Well...it looks like there is a change in plans for my break next week, but it's a good one.

I don't think I can go lighthousing without my dad's buisiness interfering. He sells marine antifouling systems to power plants, ships, etc. on the Great Lakes especially. There is a power plant in Detroit that is looking at using one of his systems. They want to meet with him in Buffalo to see the system he installed for their plant there. On Wednesday, one of the two days we HAD to be in Maine. So, it looks like Maine is off...though maybe only for two months--we are thinking that after I get off from school, at the end of June, might be good. So I'm still hoping on that one.

Meanwhile, we decided to do some lighthousing on Lake Ontario. Just the NY side--we don't have time now to go to Canada. I think we'll go up to Ogdensburg, then down the coast to Buffalo, where he will meet with these people. Then I'm thinking of going down maybe to Erie. We have to be home Thurs. night, and the meeting thing will probably take up half of Wednesday. We have to see my brother off to school on Mon, as my mom has an early appointment, and then we head north. So we have 2.5 days, with a half day/full day/half day/half day setup.

He says that we are going to be "spontaneous", a word not in Mr. Many Binders here's vocabulary. We have our Penrose, and we have a map. He likes doing this..."spontaneous" thing......, I do not. I obsess about whether the cooler will fit if we fold the smaller of the 60/40 seat down...and measured it. I don't good with spontaneity.

So...we have to see as much as we can in those days. We have to be home here in central Jersey by Thurs. night. What are "must see" lights> Of course we'll see the biggies. And the littleies. and the moderdatefameies. But we have to prioritize the list.

Also...for all of those who signed up for my ME postcard exchange, guess what? Today is your lucky day! I have decided that I will send you cards from Lake Ontario AND Maine when I get there. Two for the price of one! (Let's just forget the fact that it was free for you anyway.)

Thanks for the help with this new frontier. I've never seen a Great Lake before...I'm looking forward to it!

Greg - I visited that area over Easter Weekend (I'm sure you saw my posts with the photos). I'd say the musts would be Ogdensburg from there you can see a couple of lights on the Canadian side. Tibetts Point and the Cape Vincent Breakwater are easy to get up close to and take photos of those so I'd hit them while you are up there. And the Selkirk light in Pulaski. That would also be one of your better stops for lighthouse postcards. Another place I found cards was in the the Maritime Museum in Oswego. From the pier you can get a pretty good view of the breakwater light there as well.

End of June, ehhh? Hmmmm, sounds like the perfect time to go on the Freinds of Portsmouth Harbor Sunset Cruise:

http://www.lighthouse.cc/portsmouth/

I don't know anything about your new destination, except to say, "have a great time". And loosen up.... :p

Can you say JACKPOT! Near and between Rochester and Buffalo you have the following:

Sodus Point +
Sodus Pierhead *
Charlotte-Genesee +
Rochester Harbor
Braddock Point @
Thirty Mile Point +
Fort Niagara +
Niagara-on-the-Lake Front Range #
Niagara-on-the-Lake Rear Range #
Buffalo Main +
Buffalo Intake Crib **
Buffalo North BreakWater (Bottle) **
Buffalo Outer Breakwater **
Horseshoe Reef (remains) **
Buffalo South Entrance
Grand Island


+ Must See
@ Private residence
* can be seen from Sodus Point
** can be seen from Buffalo Main
# can be seen from Fort Niagara across the river

WOW! Thanks, Joe! Symbols, too! THis is a biiiiggg help!

I think these are all go's. I'm also seeing if we can continue south to Barcelona. Dunkirk, especially, looks like a good place to boost the lightlist. Do you count all those skeleton towers there as lights?

I printed out some computer pages toay. Penrose doesn't have directions for some lights, but I could find them on the web. I'm going to print more, too. Can't go lighthousing without directions!

Of course I count Skeleton Towers as lights, don't you? They may not be the nicest to look at but they are lighthouses. But, none of the lights I listed are that type.

I would go to Lighthouse Friends or Lighthouse Depot for directions. I have some on my site as well.

Keep this in mind, in NY, once you pay to park at a National Park, that parking fee and stub will allow you to park at ANY National Park for the rest of the day.

Greg, wave as you fly by me. I won't even ask you to get in touch as it could take away from your lighthouse count!

Joe-I'm talking about all those other lights at Dunkirk. Those little breakwater lights that they moved. Those and the cigarette-shaped ones. It's actually somewhat that something that looks like a cigarette lights up.

I got directions at school today for each possible light from rudyalicelighthouse.net (I think that's it). I'll do the other two too.

I didn't know that about the parks! That should come in handy!

Sue-I'll wave! Where is Phoenix, anyway?

Greg, Phoenix is about 10 miles north of Syracuse or, about a half hour south of the lighthouse in Oswego and around 10 minutes further from Selkirk.

Sodus Point is a nice light to see as it's a twofer with the breakwater light. I don't think the main light's officially open yet but the director lives there so if she's around you may be able to get in.

Dunkirk is a great place to see but if it's not open when you're there there's a big fence around the grounds and you can't get in.

Here's the schedule but I would recommend calling ahead just to be sure:

http://www.dunkirklighthouse.com/hours.htm

I would certainly count the extra lights there as they are real, "used to work" lights.

