Home

It was a long last day, and we spent most of it in the car. We awoke early in Niagara Falls to driving rain. The rain had slowed by the time we cleared out of our room, but there was still a heavy mist in the air. We hopped right in the van and headed for home, grabbing breakfast and lunch along the way to eat as we drove. By the time we hit the Pennsylvania state line, the rain had mostly ended and the sun was starting to shine. We took quick pictures at the state line in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Joshua and Justin counted down the hours and minutes until we reached home, and everyone was relieved when we finally pulled in to our driveway at 5:30PM. Over the 14 days, we visited 12 different states (and 1 Canadian Province!), drove 2,299.3 miles in 65 hours, 10 minutes, and stayed in 8 different hotels.

It's good to be home...

Niagara Falls

What a fun day! After breakfast at Denny's, we headed across the street to board the famous Maid of the Mist. They gave us stylish blue raincoats, and we took our places on the top deck of the boat. Talk about a close view of the Falls! First we cruised by the American Falls. As we approached it started to get really windy. The mist from the Falls was like driving rain. We were all soaked to the bone. The Horseshoe Falls was even more violent. It seemed as though the boat was only a couple hundred feet away from the edge. Justin loved the whole experience. Joshua liked the boat ride, but didn't really care for all the wind and rain when we were up close. You could really feel the power being so close to the Falls, and it was very warm here today so the spray felt good. I shot a lot of video, so hopefully it comes out O.K. Afterwards, Justin and I played 18 holes at Niagara Putt across from our hotel. After some serious trash-talking, Justin proceeded to lose by 2 strokes. Still, we had fun (although it was starting to get hot). We had lunch at the Misty Dog (next to the Twist O' The Mist ice cream shop). Jennifer had some interesting looking sweet potato french fries. I took a nice nap while Justin and Joshua played video games in the small arcade they have in the hotel lobby. Dinner at Denny's followed. We're all tired of eating at restaurants (especially Denny's), and we're really looking forward to heading home tomorrow...

Cooperstown

Today we visited Cooperstown, New York, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Cooperstown is a very picturesque little town in the middle of nowhere. It sits on Otsego Lake, and that's where we started our day. We ate breakfast at the Lake Front Restaurant as the mist began to rise off the surface of the water. We had beautiful sunshine all day long for our visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This was one of those places I could spend a whole day at. We enjoyed learning about the origins of the game, and seeing the old pictures. The actual Hall where the players are enshirined is rather quiet and solemn. The town was buzzing with activity, since they will be inducting two more members this Sunday, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn. By 1:00PM, we were ready to move on to Niagara Falls. It was a 4 hour drive across the heart of New York. I drove the first half, and Jennifer drove the second (I had a headache). As we approached our hotel, I made a wrong turn and ended up over the Rainbow Bridge and in Canada. Yeesh...what a mess! Simply turning around and heading back to the U.S.A. isn't as simple as you would think. It took 15 minutes to convince Canadian Customs that we had made a wrong turn and wanted to return to the U.S. We finally arrived at the Days Inn, a short walk from the American Falls. We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed over to the Falls. The view from the U.S. side is not as inpressive, but we didn't want to hassle with going in to Canada again. We checked out the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island, which is between the two. It was nice, but tomorrow will be better...

The Adirondacks

We left the Holiday Inn in South Burlington, Vermont early today. Joshua and Justin loved the heated indoor pool, and were sad to leave it behind. But, we had a boat to catch, and by 9:30AM, we were cruising across Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York on the Valcour with our trusty 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan safely aboard. An hour later we docked in New York at the foot of the Adirondack's. We had originally planned to drive down to a hotel we had booked in the Albany area, but Jennifer wanted to visit her friend who was staying in Eagle Bay, a 90-minute drive from where we were. So through the mountains we went, passing through several small towns including Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games. We walked around the town and I took a bunch of pictures of the event sites. Surprisingly, Lake Placid was very crowded, even in the summer. From there, it was another couple hours to Eagle Bay, where we stopped for a visit and dinner. Josh was happy to play with his buddy Ian from school. Still, we had to hit the road for the drive towards our next destination...Cooperstown. AAA set us up at a Red Carpet Inn just outside of town. It was an old hotel that really reminded me of the ones we used to stay at back in the 70's. It was clean enough for the night, and we are planing to leave early tomorrow, anyway...

