Cross Country Roadtrip Day #10

Good-bye Niagara Falls. You are beautiful. Just in case anyone is wondering...we are looking for any excuse to return. If you come and visit, we will take you there to see it too!
Unfortunately it was time for us to move on. Time to get to our new home and start setting up our household. Drove across the state of New York, taking a tiny detour through Buffalo to catch our last of the Great Lakes: Lake Erie. Then drove to the Hartford airport to pick up Darla! Hooray!! Time to move to Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Cross Country Roadtrip Day #9

Tourist day! Niagara Falls is absolutely incredible!! We were on the Canadian side and I would definitely recommend it over the American side (better views). So we had to do all the touristy things that must be done...boat tour, waterpark, golf, walking around the falls, and eating.
Started the morning with the ultimate "must-do" - we took the traditional Maid of the Mist boat tour around (and very close to) the falls.
Nathan was super excited about the American Falls...I think???
And I seemed to have some difficulties getting into my poncho.
We got really close to the American Falls first and Nathan almost got blown out of the boat. Very wet and windy. So much power.

Then we spun around underneath the Horseshoe Falls and I felt like I was going to get blown out. Much crazier than it is depicted in movies. Our heads were kind of soaked after all that.

Had to spend some time at North America's largest indoor waterpark after that. Hardly anyone there either, so we went down the 8 main slides repeatedly. What a work out walking up the tower of steps!
Next Nathan really wanted to play at Oak Hall Par 3 Golf Course. Beautiful grounds and clubhouse!


Look at that great shot off the first tee...
And how about those beautiful putts...

Unfortunately, by Hole 14 I was done...

So we ate some dinner and then enjoyed Horseshoe Falls at night once again.

Cross Country Roadtrip Day #8

Yet another long day of driving. Hermione started and ended the day curled up on a hotel bed.

Left Sault Ste. Marie and crossed the International Bridge into Ontario, Canada. What a dreary day!

Drove through hundreds of miles of moose country without spotting a moose! Drove along Lake Huron for awhile, but couldn't see much through the rainfall. Everything seemed so gray. Tried to stop and get coffee at a gas station, but they only had a half a pot of coffee that looked like the store worker had brought it in that day from home. Ate on the road b/c without stops the drive was going to be 10.5 hours. Eek. Wanted to take one of the ferries, but it only left twice per day and would have added another 2 hours to the day! Sooo, we drove and drove and the rain finally stopped when we were almost to Toronto. Drove through the city, but continued on to the Canadian town of Niagara Falls. Caught a look at Lake Ontario as we drove across one of the local bridges. It was so eerie when we arrived because there was low-hanging fog and we couldn't see the falls initially. It was also so silent and the still ponds poured into a rushing rapids and then just dumped off the edge of the world. We thought we were at the bottom of the falls, but we were actually at the top! Also illuminate the falls at night, which added to the creepy quality of the scene.

Both the animals were so needy and exhausted by the end of the day. They love Nathan!

Cross Country Roadtrip Day #7

Lots of fun places to walk and explore on our way from Green Bay to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Started out by checking out the Packers stadium of course. We were surprised by how close you could get to Lambeau field.

Next we drove along the Green Bay and walked around a little park to make sure that we had a good view of Lake Michigan. (I really wanted to see all of the great lakes on our "little road trip").
Stopped for a tasty little picnic lunch on the lake shore and enjoyed our leftover pizza from the evening before. Kinda chilly weather.
So it turns out that the Michigan "U.P." is pretty remote. Very pretty and forested, but filled with random little small towns. Good thing we had our road atlas! No cell phone reception. Also, Nathan HAD to stop and enjoy a milkshake from a local shop.

So we had decided earlier that we wanted to make a detour and see the Painted Rocks National Lakeshore up on Lake Superior. What a great place! Jackson really wanted to hike to the Munising Falls and then really wanted to view it from every possible angle. Sooo, we humored him.


Also, we drove out to Miners Castle (this cool towering rock formation). What was most amazing was the color of the water. It looked like the Caribbean!

It was amazing to experience some of the optical illusions there too... or maybe it's just the crazy difference in height between the two of us...

Spent the night in "the Soo", or Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and enjoyed a game of minigolf (with a view of the Canadian border) to finish the evening.

Cross Country Roadtrip Day #6

So sad to leave Minnesota and all of the beautiful lakes and fluffy clouds.

Long day driving across the rest of Minnesota and through Wisconsin. One highlight: CHEESE! Drove through cranberry country and cheese factories (unfortunately not as many as in the south of the state). Even had to take a few detours across county roads due to lots and lots of road construction.
Finally made it into Green Bay, Wisconsin and had a nice "date night". We went out to Sammy's Pizza (a famous pizza joint near the stadium where the Packers play) and then went to see "Get Him to the Greek" at the movie theater.

Cross Country Roadtrip Day #5

Spent an awesome day of activities with the Berthelsens. Great to have another "rest day". Jackson spent most of the day rolling around and playing in the backyard and Hermione slept on the comfy guest bed (looking out the window longingly), most of the day.
While Uncle Steve was in the OR early (repairing 2 hips), Nathan and I slept in and then shared a delicious breakfast with Aunt Bobetta. We even got a tour of the town, including "prairie dog town". Next we played 18 holes on a beautiful golf course in Fairmont. I did not play very well as usual, but Nathan and Uncle Steve were neck and neck, but Nathan ended up winning (92-94).

Then we hurried home to pick up Aunt Bobetta and the kayaks! Took a great evening paddle through one of the many lakes and into the slough...even went through a tunnel. What a great way to end the weekend.