An Eventful 26 Hours, Part 2

As I mentioned previously, the first order of business on Saturday was going to the Canal Fest craft show.  I have fond memories of going with my mom and grandma, and I've appreciated getting to do it with my mom many years since my grandma passed away in 2011, at least until COVID hit.  So, this year, after a couple years off, I really wanted to go.  

I feel like I'm an unlikely craft show person since most of what they sell usually isn't my aesthetic, but I think it's just an ingrained tradition now because I always look at crafters at other festivals, too!  When I was little, I liked looking at the Cabbage Patch Kid and Barbie clothes.  When I was a little older, I would always be on the lookout for little trinkets for the shadow boxes in my room (one of which is now in my dining room).  Over the years there have been some vendors I specifically looked for depending on various stages of life and house decor, like our favorite tole painter (my grandma always bought the married couples a personalized sign from her, and I have a bunch of tiny Christmas decorations she did), the pen and ink artist who draws pictures of local colleges and landmarks, or nowadays the vendors with food samples, cheap jewelry, or things that often need replacing like hanging kitchen towels.  But these days I rarely have big plans to buy anything (unless it's the Hilton Apple Fest and my blown glass pumpkin guy is there), so for the most part it's about time with my mom and taking in the festival experience--including picking a food vendor for lunch!  As I thought through my wardrobe based on the forecasted heat, I marveled thinking about when my grandma used to go.  She always had a lot of aches and pains from two bad hips and yet always braved the heat (in pants, always) and the multiple mile walk.  We used to retreat to the McDonald's on one side of the bridge for a little A/C and lunch, then head back out to finish things off.  I was always tired back then myself, let alone now, so it's amazing what she could do!  I miss her.

We headed out to get there right around the official opening time, to try to beat the big crowds.  It's always busy but manageable at that time.  We were a little surprised how many fewer vendors there were.  A few side streets that used to be full had nothing, so I can't help but wonder where all the vendors have gone.  Other craft fairs?  Did the price to have a booth go up?  Did their creations go out of style in the last couple years so they gave it up?  Did they stop due to health issues, or maybe a change in lifestyle or career when they could no longer go to fairs for a couple years?  It was a little sad, but it meant we got done a while before lunch so we could casually choose our meals and didn't have to brave the heat as long.  We only got some of these amazing cheesecake mixes (add the mix to cream cheese and Cool Whip and pour into a premade crust and instant YUM), but it was interesting to see everything.  So much Bills stuff for sale!  We ran into my cousin and her wife, and my mom chatted with a few other people.  We had a delicious lunch (can't beat Buffalo fried bologna!) and had nice walks along the canal to and from the car, looking at the gorgeous boats docked along the walkway and talking about kayaking and paddleboarding.

While we were gone, my dad took Carter out to lunch at Arby's.  His knee surgery wasn't too invasive so he was able to walk right away, but he was clearly getting a bit sore by the time they got back.  We relaxed for a bit and recharged from the morning heat, and then Carter and I were off to our afternoon adventure.  I had earmarked two playgrounds to check out.  One was a favorite from my own childhood, and one was new to both of us.  

Fairmount Park was sort of the ultimate playground when I was a kid.  It was at the park that held our annual Lutheran School field day, and once all the events were done and we finished our lunch, everyone headed for the playground.  It was big with a lot of different equipment--for example, there was once a thing that had two or three tricycles on it that all went around a track.  It once had one of the original, old school, giant tornado slides.  But field day was tough because there were hundreds of kids there, so I always found myself craving another visit.  Well, when I was maybe around 12, my cousin and I had the bright idea to ride there on our bikes.  It was a straight shot up a single but relatively busy road, so I guess it seemed doable.  And, well, it was, even if it may not have been wise.  It's probably a 10-minute drive so it probably took at least a half hour by bike, but it was awesome having it to ourselves.  I know my parents weren't thrilled when they found out where we went, but it was definitely a memorable adventure!  The last time I was there was when my family reunion was held there 12 years ago.  Jacob had fun on the playground--he was only two!  I wasn't sure what to expect this time, but we got both more and less than we bargained for.

