The Amazing Trip stats

1 continent
2 countries
1 province
25 states
84 days
7409 miles

It was truly an amazing trip!
Thanks for sharing it with us.


The list of all the states we went through:

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

Heading for home

On Saturday October 6, we took one last look at Niagara Falls, crossed the border and headed for home.  We plotted the fastest course we could.  We drove along the southern coast of Lake Erie through New York and Pennsylvania and into Ohio.  It is truly amazing how big the great lakes are.  The foliage was very pretty all through these areas.  We stopped for one last covered bridge in Ohio.

We should be home sometime on Monday.

Eric and I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to see so much of our beautiful country.  We have had such a wonderful time - thanks for coming along on our journey with us. 

 

Niagara Falls

We spent Thursday and Friday October 4 and 5 at Niagara Falls.  On Thursday, we found a great park overlooking the falls and just sat and watched them.  From the Canadian side we were able to see both falls at the same time.  With our I-phones we were able to read a lot about the  falls while we enjoyed  watching them.

American Falls

Horseshoe Falls

On Friday morning, we took a ride on the Maid of the Mist boat that took us right up to both falls.  We couldn't believe how many busloads of Asians were on the boat.  Eric and I were the tallest people on the boat.  It didn't matter were we were on the boat, we could see the falls over everyone's heads.  We got soaked.  We couldn't believe how heavy the mist was - it was like a downpour. 

The American Falls from "The Maid of the Mist"

The "Maid of the Mist" in front of the Horseshoe Falls

We drove down the road a bit and stopped at "The Whirlpool".  It is an area downstream from the falls were the water swirls around before making a corner. 

We decided to check out the falls from the American side of Niagra and headed across the Rainbow Bridge.  From the American side, you get to see the water as it goes over the falls and the rapids leading up to the falls. 

The American Falls from the New York side

After looking at the falls, we decided to check out the Daredevil Museum on Roy's recommendation.  It was located in a mini-mart!  It was interesting though.  They had some of the actual barrels and contraptions people went over the falls in.  They also had a lot of photos and info on some of the attempts to go over the falls.  

After dinner, we walked down to the falls again to view them after dark.  They light them up at night. 

One interesting fact we learned is that after tourist hours, they divert more of the water to generate electricity and reduce the flow going over the falls.   

Buffalo, New York

On Wednesday October 3, we drove west across upstate New York towards Niagra Falls.  We stopped in Buffalo to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House. 

The tour was very interesting.  This was a complex that consisted of the main house, a long covered walkway that led to a conservatory and carriage house, a gardener's house and a cottage for the owner's sister.  It was amazing to find out that the complex had been left empty to ruin for years, then someone purchased it and tore down all the buildings except the main house.  Later the city of Buffalo and a foundation purchased the property and rebuilt the lost buildings from the original plans.   They have located or replaced many of the original furnishings designed by Wright.  They are still working on replacing all the lost stain glass windows and glass tile fireplace.

We made it to Niagra Falls just before sunset.   Our hotel is on the Canadian side of the falls and a short walk to the overlook. 

 

Fort Ticonderoga and the Adirondacks

On Tuesday October 2, we left Rutland, Vermont and headed northwest through Vermont towards New York.  We wound our way through rural Vermont enjoying the beautiful fall foliage.  We stopped in at a rural wood carver's shop.   The shop was located on a beautiful setting on Lake Champlain. 

When we arrived at Lake Champlain, we took a small cable ferry across the lake to New York. 

Sitting right between Lake Champlain and Lake George is Fort Ticonderoga.

The fort was originally built by the French in 1755.  We all remember the story of Ethan Allen and the green mountain boys taking the fort in 1775 before the revolutionary war.  The fort was retaken by the British and then partially destroyed and abandoned by the British during the revolutionary war.

 Eric and I were both quite impressed with the historians working on the site as reinactors and the historical accuracy of their presentations.  

 The fort was partially destroyed by the British and was left in ruins for years.  The Pell family purchased the fort and built a hotel on the grounds in 1839.  The hotel catered to tourists coming by steamboat to view the old fort ruins.  In the early 1900's, other family members started rebuilding the fort. 

The old Pavilion Hotel at Fort Ticonderoga

After leaving Fort Ticonderoga, we took a scenic route along Lake George and through the Adirondack mountains.  As we were coming down a mountain, we ran across this beautiful natural pool of water.

Vermont's Green Mountains

On Sunday after having coffee in Rutland, Vermont, we decided not to hurry through Vermont.  It was raining and supposed to rain all day and into the next morning so we booked a hotel.  On Monday October 1, we headed out for a scenic drive that looped around and through the Green Mountains National Forest.  Our first stop was at Gill's Delicatessen in Rutland for an Italian grinder sandwich.  A grinder is a sub sandwich.  Their hot Italian grinder was supposed to be incredible.  It was covered in cabbage and we were less than impressed.  Our next stop was much better.  We stopped at a pumpkin patch with an incredible view of the mountains.  We didn't need a pumpkin but enjoyed visiting with the farmer.  We sure wished our pumpkin patch group of Betty, Patty, Wendy and the family could have been with us. 

We made a stop at the Maple Syrup museum and learned a lot about maple syrup from their incredibly cheesy dioramas.  However, we did get to taste all the grades of maple syrup multiple times.  They shouldn't have left us alone in the tasting room.  We made a stop for an americano in a town named Brandon.  We noticed that the building next to the coffee shop had a foundation problem. 

Why would you build a building over a waterfall?

We headed into the Green Mountain National Forest at Brandon.  As we crossed the Brandon Pass, the foliage was just beautiful.

For about half of our drive, we drove beside this pretty mountain stream.

All the views were so pretty we finally decided that we were going to have to quit telling each other to look.  There was something pretty around every bend in the road.  We kept watching for moose and black bears but  never saw any.

This sculpture was the only moose we saw.

We drove up to the Killington ski area to ride one of the ski gondolas up the mountain.  We thought the view would be incredible.  When we arrived at the mountain, the wind picked up and the clouds came in and covered most of the mountain so the gondola was not running. The trees near the bottom of the ski runs were absolutely incredible so we really didn't feel like we missed much. 

Coming down off the mountain, we made one last stop at an Irish Pub and Inn.  The building was very unique.  They had built it around the rocks jutting out of the mountain.  As you walked through the Pub and Inn, there were big rocks jutting out into rooms.  We found out the Pub was built at the end of the Long Trail hiking trail by the people that built and maintained the trail.  We sampled the local brew, Long Trail Ale.  

We had a wonderful day of leaf peeping.  All of the views were incredible.  It is hard to describe how pretty the trees are.  We were amazed at all the different color ranges.