We drove and we drove, and drove some more!

We did not take our regular trip to Martha's Vineyard this year, due to a number of factors.  The kids have jobs and their employers don't take kindly to their leaving; last year I had trouble with the people on the island -- the stuck-up, snobby, think they are better than you are folks who walk down the middle of the bike path and apparently would rather be run over by you and your bike than acknowledge your existence.  Or the people who think that because they found a spot on the car beach, that it is theirs forever and a day and become FURIOUS that you were smarter than they were and got there earlier to get the spot the next day.  And then you begin to hate yourself for trying to outsmart these creeps, and why doesn't everyone just get along ANYWAY?  I won't mention states, but they all had New York and Connecticut license plates.  It just started to feel as though perhaps trying to mingle with these monsters wasn't exactly relaxing.  No, they have very bad energy and run on high octane stress, and I have a tendency to pick that shit up.  So we didn't go.  And I really didn't miss it.

But I was going to do something, oh hell yes, I was!  So I decided that Peter and I would drive to the wedding of Berit and John, to be held in Minneapolis, and hit some sights along the way.  We left on Sunday, September 23rd, and drove the eight hours to Niagara Falls.  (To see pictures large, click on them)

 

This was our first view of the falls from the 44th floor of our hotel room.  Now, several things happened when I looked out the window.  First, I was PISSED that I wasn't standing in a room in the building in front of me!  I thought I had done extensive research, using TripAdvisor.com and the descriptions from the hotels themselves, and thought that I was in the CLOSEST hotel to the falls, and I had paid the extra moola for the higher floor and the falls view.  So to NOT be on the other side of that building looking at the falls was annoying.  And I hate that it is in ALL of my pictures, because it kept reminding me that ... well, i did get over it, our room and view were fabulous, and the problem is that ALL of the hotels are called So And So Fallsview Resort and Spa.  No, they really are.  This building you see on the left by the rainbow was ONLY called Fallsview Resort and Spa.  It had no hotel name in front of it, like mine was called the Hilton Fallsview Resort and Spa.  I even walked into the building and still had no idea what hotel was representing this particular fallsview resort and spa!  But I didn't try that hard, Niagara Falls is like a really rich chocolate dessert ... you only need a few bites.  Oh, and the other thing that happened?  I thought the falls looked, well, kind of small!!!

The room itself was huge.  Peter is standing in the living room, which due to its dark, cave-like feel, we pretty much used as clothes storage!  To the left of this picture is a couch, and the desk on the right with the chair that Peter set up camp in!  The window is the bathroom, and you can put the shade up so that you can enjoy views while taking a nice, hot bath.  The middle space was a kitchen -- a totally useless kitchen with nothing but a coffee pot.  You could pay extra for a refrigerator.  This was a total nickle and dime joint.  WIFI?  Not here, but at the Holiday Inn, no charge!

Peter did this all the time!  Reminded me of the place we stay in in Chicago that overlooks Navy Pier -- he would pull a chair over and stare out for hours.  Definitely a room with a view.  We had dinner reservations at the Skylon Tower, so we walked to that, which we discovered was equal in height to our room!  The restaurant itself turns, so you get to view the entire landscape, which isn't much to talk about, with the exception of the falls!   We stayed on the Canadian side, and the view of Buffalo pretty much underscored why!  With the exception of one casino, they don't offer much there.

The following morning we were up early and dressed to walk.  We explored the city itself a bit, then headed towards the falls.  This was actually our first encounter, up close and personal, of the falls themselves, and pretty darn impressive!  So a note to those traveling to Niagara Falls in the future ... don't make your first view one from the sky!   Considering that cars looked like matchboxes from where we were, it greatly diminished the scope and beauty of the falls themselves.  Later, when we returned to the room, our perspective was greatly altered, and we enjoyed the view much more!