When we arrived, the good news is that there was only one picnic there and it was all adults, so the playground was totally ours.  We immediately noticed this interesting structure and when we got closer, I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing:

It was a full circuit zip line!  Many playgrounds have a straight line one, which is fun, but this was a full circuit--you go down a slope that gives you momentum to swing all the way around, and you stop right around the slope to go up to the starting point.  It looked crazy, almost like a mini roller coaster!  The funny thing was, there was an older couple from the nearby picnic riding it!  I sort of loved that they had no shame going over and trying it out despite being kid-free!  While they were on it, we rode an old-school see-saw.  It's so much better than the spring-based ones these days that mostly just jiggle up and down a bit, although my legs got really tired doing all the launching!  Carter loved it, though!  As we got up to wander around and see the rest of our options, the couple felt guilty about keeping it from a kid so they moved on to the straight-line zip line!

We had a blast on the circuit!  It was a little challenging pulling it back up the end slope, but it was worth the work!

Here's what it looks like in motion, both as a spectator and from a rider's perspective:

We spent quite a bit of time on it until I felt like it was time to check out everything else.  It was a hot day and I knew I'd only have so much energy for playground #2 if we didn't keep things moving.  But trust me, we got in a LOT of rides!

One of the things that stood out about this playground when I was a kid was that there were gravestones scattered throughout.  Since I was a kid they've made more of an effort to chain them off, but they are still there all these years later.  They date back to the early 1900s and there definitely seem to be sad stories among them, like a fifteen-day-old baby.  Some are barely legible or had stones with merely a single letter on top.  They do seem to be maintained, and I'm pretty sure some were updated stones from when I was a kid.  I could see at least four or five distinct grave areas from our vantage point.  Definitely not every day you see that at a playground!

Carter got a kick out of this version of a merry-go-round.  One of my favorite things as a kid was swings that featured these sorts of horses.  You can see one in this post.  Carter got a kick of how fast this would turn--it definitely comes from the era of playground equipment that could injure you!  He was holding on for dear life here when I really got him spinning!

There unfortunately wasn't much else there.  There was a medium-sized slide, an awkward standing see-saw that wouldn't work with our weights, and a smaller, traditional playground apparatus best suited for toddlers.  Much of the old playground land had been turned into tee ball fields.  I could see a twisty slide (not the original--a plastic version) sitting over by the maintenance building, so I assume that was recently removed.  I couldn't help but wonder if there had once been a larger apparatus there whose space was used for the new zip line, but Google Earth is too recent to confirm.  If so I can't say I love that they would have replaced something that can serve a lot of kids with something that can only serve one at a time (or a few good turn-takers), but I'm thrilled we got to check out something so cool!  

The straight-line zip lines used to be the gold standard of a good playground for us, but now it seemed a little less exciting!  We still had a blast on it, though!

After a while we decided it was time to go on to the next playground.  We had additional plans around 6pm so I wanted to get through this little adventure relatively soon.  We drove another 10 minutes or so to a playground in the town of Pendleton that looked pretty good in my cousin's Facebook pictures.  It was a pretty impressive spot--an adaptive playground, a tall big kid apparatus and a little kid one, too.  There were swings and zip lines, as well.  We would have been all over the zip line normally, but we were pretty ziplined out!  But there was some other fun stuff to check out.

The big kid section was pretty good--tall with lots of different climbing stuff and a couple good slides.

The slide on the right was really tall!

 
We climbed around, checked out the monkey bar options, and got a bird's eye view of the rest of the space.

Looking back toward the adaptive area - in the foreground is a littler kid spot (separate from the traditional little kid apparatus off to the right of the photo), and other stuff similar to what we have seen at adaptive playgrounds--chimes, roller slide and table, merry-go-round, swings, etc.--is beyond that.

And of course, Carter saw a tall pole and had to climb it!  He took delight in being eye level with kids who were already up there through other means!

We were probably only there for about a half hour or a little less--I think the heat was enough!  We stopped for gas and Slurpees on our way back to my parents' house.  I got a kick out of the fact that the 7-Eleven we went to was just a block or so down the road from my childhood 7-Eleven where we used to get Slurpees, and at the same place where I first discovered Arctic Swirls (like a Blizzard) when stopping at its predecessor on preteen bike rides.

We had a little bit of time to collect ourselves before heading off on our last adventure - the Sika Challenge!  My mom, Carter and I headed back to Canal Fest for this crazy but fun boat race event.  Basically, teams have a few hours over the course of the week to build their boat out of plywood, zip ties, and Sikaflex Sealant that fills the cracks in the boat.  They get decorated and themed, and then compete in races around the canal.  It can be interesting because some boats are less seaworthy than others, and then you take into account paddling skills and aerodynamics and it can get interesting.  I hadn't been in years--probably not since my uncle did it with a friend years ago--and I thought this was a great opportunity to go again and let Carter see it.

