The beautiful Niagara River

On Wednesday, I went to an event that I thought would be a simple photo op of the unveiling of a kiosk devoted to helping veterans find whatever information they need. The location was the Welcome Center in Grand Island, New York. The kiosks are provided by the New York State Department of Veterans’ Services. Well, I was there for more than two hours, but the information provided by a number of speakers was incredible, and I will be sharing that information during October’s Ultimate Blogging Challenge,

Afterwards, I had the opportunity to take some pictures at the Eagle Overlook, on the west side of Grand Island. It is directly across the river from Navy Island. Actually, Navy Island is another island in the Niagara River, and it’s a short trip from Eagle Overlook to Navy Island. Once there, you can only paddle around the island. You can’t step foot on Navy Island for two reasons. The first is that it’s a protected nature sanctuary. And the second being that it’s actually Canada. Yes, Canada is that close. It’s even closer than that, however. Once you push off with your kayak and you go a very tiny distance in the river (and yes, you could wade that far without the water being beyond your waist, which isn’t much because I am a short person), you are in Canadian waters. You don’t need to call in to customs or do anything like that as long as you don’t step out of the boat onto dry land! Oh, and by the way, for a little geography fun, from Grand Island, Canada is both to the north and to the west. Oh, and for a little more geography fun: the Niagara River technically isn’t a river; it’s a strait that connects two lakes to each other. These would be Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Granted, with the presence of Niagara Falls, the connection is rather treacherous, so don’t take your kayak there.