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...

New York City to Boston

We had to say goodbye to New York City this morning. After a nice breakfast at the hotel diner we climbed back in the van for the trip to Boston. Josh was antsy all day, so we had to make quite a few stops along the way. We traveled through Connecticut and Rhode Island before making our way to Massachusetts. Rolling in to Boston went a lot slower than New York City. Traffic was stop and go for the last 30 miles or so. We made it to the Doubletree Suites by 5:00PM and moved all or luggage up to our 12th floor room overlooking the Charles River, not far from Harvard (or as they say...Haaahvaad). The room is very nice, 2 double beds in the bedroom, and a sleeper sofa in the living room. Justin and Josh love it! They had fun trying out the indoor pool, and ordering dinner from room service. After the late dinner, they watched some videos from bed while I typed this and Jennifer washed a week's worth of dirty laundry. Looking forward to exploring Boston tomorrow...

The Statue of Liberty

Thursday was our last full day in New York City. We were up early for a visit to the Statue of Liberty. We boarded the first boat out to Liberty Island at 8:30AM, and enjoyed the 15-minute voyage. It was a very foggy morning, so we didn't have much of a view of the statue as we arrived. After an hour-long wait in line, we passed through security (for the second time) and headed up to the observation level. Before 9-11, Jennifer and I walked all the way up to the crown, but not anymore. Visitors are only allowed to the feet of the actual statue these days. Still, it was 154 steps to the observation deck, and I was carrying Joshua the whole way. What a workout! The weather cleared while we were in line, so it was a nice view. Josh enjoyed the boat rides, but he wasn't impressed with Miss Liberty, or the brief stop afterwards at Ellis Island. Back at Battery Park, we took the short walk to Ground Zero. It was sad being there knowing how beautiful the World Trade Center was when Jennifer and I visited it just 10 years ago, but it was really sad seeing the dozens of the hucksters selling trinkets, junk souvenirs, and bad artwork of the WTC at the place where thousands of people had died tragically. As sad as it was, it was nice to see the work being done to the entire area. The place was a beehive of activity. There were hundreds of construction workers buzzing around laying the groundwork for the Freedom Tower. We had a great dinner at the Olive Garden in Times Square, then visited the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museum. Justin had been eyeballing it for 3 days, and was thrilled when we finally found time to go in. Believe it or not, we paid $25 each to get in. Ouch. After dropping Jennifer and the boys off at the hotel to go to sleep, I took the subway downtown to Greenwich Village to check out Bleecker Bob's Records. It was fun to visit, but I didn't see anything worth buying. Maybe next time. Tomorrow we're off to Boston...

Times Square & Coney Island

Day Two in New York City was certainly full of excitement. It rained hard most of the morning, but eventually slowed to the point where we could head out for some more sightseeing. We started with a great breakfast at the small diner next to the lobby of our hotel. From there it was a short walk down 42nd Street to Times Square. Our first stop was Toys R Us. This was not your ordinary Toys R Us, this was an amusement park. They had a huge Ferris Wheel inside the building, along with a bunch of other cool themed sections. I liked the full-sized Jurassic Park dinosaur the best. Incredibly, we walked out of there without buying ANYTHING. This was not to be the case at the M&M's Store or the Virgin Megastore. The boys bought candy to munch and DVD's to watch in the car on our way to Boston later this week. After a short break back at the hotel, we boarded the N Train for the 45 minute trip to Coney Island in Brooklyn. Josh really seemed to enjoy the ride. Part of it was underground, and part was elevated. We arrived at Coney Island just as they were opening the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster after a rain shower. Justin and I rode twice while Josh and Jennifer videotaped. Soon after riding they closed the whole park for the day. I'm not sure what the deal was, but the sun came out so it couldn't have been the weather. Maybe they could tell we were from Detroit and were still grumpy about the baseball playoffs last year. Oh well, we did get to ride the Cyclone a couple times and Justin loved it. We walked some of the boardwalk and then grabbed some Nathan's Coney Island for the ride back to Manhattan. We arrived at the hotel at 6:00PM, just as an underground steam pipe exploded just a half-mile from our hotel. We didn't hear or feel a thing, but it was sort of eerie watching the news coverage of something happening so close by. After an hour in the chilly pool, we picked up some not-so-good carry-out pizza slices and took them back to the room. One more full day in New York awaits...

