jeepneyjinggoy: Buffalo

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“We’re checking out the Whirlpool,” said our designated tour guide. Huh? “We’re not doing laundry, are we?” came the replies.

"Isn't this one big washing machine?!?!" (Putting words into Jinky & Tess' mouths. )

We just had to reply with a bad joke just to keep everyone’s spirits up while driving around and touring the city on a gloomy day in Buffalo, Upstate New York. Good thing the rain has stopped falling, we were praying it would so that we can continue our search for the “yellowest” foliage in the area for some photo-ops. Tourists. From the tropics, at that.

We found our yellow!

As the proverbial line says, “we hit two birds with one stone” arriving at our destination. The whirlpool is the Niagara Whirlpool, a state park that offer the yellow patches we were after. In fact it was everywhere along a network of nature trails overlooking spectacular views of swirling rapids. The path descends into a gorge of the Niagara River where the famous natural whirlpool, downstream from Niagara Falls, is.

Follow the foot path

Of course before we took the educational and scenic trail, we had to deal with our immediate concern—a few (too many) shots of everything yellow before, over and behind us.

We thought we had enough rushing water for the day, coming from the Niagara Falls and stared in awe of its beauty and power. This part of the river is different and a good sight to check out as well. The other good thing about taking this trail is you can get a good cardio workout while admiring the scenery.

It’s said that the 125-foot deep (at its deepest point) whirlpool located along the US-Canadian border between New York and Ontario was formed 4,200 years ago by the upstream erosion of the Niagara Escarpment (a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations) by the Niagara River.

A closer look at the powerful whirling pool

Prehistoric? You bet. Maybe that’s what makes the visit a bit more exciting but I can’t seem to grasp the technicalities of how it became such – water retreating upstream, intersection with an ancient pre-glacial river bed etc. But I get the picture, more or less.

Standing on higher ground viewing the whirling water is like looking into a gigantic washing machine, only this one is surrounded by a lush forest. Well, I can’t help but blurt out another bad joke, “ Can you imagine how clothes that can wash in one cycle.” Sigh.

Well, it’s not just the clothes. How about the clothes and a person in it in the whirlpool? Yes, just like in the Niagara Falls, there are a few souls who wanted to challenge the force of nature. Whatever these daredevils’ reasons were, a couple have been successful crossing it while riding a barrel but the more daring person who swam across the whirling pool didn’t make it.

The daredevils' post

So we got to see this part of the Niagara River plus taken loads of photos with the yellow background. There was no sun shining on this gloomy day but our smiles and cheerful disposition (like kids playing in the park) surely made up for the lack of the yellow rays.