Posted By: Lighthouse Joe
NW NY - 11 lights in 2 days - 05/01/03 10:41 PM
Also posted at The Ultimate Lighthouse Message Board .
We started Friday afternoon (after a 5 hour drive from Philly to Rochester) with a short jaunt to Sodus Point (still closed) and Sodus Point Pierhead. Sodus is a nice lighthouse up on a bluff overlooking Sodus Bay. From here you can see down to Sodus Point Pierhead light out at the end of a long pier. I'm still kicking myself for not going down to the pier. We were tired and the wind was blowing fairly hard so we headed back to the hotel.
Saturday we started out with a quick peek at Charlotte-Genesee to see if it was open, it wasn't. So we went to Rochester Harbor Light. Not very lighthouse like, but a light all the same. We were soppose to see Braddock Point, but the wife was leary since its a private residence. We later found out the owner is fairly friendly to visitors.
So off to Thirty Mile Point. Now this is a lighthouse. Excellent restoration work and good tour guides (Tell Al we said Hi!). They even have a vacation apartment for rent in the lighthouse, $125.00/night. Its very well appointed, heat and A/C, and looks to be worth the money. We may be going back just for that.
TIP: Since Thirty Mile Point is on a National Park, the $6.00 parking fee covers you at all NY National parks for that day, just show them your stamped green ticket. This came in handy at Niagara Falls, parking is usually $10.00, but not this time.
Our next stop was Fort Niagara. The light was closed, but I still got my photos. We then toured the fort itself. Its a big fort. From here you can see the Niagara-on-the-River Front and Rear Range lights across the river. We had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls NY. My wife's trip was made since the had just opened the Maid of the Mist boat rides for the season. Now that was different. We had also decided not to go into Canada and skipped Island Street light and Grand Island light since time was running out in our day. Maybe next time.
Our last stop was the Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo. The Buffalo Coast Guard base is closed to civilians until further notice (much the same for all C.G. bases). The marina had just closed but was still open to walkers, joggers, etc. From here you can get a good look at Buffalo Main, Buffalo North Breakwater, Buffalo, Intake Crib, and Buffalo Outer Breakwater lights. You can also see the remains of Horseshoe Reef light (which I saw but completely forgot about - DOH!).
From there we headed back to Rochester for what we had originally driven up to see, an indoor lacrosse game.
All of the other lighthouse photos can be found at Lighthouse Joe\'s .
We started Friday afternoon (after a 5 hour drive from Philly to Rochester) with a short jaunt to Sodus Point (still closed) and Sodus Point Pierhead. Sodus is a nice lighthouse up on a bluff overlooking Sodus Bay. From here you can see down to Sodus Point Pierhead light out at the end of a long pier. I'm still kicking myself for not going down to the pier. We were tired and the wind was blowing fairly hard so we headed back to the hotel.
Saturday we started out with a quick peek at Charlotte-Genesee to see if it was open, it wasn't. So we went to Rochester Harbor Light. Not very lighthouse like, but a light all the same. We were soppose to see Braddock Point, but the wife was leary since its a private residence. We later found out the owner is fairly friendly to visitors.
So off to Thirty Mile Point. Now this is a lighthouse. Excellent restoration work and good tour guides (Tell Al we said Hi!). They even have a vacation apartment for rent in the lighthouse, $125.00/night. Its very well appointed, heat and A/C, and looks to be worth the money. We may be going back just for that.
TIP: Since Thirty Mile Point is on a National Park, the $6.00 parking fee covers you at all NY National parks for that day, just show them your stamped green ticket. This came in handy at Niagara Falls, parking is usually $10.00, but not this time.
Our next stop was Fort Niagara. The light was closed, but I still got my photos. We then toured the fort itself. Its a big fort. From here you can see the Niagara-on-the-River Front and Rear Range lights across the river. We had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls NY. My wife's trip was made since the had just opened the Maid of the Mist boat rides for the season. Now that was different. We had also decided not to go into Canada and skipped Island Street light and Grand Island light since time was running out in our day. Maybe next time.
Our last stop was the Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo. The Buffalo Coast Guard base is closed to civilians until further notice (much the same for all C.G. bases). The marina had just closed but was still open to walkers, joggers, etc. From here you can get a good look at Buffalo Main, Buffalo North Breakwater, Buffalo, Intake Crib, and Buffalo Outer Breakwater lights. You can also see the remains of Horseshoe Reef light (which I saw but completely forgot about - DOH!).
From there we headed back to Rochester for what we had originally driven up to see, an indoor lacrosse game.
All of the other lighthouse photos can be found at Lighthouse Joe\'s .
