted in a political cartoonist, Clifford Berryman, drawing up a cartoon for The Washington Post.

Not long after the cartoon sparked the interest of the public, a toy manufacturer received permission from Theodore Roosevelt to use his name for a new stuffed furry bear toy, called "Teddy's Bear".  The teddy bear was born.

If you ever find yourself in Buffalo, NY, don't miss the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.  It is incredibly well done and enlightening.

It was time for me to leave Buffalo, and make some progress towards reaching Niagara Falls.  I rode back through the downtown area to the bike path that traverses the city park along the shore of Erie.  The initial ride out of the city was difficult, as I was met with 20-30 mph winds.  The winds were briefly head-on until I arrived at the park.  Sometimes the stronger gusts would almost stop me completely in my tracks.  Once in the park, my route shifted 90 degrees, resulting in cross winds that challenged my ability to ride in a straight line.  These cross winds would fight me the rest of the way through Buffalo.

I reached the Peace Bridge that would take me up and over the Niagara River, it's water spilling out from Lake Erie.  On the other side, Canada, and the province of Ontario.  As I started out on the bridge, on my left, a typical jam of cars at the U.S. border checkpoint, waiting to get into the States.

Looking ahead, I could see Canada at the other end of the bridge, and a small portion of the Niagara River below.  

I was excited to be riding a bicycle across an international border.  At the crest of the bridge, a fantastic view of the river, looking downstream with Canada to the left and the U.S.A. on the right.

As I descended down the Canadian side of the bridge, I felt a little anxious having to navigate through the parking-lot of vehicles waiting to be cleared, working my way to the immigration building located between the opposing lanes of traffic.

Cleared to enter, I rode along the riverfront parkway on the Canadian side for only a few miles before reaching the Niagara River Recreation Trail, a paved bike path that would guide me safely all the way to my destination.

The trail was beautiful, meandering through a park-like setting, with the river always in view.

As expected, when in Canada, you're likely to meet Canadians.  And, I did.

My ride provided a unique vantage point for interesting features along the U.S. shore of the river, including a dual-stack coal-fired power plant.  Massive piles of coal are visible on the right side of the photo below.

In stark contrast, to my left, large homes sat with views of the river, their gardens in full bloom.  One of the homes for sale boasted 11,000 square feet.

I passed the site of the last major invasion of Canada during The War of 1812, the same event that had connections to my previous destination of Erie, PA.

I continued to follow the flow of the Niagara River.  The forecasted rain arrived, and it would persist for the rest of the day.  Having never seen Niagara Falls before, I was constantly on the lookout for any signs along the river that would suggest I was getting close.  Eventually, I saw the first clue that I was near.  Tall buildings, the hotels, casinos, and observatories sitting prominantly along the edge of the gorge in front of the falls, appeared along the horizon.

On both the U.S. and Canadian sides of the rivers, major infrastructure has been developed to divert some water away from the falls to be used for hydroelectric power generation.  I passed over one of the newer intakes for the power plant.

Then, I rode by a large control structure with gates that can be used to regulate the flow along the river.

Beyond that control structure, the river changed from calm to spilling rapids.  In the distance, a cloud of mist rising up over the water surface.  That must be what I had been waiting for.

My slow approach on a bicycle, following the path right along the river, provided me a unique opportunity to gradually take in the enormity of what was happening, at least to the extent that one could.  This was a stark contrast to the experiences of the typical visitor in the cars and buses on the road to my left.  They were zooming by, focusing on road signs, directions, the address of their hotel, where they were going to park, and their maps.  They couldn't see what I was seeing.  I felt lucky, and slowed down myself even more to try and understand the natural forces happening in front of my eyes.

I could see the edge.  The river, an incredibly huge torrent of water, it's course I had been following for over 20 miles from its origination of Lake Erie, was suddenly gone, only a shroud of mist left in it's wake.

I had been prompted as to what was happening.  I knew it was a waterfall, and that the river continued to flow beyond the falls.  But, my preconceived notions were worthless, meaningless.  To see it with one's own eyes is as shockingly dramatic as it must have been to the first set of human eyes to have seen it without any prior knowledge of it's existence.  I had to fight my desire to pedal faster, racing the water to the edge.  As I approached the edge of the falls, the great expansive surface of water was swallowed away, disappearing into clouds of mist.  It literally took my breath away.

It was numbing, deafening, so moving, that despite the crowds of people around me, all that existed at that moment was the falls, and the sensory overload of it's sound, the visual disappearing act, and the feeling of the mist occasionally blowing against my face.  The experience would not have been any different had I been the only one there.

I had trouble trying to comprehend, to truly understand, the sheer awesomeness of this natural wonder.  "In due time", I thought to myself, continuing to walk along the busy boardwalk, taking photos along the way.

Having been asked 2 or 3 times to snap a photo for other excited onlookers, I decided to ask the same favor.

I had trouble moving away from the falls to reach the hostel where I would be staying for the night.  Fortunately, in anticipation of the need to spend some time here, I booked 2 nights, and intend to use the entire day tomorrow attempting to understand Niagara Falls.  The intensifying rain encouraged me to eventually pry myself away from the falls, heading to the hostel in a residential neighborhood away from the chaos of the center of tourist activity.

Recommended by the hostel staff, I then walked to Queen Street, also referred to as the "Q", where a collection of great bars and restaurants provided respite for the locals from the Hard Rock Cafe/Planet Hollywood/Ruth Chris options of any major tourist attraction that lined the boardwalk near the falls.  I was headed to "Taps on Queen" brewhouse and grill.

Large stainless steel vats of beer at various stages of the brewing process surrounded the bar.  I ordered the house-made porter.

I was told that the food was excellent here.  I started with a cesar salad.  It was outstanding - one of the best I've had.

One of the options on the menu - Poutine.  It starts with a base of french fries, then add some cheese curds (very popular East of the Rockies), and then add gravy on top.  This place had lots of versions in addition to the classic poutine.

Still in close proximity to Buffalo, I ordered a buffalo chicken wrap with a side of classic poutine.  Wow!  The melted cheese curds reminded me of string cheese a little.  It was delicious.

I retired to the hostel to get a good nights sleep, preparing myself for a big day at the falls tomorrow.