More family

Our border crossing was easy peasy – literally only one car in front of us. And not a question asked by the border agent – no “any alcohol” or “any firearms” or “any produce” or “any firewood” – we’ve never had that happen before! The plans had changed and we were going to meet the Woman’s sister Nancy and her family near Montreal. By heading there, we would be able to have a couple of family dinners together, and a great big bonus – Nan’s son Nathan plays on the football team at his school in Waterloo, and they were playing a game in Ottawa the 2^nd day of our visit.

Nathan goes to Laurier College in Waterloo, where he is working on his MBA. He has been the Golden Hawks kicker his entire first four years there. We learned that he is the #1 ranked kicker in all of college football in Canada, so we really looked forward to the game. He also holds many records at Laurier – most points scored by a student in his career, most field goals kicked, longest field goal and other. (We learned too late that Laurier stole its colors and uniform layout from the Minnesota Vikings – I had suggested we wear our Vikings jerseys to the game, but the Woman wouldn’t have it – it would have been epic!) So, when we watched Nathan kick a 46-yard field goal, his long for the season, we also watched him set two new school records!

After nice family time we headed to Buffalo. This border crossing was even easier – nobody in line at the booth and again not a single question – what is the deal! In Buffalo, we headed to the Martin House Complex, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1907. Darwin Martin was a big wig at the Buffalo base Larkin Company, and had heard about Wright when he was in Chicago. He introduced Wright to Larkin, and Wright got the commission to design the Larkin office complex.

At the same time Martin hired Wright to design a complex of homes where his family would live, surrounded by other members of Martin’s family. The 15,000 square foot main residence is surrounded by the carriage house (room above for the stable hand), the home of Martin’s sister, a gorgeous arboretum, and the home of the resident gardener. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the Martin Complex may be one of the best examples of Wright’s prairie style architecture.

Since we were only 15 miles away, I couldn’t bear the thought of not visiting the falls. We had been to Niagara Falls with the kids decades ago. But when we went, we only visited the Canadian side. The parkway along the Niagara River on the Canadian side gives you a perfect view of both the Canadian and the American falls. So, we finally made it to Niagara Falls on the American side for real. I still think the horseshoe falls are more stunning, but the American falls are pretty spectacular as well when you get up close.

We found a gem in Buffalo, the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. The Site was the home of Roosevelt’s friend Ainsley Wilcox. In 1901, Buffalo was a boom town, and not surprisingly the Pan-American Exposition was held there. Then president William McKinley came to the Exposition and while there, was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. All thought McKinley would recover, but days later he died, and Roosevelt was called to Buffalo to assume the presidency. On September 14, 1901 John R. Hazel administered the Oath of Office in the home of Wilcox where Roosevelt was staying. The Site gives you a very comprehensive perspective on what was happening in 1901 during that tragic few days.

We searched and found out that the Whispering Giant of Peter Wolf Toth was sitting in Dunkirk New York. Since it wasn’t too far off our planned travel route, we made a slight detour to take it in. Yippee! One more thing off the bucket list!  

Talk to you soon.