Autumn Escapades

Autumn is a lovely season! The temperature is just right, the flowers are still in bloom, and most of all, the change in the foliage colors is just stunning! I take in this experience like a hungry child, and so I try to take long drives in the fall just to enjoy the amazing colors that Mother Nature generously scatters all over the northeastern United States.

Driving to Michigan early in the month, around a bend in the Pennsylvania turnpike, we were suddenly met by a very beautiful display of autumn colors: various shades of red, orange, yellow and green. I clapped my hands in delight at seeing such perfect mountainscape bathed in the afternoon sun. After this sight, on the way up and coming back, I was on a lookout for similar sceneries but nothing else can match that gorgeous sight.

We also decided to visit Lady Liberty just to say hi to her. Actually, Cynthia, my brother-in-law’s wife is visiting us, so we thought she should pay her respects to one of the most noble and popular ladies of modern civilization. We went on a weekday, so the tourist rush was not that bad, but I cannot say the same of the New York city traffic. We couldn’t seem to find Ground Zero in the maze of traffic and one-way streets and what’s more, got pulled over by the NYPD traffic cop – for turning right on red! Well, at least, we can say we saw New York city, even if it was only from our car. There was nowhere to park, even just to find a restroom! Country bumpkins that we are, we drove away without even stepping on terra firma of this famous city.

Another lady we visited just this weekend was named Lelawala. Have you heard of her?

No? How come? I thought she was famous!

Maybe her birthplace might ring a bell: Niagara.

Okay, here is the story: Lelawala was a beautiful Indian princess(aren’t they all are?) who live upriver from Niagara. She got betrothed (don’t ask me how) to a guy chosen by the chief (yes, same plot), someone older, richer but mean (you can see where this is leading, but hold on, there might be something different here). On the day of the wedding, Lelawala was so heartsick, she ran away (Cynthia said she’ll run away too if she were in L’s place – the groom was old and ugly and fierce looking). Lelawala could not bear the shame that she has brought to her family, so she took a canoe, and fled. The story (really, the myth) says that she heard the call of the thunder gods, and followed their voices. She paddled her canoe until she reached the rapids of the Niagara, and plunged into the thundering roar of the waterfalls. People say they sometimes see her standing on a rock, thinly veiled by the mists of the roaring waters, hands stretched upward as in worship. They claim she protects those who respect the beauty and strength of this amazing wonder of nature, and is the reason for the survival of some of those who plunged into the water below.

Hey, nice story, isn’t it? The boats that ferry tourists from the US side is called “Maid of the Mist,” while those from the Canada side are called “Lelawala.” Now you know!

Beautiful, amazing, powerful – I am out of vocabulary for this wonderful handiwork of the Lord. See the photos, otherwise, give this place a visit –it will be worth your while. And say hi to Lelawala for me. Happy Autumn!