The Skylon Tower where we had dinner the night before, and the restaurant in the foreground where we enjoyed DELICIOUS Canadian beer and a smashing view of the falls later in the afternoon.  Also, a good shot of how bloody gorgeous it was out!

These are called the American Falls, and maybe the Bridal Falls?  (I wasn't listening on the Maid of the Mist tour, I was too enthralled by the sights!)

The Maid of the Mist tour

I know a lot of these are similar, but I was clicking away and they need to have some purpose as they may have cost me my camera, which got wet in all of that mist.  The cool thing was that when the boat grew as close as it could, it just idled there, and the wind stopped and it was like being in a warm enclosure, it was really weird.  I commented on it several times, and then when the boat turned, all hell broke loose, the wind returned with a vengeance and my fashionable blue poncho blew up, drenching not only me, but my camera.  It was very cool in the arms of the falls, I would do that again in heart beat!  (With a waterproof camera of course!)

Then we dried up in the sun at a restaurant with a deck by the falls and had two delicious beers.  I wanted a third, quite badly, but Peter kept saying that they were ten dollars apiece, and while he had managed to spend $40 for two beers each, he couldn't bring himself to spend $60 for three (beers each).  I mean, I agreed with that, to a point, but check out this spot.  (The following pictures are now being taken with my cell phone, as yeah, the good camera is now wet.)

Maybe not a million dollar view, but worth sixty bucks ... perhaps?!!!!

We returned to the room and Peter left to go buy beer.  From a store.  At least that is what I thought he had done, but when he didn't return some 45 minutes later, I thought he had ditched me!  At last he returned with a six-pack of beer and a tale of how far away the liquor store was.  But I didn't want beer any more.  That lovely little afternoon buzz you get ... gone.  So my advice to those who need it -- pay $20 for the third beer ...

The following day we did the Journey Behind The Falls, which was yet another perspective of the fabulous falling water.  We did this very early, in fact, we were at the falls way before the visitor center had even opened and after sipping coffee to the tune of the falls, we were close to first in line.  Oh.  We didn't anticipate the busses.  They came in droves and unleashed hordes of Asian tourists, who I am just going to say out loud, are insane and obnoxious.  They run through the tunnels nearly running you over, and the one thing you feel for sure is that they don't think you exist.  And they take pictures of everything, including tunnel walls.  Nuts.

After this we returned to the hotel, showered and checked out, as our plan was to drive to Niagara Falls on The Lake to have lunch and walk around.  Which we did!

On the shores of Lake Ontario

After a nice long walk, a little shopping and a lovely lunch, we hit the road again, this time our destination was Chicago, but not this day.  The plan was to drive as far as we could, but ending before dark, and that ended up being Dearborn, Michigan.  Which was kind of funny, because as I'd done research on things to do between Niagara and Chicago, the Henry Ford Museum had piqued my interest.  After we crossed the border into the U.S. I pulled over and punched in the closest Marriott into the GPS, and drove directly to it.  It was in downtown Detroit, and Peter came out saying it was over $250.  That seemed silly to pay high city prices when all we wanted was a bed, so I told him to get back in and I punched in the next closest Marriott and followed those directions, which took us to Dearborn, which was not that far from Detroit, but I was getting tired.  It turned out that it was the Dearborn Inn, run by Marriott, so it was a bit posh and pricey, but I had $150 in Marriott money, so we went for it, and were both too tired to even attempt dinner.  I had stuff in the cooler, and snacks, and we had a makeshift meal and then went to bed.  But before that, I realized that the Henry Ford museum was within walking distance of the hotel!  A sign!

I am not a big museum person, but we were in car country and the description of the museum had been interesting, and we weren't disappointed.

This is this massive steam engine that was only in use for a few years.  Just the engineering involved to create such a monster is fascinating, but its main problem was that it consumed tons and tons of coal to keep running.

This is inside the large train and that is where the driver sat, hardly any view, you literally had to look out the window to see.

One of my faves, such a cool vehicle.