I would not count those cigarette jobbers. They're on almost every pier and are really nothing special. Do not even bother looking for the East Rochester light, it's just one of those cigarette things and I don't know why it's listed as a lighthouse. There used to be real wooden lighthouses on both piers there which were later replaced by skeletal jobbers which are also gone.

When Jakers and I were there last fall we were told the skeletal lights are still around somewhere I can't remember, like a car dealer has one or some such thing. Maybe some day when I have nothing better to do I'll look for them.

Thanks Sue!

Perhaps one of those skeleton towers is at Stony Point. I was researching, and saw a rusting, paint peeled skeleton tower there in the photos. I forgot which site it was. But perhaps that was one. I'll check all the dealerships.

I've finally got all my printouts. I just want to find a few more online logs, print Shirin's posts, do a search for other Seaway Trail trips from years past, and assemble my manilla file folder. Then I think I'm done!

I have finally figured out a title for my journey. Normally I will name it with the region and a synonym of "trip". But nothing sounded good with "Seaway Trail". So the name is...

Along the Se-a-way Trail

I took the rhythm from that song "Along the Santa Fe Trail" in some old Judy Garland movie (I think that's where it was...I forgot). Add some dashes, and you're all set!

My wimpy (to me) manilla folder has all my computer printouts...well, maybe just a few more. We go food shopping today, I have to clear my memory card (someone post a reminder for me to clear my memory card...otherwise, I might forget), and do my specialty--Land Rover Organization. I get a little obsessive about that. But it is organized, something my desk is not. I do better in small spaces.

So, it looks like about 30 lights...right around what we would have seen in Maine. And if we do that in June, and a daytrip to DE, and some odds and ends lights, I could easily double my lightlist in a year. Cool!

Hope you're ready for some of our famous upstate weather Greg. It's been nasty here all day, cool and rainy. A little better tomorrow but snow is predicted for Tuesday night! Then by Thursday the high's supposed to be 73.

Oh yes! The weather here is trip! Let me give you an idea as to some of the things we have experienced: temps into the high 80s, hurricane remnants, a Nor'easter or two, a fun blizzard that dropped a foot in a day, another one that felt like it lasted a week, Freezing rain and sleet on October 2nd (that was a new one for me) the fact that November was a much much nicer month than October, and one of my favorites: walking around in shorts and flip flops and three days later being hunkered down in my pea coat and other winter stuff as it snowed. Yes, it sure is fun here! It's always great to see the tours walking around when it hits the upper 50s in jackets and everything while we're in sandals and t-shirts, thinking it's the most beautiful day ever.
Ahhh! Gotta love the Cuse! Have fun on your trip, lots of great lights in great places!

Well Greg, Upstate NY is famous for it's two seasons, Winter and Construction. You may experience a little cool or wet weather but at least you won't find many 40 mph zones and orange cones yet.

Well, we have returned! 33 lights, including 6 in CANADA (!) from across the river. Tommorow I'll upload the photos and make a geocities page of my photos. I have to finish my handwritten log too. We went to Selkirk about 3:30, lighthoused up to Ogdensburg, then drove to Buffalo. I broke 100 LIGHTS at 30 Mile Point.

I sent postcards, too. I tried to mix and match a bit. Some cards I only sent one of. Some I sent three. I think no two people got the same mix. I sent out cards from Selkirk, Sodus, Dunkirk, and Barcelona. I won't say who got what, a) to not ruin the surprise and b) I don't remember. But they're all postmarked from somewhere nearby, too...though not the same town.

THe log and photos will be on a free webpage. It's easier that way. I also want to see if I can get a Seaway Trail sign online...a nice souveneir.

Very good, Greg. We'll look forward to reading the details of your adventures.

Wow, you did very well young man! Looking forward to seeing your photos and reading about your trip.

I'll look forward to reading about your trip and receiving my post card in the the mail.

Way to go Greg - that was one fast trip. Seemed like only yesterday you were telling us you were packing up the Land Rover.

Looking forward to those photos.

Thanks for the comments. That DID seem to go fast...huh. I will say, though, that we didn't get lost like in CT/RI/MA...I couldn't read the map there. This was MUCH better!

Sue, I have officially come to the conclusion that I cannot live in Upstate New York and all that do are some of the world's hardiest souls. I guess we get spoiled here in Central Jersey. We go up...it's pounding rain. We had to buy new wipers (we got RainX's, which seemed to work better than the stock ones we had previously had), and I had to get a windbreaker. My fleece Patagonia Synchilla jacket was too porous for the driving wind. I noted this at Tibbets Point. It sleeted in Buffalo. It was snowing behind us. And it was beautiful. Strange, strange meteorology... And always from this to this

I'm going to make a nice little geocities page...I think it'll be geocities.com/seagirtlight, my yahoo name. I'm also thinking of writing the beginning of a series of lighthouse travel guides called "Your View Guides". These will have nice, "I get to go anywhere" photos of lights from other people (where applicable), and a "Your View" photo of what you'll see from the place we tell you to go. This will help to make it easier to choose what to see and what to nix.

OK...my dad needs some help with some stuff, and I have to work on that page for you. Hopefully I can have it done by tommorow!

Also...if you got postcards, if you could, just email or PM me with when you got the cards, what card it was, and the town and date on the postmark. I am a little curious to see how the USPS spreads our mail across the country. This could help.

Greg, yesterday morning there was a touch of snow on our cars. Today it was 83 and sunny. One thing about the weather here...it is never boring!