It was still pretty hot when we got there but we just grabbed a hilly spot on the Tonawanda side and laid down blankets.  The canal is so relaxing.  Turns out it's a lot cleaner in North Tonawanda than near Rochester--presumably there's a lot of Niagara River water mixing in and it gets progressively more mucked up along the way.  I guess that will be something to watch on my bucket list bike ride between this spot and my house!  We got there early to get a good spot and watched the boats, kayaks, paddleboards and water bikes go by. 

When the race started there were four initial heats with four boats each.  They had to race from the shore just to our right, around the bridge support in the top picture above, and then end up back at the shore to our left.  It was a lot of paddling for about two solid minutes!  The heat winners moved on to the final heat.  There was some fun theming for the boats - from a "Gnarwahl" with a horn on the front of the boat, to WWE and "Dumb and Dumber" boats, to one that was made to look like the USS Sullivans, a large battleship that is docked at a naval museum in Buffalo and started sinking earlier this year.  Fortunately they were able to save the real boat, and its namesake stayed afloat much better!

You can see the additions in the middle of the boat to make it look like the USS Sullivans!

Here's a video of the championship heat.  These boat designs and paddlers were definitely superior!

After the championship comes a free-for-all battle with the losers.  We were talking earlier in the day about what a shame it is that they do this, since most of the boats are probably garbage after this, but we did notice that the USS Sullivans did not participate, so I guess you can always bow out!  All the boats launch and instead of racing, it just ends up being a series of head-to-head battles to sink the other boats or dump their occupants.  In this picture you can see the "Dumb and Dumber" boat, made to look like the dog truck from the movie, with occupants wearing top hats and life vests alluding to the colors of the famous ugly tuxes the main characters wore.  They even set it up so you could lift the dog's leg and use a large squirt gun to make it "pee"!  For the record, they spent a while after their first heat using those squirt guns and some cups bailing water out of their boat!

In this photo you can see one of the remaining WWE captains (one was dressed like Macho Man Randy Savage and the other like Hulk Hogan) holding up a championship belt after his partner "body slammed" another boat!  This boat had the ropes of a wrestling ring, and I noticed that the other wrestler jumped out on his own, which maybe was a way to save their boat from getting destroyed.

This was the aftermath--a bunch of flipped boats and lots of people in the water!  It was pretty entertaining, admittedly.  I give those boaters a ton of credit because the building has to be a challenge and the racing looks exhausting!

After things wrapped up, we grabbed dinner out (Mighty Taco, one of Carter's favorites) and pretty quickly left for home after that.  It had been a really fun and very tiring 26 hours.  Sunday was predictably a lot more relaxing!  I did some shopping in the later afternoon which went reasonably well.  I'm looking forward to my family reunion this weekend but have a lot of prep to do between food and getting beach-ready!  I just can't believe it's almost August!  Ummmm....YIKES.

An Eventful 26 Hours, Part 1

I had this past weekend on my calendar for weeks because it marked the return of Canal Fest, the annual summer festival in my hometown (and the next town over).  It had taken two years off due to COVID and while it was missing a few things this year (notably the parade and a number of vendors), most of it was back and I wanted to make sure I made it in for the craft show.  It was long a tradition for my mom, grandma, and me to head out early on Saturday morning to hit up the craft show, and I've done my best to make it into town whenever I can to keep that tradition going with my mom now that my grandma is no longer alive.  I pondered what else I could do while I was in town, and had the idea to take Carter with me and do a few fun things with him.  I felt like we were due for an adventure, but it took a little convincing to get him to come with me.  I think the fact that Craig and Jacob were doing a bunch of basketball stuff he'd have to sit through sealed the deal!

For Friday night I wanted to check out Zoomagination at the Buffalo Zoo.  It's a lantern festival similar to what we saw in Syracuse five years ago before one of Jacob's tournaments, but I loved that and some of this looked to be even more impressive based on Facebook photos posted by friends and the zoo itself.  It was a little pricey, but for just the two of us it wasn't bad for a special night out.  Beyond that, I had a couple other fun things up my sleeve for Saturday after the craft show, and the timing worked out nicely because my dad just had knee surgery Thursday so it meant I could see him and give my mom an excuse for a break...haha!  (Don't worry, the knee surgery wasn't too intensive and he could still walk, so it wasn't leaving him defenseless.  Plus he had Carter to help if needed while we were gone.  But I'm sure the mental break was nice for her nonetheless.)