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ben & Jerry

Our longest day of driving. We left Boston at 9:00AM and arrived at our first stop, Kennebunkport, Maine, an hour or so later. What a beautiful little town. We dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean and even stopped at a place called Poofberry's, a nice little toy store where Josh got some more Thomas trains(!) From there, we settled in for a long drive across New Hampshire and Vermont under cloudy (and sometimes drizzly) skies. It had finally started to clear when we arrived at the Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour. We learned how they make all the yummy ice cream. There were free samples at the end of the tour (Banana On The Rum). We all had an ice cream before loading in the van for the short ride to our hotel, the Holiday Inn in South Burlington, Vermont. It seems nice, but after 9 days, all the hotels are starting to look the same. This place has two pools (indoor and outdoor), so the boys are happy. Tomorrow, we take to the high seas...

Fenway Park

What a glorious day for a ball game! 75 and sunny. After a way-too-expensive breakfast buffet, we boarded the shuttle for the trip to Copley Square, which is in the heart of downtown Boston. It's pretty quiet here on a Sunday, so the ride didn't take long at all. From there we boarded The T, which is the subway. What a difference between the subway system here and the one in New York City. Here, the subway is basically an underground train. You walk down the stairs and the tracks are right there at your feet. I don't know how they keep people from walking on the tracks. The actual ride is a lot smoother here, and the trains back up in the stations forcing them to stop frequently. Another cool thing, the subway engineer sits right up front, just like on a city bus. We took the Green Line uptown to Fenway Park. After a short walk over the freeway, we were there. As I expected, Fenway really reminded me of Tiger Stadium...except a lot, lot cleaner. The neighborhood surrounding the stadium was quite clean. Inside the park, it's very tight. The field looks small, and the grandstands are right on top of the players. Just like Tiger Stadium, there are poles everywhere obstructing your view, but that's the charm of the place. It was strange watching a baseball game that didn't include the Tigers, but it was fun. We cheered for the Red Sox, anyway. We met someone that was from Plymouth, Michigan, just checking out the stadium like us. He was brave enough to wear his Tigers cap. We weren't. The hot dogs they sell at the game are really different. They don't even use a bun. It's just a piece of white bread folded in half. Tasted good, though! We got to see Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox belt a homer to center field, which was cool. By the fourth inning, it was time to head back to catch the last shuttle back to our hotel and avoid a $20 cab ride. Back at the hotel we had dinner at the hotel cafe. It was O.K. We swam in the pool for an hour or so and headed back to the room to pack up for our long drive tomorrow...

New England Aquarium

We visited the New England Aquarium today and had a great time. It was the best aquarium we've ever been to. It was a bit crowded, but still we had fun checking out all the sea life. There were jellyfish, giant turtles, penguins, puffer fish, and even sharks! I shot great video of the giant sea turtle swimming up to the glass and really checking Joshua and Jennifer out. Of course, Justin loved the penguins...and there were dozens of them. My favorite was the jellyfish. They had a special exhibit with several tanks full of them. After the aquarium we walked to the Quincy Market. I thought it was going to be an open-air market similar to Eastern Market in Detroit...but really it was just a shopping mall with a bunch of stores and restaurants. We walked by the original Cheers bar from the TV show. There are two Cheers in Boston. The original bar (which we saw today), and the new version, which was designed as a replica of the one from the TV show. Once again, the boys were underwhelmed. We walked a bit of the Freedom Trail before heading back to Boston Harbor to catch our shuttle bus back to the hotel. In the evening, we took another shuttle to Harvard Square in Cambridge. It's a short ride over the Charles River and in to Cambridge. We had a nice dinner at UNO, then shopped at a department store called The Coop. Jennifer finally got her copy of the new Harry Potter book, and the boys got a couple books, too. Tomorrow afternoon it's off to Fenway Park to (hopefully) witness a first-class White Sox beatdown...