Monarch

It's the height of summer, and what a summer it is .. !
The weather has been 'unusually warm' pretty much all the time we've been here so far (what else is new), which, by the way, is already for 2 months!
That also means that we're exactly halfway our stay here in the north. Another 2 months and we'll be leaving again, can you believe it?

                                               

                         Southern Dogface (serious, that's it's name)

Not only is it very warm, but also very dry, the grasses look dead and brown, the trees are shedding loads of yellow leaves and the wildflowers are struggling.

Still, if you slow down (and smell the roses, ha), you'll find quite a few that are bravely hanging in there:

On one of my morning hikes I had the distinct feeling of being watched, to the point that I felt a little creepy ...
Until suddenly I heard a weird scream/wheeze and loud snort, and something large crashed through the forest. Away from me, at least, but jeez, it gave me a heart-attack!

            

It turned out to be a deer, doesn't she look just like the doe I took some pictures of previously .. but than, they look a lot the same of course ..

She definitely was upset though, and stopped after a short run to stare at me from behind the trees, she even stomped her leg a couple of times and grunted/snorted at me .. to warn me off? 

Since time goes by so quickly, we're making sure we'll see everything here that we want to see, before we leave, so we did some more sight-seeing this week. 

(better do it while the weather is good, although we'll keep some for the Fall, in the hope we'll see some fall-colors).

We went to Lockport, to see some of the the locks in the Erie Canal.

We started at the Erie Canal Discovery Center. Inside a c.1843 “canal stone” building, next to the historic “Flight of Five” and Locks 34 & 35, this is a great place to learn about the creation of the canal and locks in the 19th Century.
Interactive displays let you try your hand at moving a boat through locks, hear from people who worked on the canal and built Lockport, and test your knowledge of the canal.

Afterward it was a short walk, just across the street, to the Erie Canal and the locks. 

The Erie Canal is part of the east–west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal). Originally, it ran 363 miles (584 km) from where Albany meets the Hudson River to where Buffalo meets Lake Erie.
Since its grand opening in 1825, the canal has been enlarged three times to accommodate larger boats and more traffic.
The canal has 34 numbered locks and it has an elevation difference of about 565 feet (172 m). It opened on October 26, 1825.

It was built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
Canal boats up to 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in draft were pulled by horses and mules walking on the towpath.
It turned out to be faster than carts pulled by draft animals and cut transport costs by about 95%

As a solution to the 60-foot drop of the Niagara Escarpment that would prevent packet boats from completing their journey to Buffalo, Locks 69 and 70 were build with their massive wooden manually-operated gates and balance beams, and completed in 1849.

The Northern ones are now restored and, without gates, used as a cascade for excess water.

                     

They are located next to the double 24 ¹⁄₂-foot-high (7.5 m), 40-foot-wide (12 m) modern locks 34 and 35, which enable today's canal traffic to climb the 49-foot Niagara Escarpment and
replaced the original southern "Flight of Five" lock structure.

 

We spent some time watching to see several boats, a kayak and even some ducks being 'locked through'.

                                       

 
The day was turning out to be another very hot one, and when we discovered a sign with 'Flight of Five Winery' on the other side of the canal, we quickly crossed over, using the locks, and sat down for a 'wine-tasting' in the blessedly air-conditioned taste room.

We sampled 5 dry wines, from white to red, accompanied by some 'Champagne'-cheese and some crackers (to cleanse the palate, you know).
The wines were great and we slowly started to feel 'human' again. Slightly buzzed humans, but nevertheless ..

         
Bottoms up!

Back at the campground we participated in a Chicken BBQ on Saturday evening.
Every 2 weeks the campground brings on a special dinner, catered, except for the deserts that are made by the guests, and since we're employees, it's free for us! We like those perks!



As usual, everybody showed up in their golf carts, heaven forbid you have to actually walk somewhere!

This huge pile of blackened, greasy looking chicken halves didn't look too appetizing, but turned out to be 'finger-licking' good (once you discarded most of the skin).
Accompanied by roasted potatoes, stuffing 'balls', macaroni salad and baked beans it certainly was 'good eating'!

We'd both surveyed the desert table beforehand, to know how much room to leave, (James, of course, ate apple-pie even before starting his meal) and made sure we went back there early enough to get the good stuff!
Of course I OD'd, and afterward I was so uncomfortable, it took me hours to feel  a little better ... 

I'll never learn .. !