It was fun to learn how the American culture changed as cars did.  While the Model T could certainly get people around town, no one was climbing in one to drive any great distances (except my grandfather who drove from N.H. to Arizona in a Model T.)  But once cars could go great distances, new business opportunities opened up in the form of gas stations and hotels and motels and restaurants.  It was very cool to be on a road trip and learning about how road trips evolved.

So back to our own road trip, we climbed back into the car and headed to Chicago, landing there around 5:30-6:00.  It was yet another beautiful day and so we hung out with my brother and his girlfriend on his rooftop deck, from his funky apartment located in a warehouse in the warehouse district.  With a fabulous view of the city that I apparently didn't get!

Driving into the city

We spent two nights in Chicago, driving around all day Thursday to seven pawn shops looking for a wedding ring for Peter!  His had pretty much deteriorated to this teeny tiny bit of metal, and I've been insisting on him replacing it for quite some time.  But when we went to jewelry stores and he discovered how costly they were (due to the fact that the price of gold is now $1,700 an ounce) he refused to get one.  He had mentioned pawn shops, and I thought that seemed like a lot of negative karma to be carrying around on a finger, but then I thought on it more, and really, would it only be for bad reasons that someone would sell a ring?  I decided not necessarily, and so we set out on a mission -- which was no easy feat because he wanted a very simple ring and most of the ones in pawn shops are quite busy and full of diamonds and such.  I suspect the majority of rings at pawn shops are ones the men refused to wear!  But we did find one at the last store, and really, where else but a big city are you going to find that many pawn shops in a small area?  We also went to Second City and saw a show, which is something I have done every time I have been to Chicago, so basically, I've seen a lot of shows!  But they are great, and this one was not a disappointment.  Then on Friday morning we were up and out early as we had to pick up Maddie and Charlie at 2:00 p.m. at the airport in Minneapolis.  Oh, but we couldn't get out of Chicago.  Traffic!  So we were a little late picking up the kids!  It happens.

It's always nice to have everyone together. 

We checked into the hotel and then Maddie and Peter drove back to the airport to pick up Hallie and Jeff.  We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Ike's, and then later went to the get-together to meet up with family and the wedding party.  Very nice evening.

The following day we had the MOST DELICIOUS brunch in the world at Hell's Kitchen, with all organic eggs and handmade sausage and well, a restaurant totally up my alley, and then we went to the Mall of America.  This one roller coaster we went on was insane ... you went straight up, staring at the ceiling, and then it dropped straight down ... insane.  It was insane I tell ya, and I loved every minute of it!

And yep, I bought the picture!  For six bucks they will email it to you, I figured what the heck.  The mall is huge, and we did a little bit of wandering around, but we wanted to get back to the hotel before three to prepare for the 4:30 wedding.

Yes, I know who is missing -- I really thought we would have more time to take pictures, but we really didn't.  I can't believe we didn't get one of all of us, all dressed up.  Stupid!  Oh well.  The wedding was great, very short ceremony (gotta love that!) and the food and dance at the reception were fabulous.  Good time.  Congratulations Berit and John.  Hope you're enjoying Italy right now!

On Sunday we went over to Gary and Sue's for a brunch, said goodbye to everyone, dropped the kids off at the airport, and shot to Chicago for about five hours of sleep, (oh, and a Piece pizza and salad, so delicious) and were up at 5:00 a.m. and on the road and out of Chicago in no time.  NO TRAFFIC!  In fact, we didn't hit any traffic the entire ride home to N.H.

So this is the thing.  The drive was fine.  How could we be in a car for that long and not be exhausted?  I don't get it!  I expected that I would sleep the day away yesterday, but in fact I was up early and even hiked, shopped and cleaned out the chicken coop.  So I thought perhaps I'd be tired today?  No!  Weird, because some 7-8 hour drives are a killer.  We had beautiful weather, the landscape was beautiful, and it was fine.  Can't wait to do it again!  No, really!