I worked in the office on Thursday and Friday, and apparently I am now completely incompetent at keeping my house life functional when I'm in the office, which meant my Friday after work was a scramble.  I still had packing to do and a couple other things to take care of, in addition to buying Zoomagination tickets, getting everyone fed, and getting us on the road.  That meant we didn't leave until just after 7, but that wasn't a terrible thing because obviously darkness is better for events like this anyway.  I remembered from Syracuse that it was nice to get some daylight time, too, because there are details you can't see as well in the dark, not to mention that daylight photos with people turn out better!  We got there just as the sun was dipping behind the trees, so it was perfect timing.  We lucked out on parking--the lot just filled up just as we got to the front of the line but a free street spot opened up at the same time right next to us and we had first dibs!

The front gate alone was impressive but the lights weren't completely on and visible so this was only half the amazingness it would have been had it been darker.  And unfortunately, they inexplicably turned this off right at 10:30 when the event ended so I didn't get a picture of it in its full glory on our way out.

Right away we were greeted with lovely flowers and butterflies.  Even without the lights being super bright you could tell it was going to be gorgeous.  Some of the butterflies moved their wings and some of the flowers opened and closed.

This tree was outside the former elephant house (now home of the rhinos), so I had to capture both in the same photo.  This zoo holds a lot of memories for me.  I've been here a couple times since I had kids, but this will always be my childhood zoo and one of my favorite school field trips.  I used to love going in the elephant house (not so much the smell) so seeing that classic old building always brings back memories.  And to have this outside it, well...even better!

The wisteria tunnel was gorgeous, even in the daylight.  We had to take a selfie!

Looking up, with blue lights

I was bummed when I found out that the animals would not be on exhibit for this, but I guess it makes sense since it would probably mess with their routines and sleep cycles to have people peering at them right up through night time.  But it turned out that there was plenty to see, and it was cute that they had "replacement" animals throughout the park, often right near their actual exhibit.  The zoo doesn't actually have penguins, but these were one of the first displays we saw, near the rest of the cold weather animals.  They also had wolves, snow leopards, and polar bears.  (Side note: I took over 150 photos of this event so you're just seeing a small fraction of the fun--I'll try to fill in the blanks of pictures I'm not posting when I can.)

There was a series of mythical creatures (you'll see one later), zebras, and rhinos, which led up to the giraffes right outside the giraffe house.  Giraffes are probably my favorite zoo animal, and for the longest time we didn't have them in Rochester so I had to go to Buffalo or other zoos to check them out.  We have them in Rochester now and I really need to get to our zoo ASAP because we have had TWO new babies within the last couple months!  Nothing is more awkwardly cute than a baby giraffe!

They had these two giant alligators--much larger than life--and their mouths opened and closed!

The walkway beyond them was gorgeous and butterfly themed.  They were in the trees, and they had tube lights shaped like butterflies along the railings.  We didn't notice it until further down the path when someone pointed it out, but there were also projections on the path.  The tree displays changed colors and it was so pretty!

I wish I took a late night video but I guess I forgot!

At the end of the butterfly path was a tunnel made of flamingo feathers, along with flamingos!

Speaking of feathers, they had chirping birds, too!

 
The central hub of the zoo, where the fossil dig lives and the focal point of most of the buildings, was quite a sight.  You could see displays all around it, with an impressive lantern display in the central fossil dig area.  The nearby dragon really jumped out.  This was taken from the front of the main building near the lions and tigers looking back toward the rest of the zoo.

The panda falls was really impressive.  There was so much animation and the display was huge.  This picture barely does it justice.  

Here's the video, but I figured the picture might be helpful because I always pan too fast!  Pardon Carter's critique of the awkwardly shaped panda paws...

 

Nearby there were little machines that looked like LED-lit fog machines, but they were actually bubble machines that created bubbles filled with smoke!  They were visibly white and created the most elegant little puff when they popped.  Kids loved standing there each time the bubbles started.  I took this video later in the evening, but it gives you an idea of what it was like:

Nearby were a couple lighted interactive activities.  There were pads you could jump on to make a lighted pole animate (like the strong man hammer games at carnivals) and swings!

As I mentioned, the animals were not out in their habitats for the event.  You could see a rhino through a door and we spied a couple bunnies hanging out in a grassy outdoor habitat, but apparently the bighorn sheep didn't have anywhere to go except their mountain.  So we did get to see them!

There were displays featuring lions, bears, either cheetahs or leopards, as well as something that looked like maybe antelopes (guess I should have looked at the labels better!).  I personally enjoyed the color changing sloths...

