Venus listserve 1025-04

[Buczkowski, Debra L.]

Hello Venusians!

 

While there is now an agenda online for next week’s VEXAG Annual Meeting, there is a high chance that the schedule will have to change. If the government shutdown continues into November, all presentation will be moved to Thursday and Friday, to fill the holes left by those presenters who will not be able to attend. If necessary, VEXAG will release a new agenda on Monday November 3.  https://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/meetings/vexagnov2025/

 

For those who have already made travel plans and thus will be in Niagara Falls on Wednesday November 5^th, the VEXAG Deputy Chair Tracy Gregg will be holding optional field trips to the Falls, local sites of interesting geology, and/or a nearby winery.  If you would rather do something on your own time, below is a list of activities that you could do instead.

 

1. Bring your passport: you can walk to Canada across the Niagara River, and get some stunning views of the Falls en route and from the Canadian side. Note, however, that the US side of the river is a State Park (the oldest State Park in the USA), and the Canadian side has more shops and tourist “attractions” (e.g., Madame Toussad’s Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, to name a few). They’ll take US dollars, but your cell phone company might gouge you for international rates.
2. The Underground Railroad Museum is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, small but fierce. Once Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, escaped slaves were only truly free once they crossed the Niagara River to Canada. Niagara Falls, NY, was the last stop for many on their journey to freedom. The museum is located in the Amtrak station.
3. The Niagara Aquarium contains a range of exhibits, some of which focus on the biology of the Great Lakes. They also have sea lion “shows” and a collection of friendly seals.
4. The Niagara Daredevil Museum showcases all those folks who’ve risked life and limb to gain fame and fortune by pitting themselves against the power of Niagara Falls. Please remember that it is currently illegal to go over the Falls, with or without a barrel (gold star if you remember who Annie Taylor was!).
5. Walk the Niagara Gorge Trail. There’s a lovely trail that goes along the top of the gorge (downstream of the Falls) and another path that follows the riverbank.
6. Whirlpool State Park overlooks the Whirlpool rapids, which is the longest stretch of Class 5 rapids in the contiguous USA. The Whirlpool itself is formed where the Niagara River takes a 90° turn. If Daredevils made it over the Falls, they may have ended up trapped in the whirlpool for hours.
7. Devil’s Hole State Park overlooks a portion of the lower Whirlpool rapids, and marks the location of an abandoned plunge pool for the Niagara River.