Some places simply do not live up to the hype.
Others surpass your expectations. Niagara Falls and the Pro Football Hall of Fame somehow manage to do both.
After a 10 hour drive straight thru from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Buffalo, New York, we looked forward to checking out the Bills Stadium, eating wings, and seeing some of the world’s most majestic waterfalls. Buffalo is a hard-scrabble town, a border outpost, a workingman’s pride-filled last stop before you drive across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada. For us, Buffalo had a similar feel to Green Bay or Milwaukee. Laverne and Shirley could’ve definitely worked in Buffalo and we would not have noticed much of a difference.
Also, it’s usually freezing cold in Buffalo for a good part of the year. Just not when we arrived. Instead, it was a sweltering 90 degrees at the end of August. On the bright side, the summer heat makes you really appreciate the coolness created by the mist of the falls.
We passed by the stadium, ate some wings, and drove over to catch our first glimpse of the mighty falls prior to the sun setting. The amount of water pouring over the rocks at Niagara is mind blowing. The number of trees lodged on the banks or near the drop gives visible proof of the incredible raging power of water. From the top of Niagara Falls, Mother Nature is telling you “Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it.”
Clearly, many people do not listen. The number of folks who have tried to go over the falls is shocking. The amount of people who survived going over the falls is kind of crazy, too.
And yes, they actually did get inside of barrels and all kinds of other contraptions to see if they could make it. It is estimated that more than 5,000 people have attempted this truly crazy feat.
The first known survivor of going over Niagara Falls was said to be a teacher. In a barrel. She must’ve had a really bad year in her one room schoolhouse.
From the top of the falls looking over at Canada, Niagara is slightly disappointing. It is when you go down to the bottom of the falls, and get on one of the Maid of the Mist boats and float right next to and underneath them, you begin to appreciate this place of so many yesteryear honeymoons. When the boat starts to get so close to the falls that you’re starting to get soaked and you hear the roaring sound of cascading water hitting the rocks, that is the moment when Niagara surpasses your expectations.
It is also then and there, that your respect for the school teacher who decided to go over the falls and the admiration for her strength of body and mind (and barrel) in order to survive the plunge, is fully realized. School teachers are brave. Many are unsinkable. They know how to live through some of the most harrowing and frightful conditions on a daily basis and still manage to come out on top with hope for tomorrow.
If you ever go to Niagara Falls, make sure you read a history of the place first and second, make sure you get to the bottom of the falls by car not any other way, and take a boat journey into the mist. It is worth the money.
If Niagara Falls and the Buffalo Bills are not enough to lure you to this somewhat forgotten part of New York, four hours from Niagara Falls, is the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
When you first arrive in Canton, you are completely underwhelmed. I mean, for your entire life, if you are an NFL fan, or an NFL player, you have been trying to “get to Canton.” This football shrine is small and the town it’s located in is even smaller but the experience, once you walk through its doors, is BIG. Canton does not disappoint. And you don’t need to wear or earn a gold jacket to appreciate it. To the true NFL fan, it is a homecoming of sorts. To an NFL miniature helmet and pencil collector, it is the mothership. They’re all there. Every team’s story and every great player’s glory. It is a holy church of pigskin and chalked lines, pilings and hash marks, grass and golden statues. It is a strange and wondrous place.
If you love the NFL or even just love your team, you should take the journey to where football supposedly began. The Canton Bulldogs were the first NFL champions mostly because they had perhaps the greatest athlete to ever play the game, the mighty Jim Thorpe. Go ahead and read a history about this gridiron Native American giant before you go, too. Jim Thorpe lived about 10 of our modern lives during his time on the planet. Just you try to tackle him and his complexities with only that little piece of leather strapped onto your head.
Concussion protocol? Sir?
Canton has so many stories. From Doug Williams to Brett Favre, Lynn Swann to Larry Csonka, it is a trip through your childhood and into the present. The theater they have will literally take you into the game. You will feel like you are on the offensive line trying to prevent Reggie White from getting to your quarterback. The sound system is amazing.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame also has turf field you can play on with your kids or by yourself. Remember throwing the ball up in the air and catching it when no one in the neighborhood was available to play? Skills! You can run plays, run routes, and run through quite a bit of cash in the shrine’s shop where EVERY NFL team is represented by bobbleheads, blankets, pennants, and yes, helmets.
Finally, one word of caution if you ever do make it to Canton. The actual shrine of bronzed heads of the NFL greats feels a little weird when you are in there. It’s quiet. It’s dark. You recognize some of the players but most of the busts will be unfamiliar to you. It feels a bit like you have stumbled into an underground lair of some crazy person that worships smiling men with tons of different hairstyles. If you are a barber, the NFL Hall of Fame room of heads provides an unintended trip through the decades of different haircuts from the wings, feathers, and afros of the 1970s players to the close edge ups and side parts of players from other eras.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, truly has something worth seeing for everyone. If you’re lucky, and your timing is right, you can even catch a glimpse into the inner NFL sanctum and see the holy grail: the Vince Lombardi trophy.
It’s a long drive for sure, but it’s worth the trip.
Lovely tribute to my college town of Buffalo.