New York City

Not much driving today (woo hoo!). I was up early to exercise and load the van, while everyone else slept in. By 9:30AM we were on our way. Our first stop was the Crayola Crayon Museum in Easton, Pennsylvania. The boys had fun learning how crayons are made and checking out all the hands-on exhibits. Lots of drawing and painting. After a quick lunch we started our short trip through New Jersey and on to New York City. Driving the last 10 miles or so was pretty nerve-wracking. The people here drive like maniacs. Pretty much, anything short of driving on the sidewalk is O.K. Still, we found our way through the Lincoln Tunnel and on to 42nd Street, where the Travel Inn was waiting for us. Check in went fine, parking was something else. The hotel has free underground parking, which is rare for New York City. The nice Indian parking lot attendant helped guide (shoehorn) me into a sub-compact parking spot in the far reaches of the dimly-lit garage. We eventually got parked, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get the van out again. It might just be easier to abandon it and buy a new one when it's time to leave. Since the weather man says it's going to rain for the next three days, we (I) decided we should visit the Empire State Building right away (today was very sunny). We spent an hour checking out the view of the city from all four sides of the observation deck. The boys weren't very impressed (probably cause they were tired and wanted to swim). On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a 7-11 store that had been converted to a Kwik-E-Mart (from the TV show The Simpsons). Josh and Justin got Squishee's, and I took a bunch of pictures of Apu. Sadly, we only got a few minutes in the pool before they booted us out for the night. We'll swim tomorrow...

Hersheypark

Day 3 was filled with some serious riding. Roller coasters, trains, monorails, swing rides, frog hoppers, giant slides, and more roller coasters. We arrived at Hersheypark at 10:00AM and slowly eased into riding. Justin was ready to rock right away, but Josh (and Jennifer) were content to watch us ride at first. We rode the Comet roller coaster first, then the Swing Ride (twice), the Giant Slide, and the Miniature Train. Josh took a nap while Justin and Jennifer waited TWO HOURS for the Roller Soaker. It's a pretty cool ride that has a roller coaster track that you ride on while people squirt you with water from down below. I imagine it felt good getting soaked on this hot day (it was about 90 degrees), but Justin said it wasn't worth the 2 hour wait in line. Oh well. After lunch, we rode the Trailblazer roller coaster. Even Joshua rode! It was his very first roller coaster ride, and he claims he didn't like it (but I think he really did). The rest of afternoon was spent riding and eating...two of our favorite things! We rode more roller coasters: the Lightning Racers (twice), the Wildcat (twice), the Wild Mouse, and the Trailblazer (two more times!). Joshua really loved the Monorail ride around the park. He even managed to get Jennifer on the Frog Hopper! By 8:00PM, we were ready to head for our next hotel, the Comfort Inn in Bethel, Pennsylvania. It's a very nice place, very clean. Well, it's off to the pool for a quick swim (including Josh!) and them some much-needed sleep...

Yummy Chocolate!

Day 2 was a good one. We were up by 8:00AM, and after our complimentary continental breakfast it was back on the road again. The boys were great today. Hardly any fighting and nary a single mention of additional birthday presents. We arrived at the Comfort Inn Riverfront in Harrisburg, Pennsylvannia by 2:00PM. We made pretty good time, just a couple stops to stretch our legs and get some food. After checking in the hotel, we headed for Hershey (about 8 miles away). It's a beautiful little town with a nice downtown area. The street lights are Hershey Kisses! We ended up at Chocolate World, which is sort of their factory tour. There's a short ride telling how they make the chocolate. The kids seemed to enjoy it. They really liked the free samples at the end! From there it was on to the reason for stopping here in the first place...the Hot Fudge Sundae! 7 months of dieting torture has led to this defining moment. Mmmm...yum, yum, yum...so good, so much guilt. Chomp, chomp, chomp...so much sugar. Burp. Ahhh, now THAT'S a hot fudge sundae! After Chocolate World, we headed back to the hotel for some swimming in the nice pool. Warmer water than yesterday, but Joshy still wouldn't go in. Maybe tomorrow. <<< Here's a nice picture of Justin wearing his new coon skin cap.

On our way!

Day One of our 2 week vacation and we celebrated Joshua's 3rd birthday on the road. We left Livonia at 8:30 AM and after a quick stop for Dunkin Donuts, we hit the road. We gave Josh his presents while we were in the van and he was very happy to get MORE Thomas trains. After he had opened all the gifts he wanted more. He asked for more presents every 30 seconds for the rest of the day. We were all tired of hearing him ask by the time we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Wheeling, West Virginia at 2:00PM. Still, he kept asking and over and over all the way through our dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We spent an hour in the (cold) swimming pool, but Josh was afraid of the fish in the water (there wasn't any) so he watched from the side. We finally settled in the for the night at 9:00PM after visiting Cabela's for a couple hours and seeing lots of neat animals (stuffed) and fish (real). Justin got his own coon skin hat. It was a great first day!