...and man-eating plants.  I couldn't decide if these were more "Little Shop of Horrors", "Super Mario", or just plain old venus fly traps.  But their mouths opened and closed, too!

Like the last one of these we visited, there was a series of zodiac-themed lanterns.  These were very different.  Carter took delight in finding his, which was the snake on the left in the picture below.

 
One of the coolest elements was the peacock.  It definitely likes to show off!

I loved the colors of this frog.  The colors changed but it always looked striking.

 

 
I thought it was appropriate that this chameleon changed colors, too!

 

 
The centerpiece of the exhibit was in the circular fossil dig area.  There was a huge display of hanging lanterns.  It was so pretty I couldn't resist a selfie!

 
I thought Carter should have one, too!  You never know when you need a fun self-portrait!

He enjoyed running around on the color changing stars in the middle....

...and then decided he wanted to dig for fossils without tools.  It was a little dirty, but oh well.

 
We spent a lot of time there--partly because Carter was having fun and partly because Craig happened to call while we were there.  But it was starting to get late so we had to keep moving--after all, it was now dark and we had a lot to go back and re-see!  But first, swans!

 
As we traversed the zoo again, Carter wanted to ride a different swing.  The first one he rode was attached to the top bar by two ropes, which meant it only swung forward.  Others had a single connection so they were free to twist and turn a bit more, and he wanted to try that!

It was definitely a sight to behold.  I can't quite describe what it reminded me of, but I suppose it wasn't far off from every overpriced light-up toy they used to sell at the fireworks when I was a kid.

 
We walked back through the wisteria tunnel and it was definitely more interesting in the dark!

Caught this one mid-color change!

We took a series of selfies in each color - red, blue, teal, and purple, but I'll spare you those!  It was amazing how different the flowers looked in each color.  The flowers were pink and purple originally and seemed to take on the light completely, while the green leaves looked brown in some colors.

In a couple spots they had these fake fireworks.  One area had giant cicadas or something in the trees.  This was near the wolves.  The water Carter hears is the hoses filling the water pit in the rhino exhibit.

Here's one of the mythological figures I mentioned earlier.  I thought this one was amazing in the dark!

The butterfly walkway was really neat in the dark.  You could see the projections a lot better.

The butterflies were even more stunning!

 
Even though the dragon was really similar to the one we saw in Syracuse, I couldn't get enough of it.  The colors and patterns were so beautiful.

Carter wanted to do a picture holding up part of the dragon but the angle wouldn't work right so he defaulted to something he saw a kid doing earlier--a mid-jump shot! 

There was a set of wings but the line was pretty long (and disorganized) each time we walked by, but on our last pass they were finally free.  For good reason, I guess, as it was hard to get a good picture in the dark!

You can just see Carter in there somewhere!

 
One walkway back to the front of the zoo had this striking snake tunnel!

Here's the butterfly tree I showed earlier in the dark.  It was really beautiful, as the colors changed from red to green to blue.

Unfortunately, the visit ended on a bit of a low note.  We headed out to the front of the zoo around 10:20 (ten minutes before closing time) to try to do this cool kaleidoscope thing--basically a triangular set of mirrors with video projections that you could step into.  It looked like a fun selfie opportunity.  There had been a long line when we arrived and I figured we'd just do it later whenever we came back to the front.  Our last walk took a little longer than planned, and unfortunately, the worker told us that the group that was in there was the last one for the night.  Apparently that feature gets shut down early to encourage people to leave on time.  I understand it, but I wish they'd have labeled it as such because it was disappointing to miss out.  Carter was really upset and pulled a tantrum much like he had last Sunday, kicking at rocks and generally acting miserable and negative about the entire experience.  At that point I reminded him that we're going to Disney in a month and there will likely be some disappointments there, so he better figure out how to manage them better by then.  I'm not spending thousands of dollars to go there, do a ton of amazing things, and then let one little thing ruin his day (and the rest of ours, too, when he melts down).  So, we have some work to do there.  Then a couple minutes later when we walked out of the zoo, we discovered that those front gate lights were off as well, which was yet another disappointment.  It definitely wasn't the best way to go out and felt a little chintzy on their part.  BUT...overall it was an amazing experience and I truly enjoyed it otherwise.  I love stuff that feels sort of magical and surreal and beautiful like that.

It was a fun night but with the 10:30 closing time we didn't get back to my parents' house until 11pm.  It was a late night but Carter settled in pretty quickly.  We both needed our sleep because we had a full day on tap for Saturday!