So instead, I am sitting at a shaded table in front of the Human Ecology building (my new favorite spot to work, and eat lunch) writing a long-overdue blog post and enjoying the gorgeous weather and a bottled iced tea from Wegman's.
We took two trips this week for the REU program: a trip to Corning, NY which involved visiting the Corning Museum of Glass and the main research facility for Corning, Inc. (where they make--you guessed it--glass); and a day-long trip to Niagara Falls. The post that follows is full of pictures. :)
Corning
Look what I made! The first thing we did at the glass museum was to make our own suncatchers, which will be put in a kiln so that all of the little glass pieces will soften and melt. (In case you can't tell because of my unique artistic style, it is a beach. With an ocean. And a palm tree and some generically-shaped birds.)
Then we took a guided tour of their main glass exhibit. They had SO much more than what we saw, and I was a little disappointed we didn't have time to see it all. But what we did see--which was a history of glass making from ancient times, through the Renaissance, and into the modern age--was really spectacular.
(That face was engraved in the glass using pointillism--tiny, tiny scratches.)
This piece was almost 9 feet tall.
They showed off these flowers by putting them in metal pots, and putting the pots in the back of a large, old-fashioned Chevrolet truck. It was immensely cute.
And we got to watch a professional glass blower!
I have no pictures from Corning, Inc. because we were not allowed to take them. In fact, we weren't even allowed to take cell phones in the building. Security was airtight. It was really interesting, though; we got to look at a lot of the labs and machinery that they use to research glass and ceramics, as well as the manufacturing floor where they create the glass and shape it and cool it. After having been shown so many academic labs, looking at things from an industry perspective was really very refreshing.
Niagara
We left for Niagara at 7am, and got there around 10am. It was cold and rainy, and I figured my first Niagara souvenir would have to be a sweatshirt. We decided to go on the Maid of the Mist before souvenir shopping, though, so I remained cold and wet for much of the morning.
For those of you who have never been to Niagara, you should know that the main souvenir everyone gets is ponchos. Lots of ponchos. The Maid of the Mist ponchos were blue, while the Cave of the Winds ponchos were yellow. The blue poncho was so long it brushed the tops of my feet, and I had to lift it to climb stairs. Felt like a particularly baggy prom dress.
But the falls! They were really, really incredible, and I probably took way too many pictures so I'll only show the best of them here. (Remember you can click on them to make them bigger!)
The American Falls, with Bridal Veil falls off to the right.
Horseshoe falls!
What really struck me about Horseshoe Falls was how absolutely immense they were. This picture shows less than half of the width of the falls. Unfortunately, the mist created by the sheer amount of falling water prevented pictures of the entire falls.
(from the observation deck)
Oops, looks like my roommate's finger is at the bottom of that picture haha, but look! The sun is out!
Once the sun came out the falls were even more breathtaking than before. (I also lost my desire to buy an overpriced sweatshirt.) We went to lunch, and then to Goat Island for another, closer view of the top of the falls.
Some of the rapids in the Niagara river before the falls.
The roar when you came up close to the falls was absolutely incredible.
After admiring the view for a bit, we decided to go to the Cave of Winds (which, contrary to what the name might suggest, is not a cave).
As it says, There is no cave.
I do not have pictures from the Cave of Winds. The Cave of Winds is actually a deck that is directly below the Bridal Veil Falls. You wear a yellow poncho and go out on the deck, where the wind and the water is so incredible you feel like you're on the deck of a ship in a hurricane. (So I didn't take out my camera, for fear of it getting wet)
It was easily the highlight of the entire trip. We got as close to the falls as we could--where the roar is deafening and the water is poured on you in hard, fast buckets--and screamed and hooted and hollered and generally got wet and had fun. There will be pictures! I just didn't take them! Watch for them on Facebook, and I might post one of them on the blog later (they were pretty epic).
Then we went to Canada!
In the middle of the Rainbow Bridge.
The American Falls.
Horseshoe Falls, from a distance.
A rainbow appears!
After we saw the Horseshoe Falls up close, we went to a nearby bar with an outdoor, second-story patio overlooking the falls (they're in that bright white spot between us). My roommate Allie and I got delicious martinis!
We got back home around 10pm that night, after an exhausting day. Niagara Falls was incredible, the pictures don't do it justice, and I would absolutely love to go back there someday.
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