We had made good headway on Day 11, but we still had to get from Utica to Niagara Falls. In my head, I was picturing a short jaunt and at least half a day in Niagara Falls. However, it was more like a regular day’s haul and part of a day left when we got to Niagara (photos 1-2).

As I said, it was still a long drive (343 km) along the interstate, with lots of tolls and trucks along the way. We managed to see some nice scenery as well as at least one big bridge. We have no idea what happened to the GPS (maybe a cell tower issue), but just as we got to where we should turn in Niagara Falls, NY, to head to the border, our Google Maps froze. It stopped tracking our movements, and I had no idea where we were supposed to go. We followed some signs for the Rainbow Bridge, but it sure didn’t seem like the most efficient of routes. We crossed the bridge at 2:00 p.m. or so (photos 3-12), with a bit of a wait at Customs but no real issues. We were glad to be back in Canada and headed for our hotel (Holiday Inn By The Falls). Our room wasn’t ready, so we had lunch at the in-house restaurant (CoCo’s).

I confess that I was tickled pink by our lunch plans. Jacob and his immediate friends are not the most extroverted groups, and sometimes we have to jump hoops to get people to do things together in Ottawa. Yet somehow, in the space-time continuum that exists only in the land of modern teenagers, Jacob’s friends happened to be in Hamilton visiting their uncle and aunt and thus managed to come into Niagara Falls on the same day we arrived so that they could have lunch together (photos 12-17).

After lunch, we were able to check in and chill for a bit, and then walked down the steep hill in front of the hotel to the Falls. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too busy. We walked up and down for lots of different views, took lots of photos/videos (18-93) and visited the gift shop. We had dinner at Queen Victoria restaurant across from the falls (photos 94-107). It had a really nice view, with Jacob able to order lobster mac and cheese for the third time of the trip. We had a really nice dinner and watched as the lights changed on the falls.

I asked the waitress where the best place was to watch the impending fireworks at 10:00 p.m., as it was almost 9:30. Although the restaurant closes at 10, she let us stay and watch them from the balcony we were already on. It was a pretty good fireworks display (photos 108-119), with lots of big echoes as they went off. An excellent evening, with the small exception that we had to then climb back up the steep hill after a big dinner and a hot night.

As I mentioned, we still logged 343 km for the day, and took 285 photos and videos, curated down to 119.

2023-07b August – Day 12 To Niagara Falls

119 photos

Day 10 was a Monday, and we weren’t entirely sure what we were going to do for the day (photos 1-2). We were thinking maybe Old Boston plus the shipyards, some other “walking” outings, but my body wasn’t up to it.

I drove Andrea and Jacob to the Charlestown Navy Yard, and I sat in a quiet courtyard while they went off to view the shipyards (photos 3-29). A nice local came rushing up to me while paying for parking to explain in some detail what the “thing was” in terms of how you handled parking i.e., pay at the machine initially for your two hours and then download the app on your phone so you could EXTEND it later without having to come all the way back. And to make sure I did because the local bylaw people were, umm, “extremely aggressive” in watching for parking scofflaws. 🙂

Andrea and Jacob saw the USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer. Unfortunately, our luck was still bad for schedules…just as we missed some stuff at the Planetarium for schedule (the shows we wanted weren’t on), and at the Aquarium (the penguin presentation was only M-F, not weekends), the destroyer had one day a week when they didn’t let people on to wander around…yep, Mondays. They still saw the large, steel ship with guns, anti-aircraft, depth charges, and torpedoes. The ship fought in the Pacific theatre back in the day.

They also saw the USS Constitution, built in the 1790s and used in the War of 1812. It was undergoing maintenance so they couldn’t get too close, but it was a long sailing ship with masts and cannons. The shipyards themselves have been in operation since independence, and was very active in WWII with 50,000 full-time workers employed. They also saw dry dock and how it works.

We then walked over to the pier for lunch (Pier 6 restaurant). The restaurant was situated right on the water with good seafood and a nice view of the skyline (photos 30-33).

We then headed back to Needham along the water, taking pics of the skyline as we went (photos 34-36), and then spent time with the cousins at their house. They had plans for dinner with friends, so I helped them with their telescope setup before they left (which reminds me I owe Scott an email), while we went to a restaurant that Dana recommended for seafood (notice a theme here?). We went to Captain Marden’s, not too far away and had a really good meal (as promised).

It was a relatively light day overall, with 63 km driven and 78 photos and videos curated down to 36.

2023-07b July – Day 10 Charlestown Navy Yard

36 photos

On Day 08, our goal for the day was to make it to Boston / Needham (photos 1-2). But first, we had a nice Saturday morning brunch at Dutchman’s Bagels in Brunswick with Andrea’s cousin Chris. The old mill building has been converted into a restaurant and event space, with a small theatre area. The bagels were gigantic. We had a nice visit for about 90 minutes and then it was time to hit the road.

We drove to Boston (photos 4-7) and rushed, rushed, rushed to get to the Museum of Science. Although to be honest, my real goal was really the Charles Hayden planetarium that is attached. I had hoped to see one of their “Exploring the Universe” videos, but most things were sold out for the day by the time we got there. The schedule wasn’t going to work very well for any of the three days, so we opted to explore the museum (photos 8-11, 14-15) and to catch Destination Mars at 4:30 p.m. (photos 12-13).

We grabbed a fast lunch in their cafeteria and then wandered around for an hour. Despite the museum being fairly busy (not surprising for a Saturday), we saw dinosaurs, an arctic exhibit with icy walls, and an overview of all the planets outside the planetarium. Destination Mars was cool, with 180-degree reclined views. I would have loved to spend some time in the gift shop, but the museum closed at 5:00 p.m.

The drive to Needham where Andrea’s cousins (Scott, Dana and Henry) live was easy to plot in the GPS, but not so easy to drive. A torrential downpour hit as we left the museum. We were avoiding the toll highways (which said they only worked with electronic Easy Pass which we didn’t have installed, so we weren’t sure how that would work!), but many of the side streets were completely flooded (photos 16-19). We made it to the cousins’ house, although they were away for the weekend, and settled in with time to do some laundry! Exciting stuff, I know.

However, we went out to a little Thai restaurant nearby called The Little Spoon, which was excellent. We got another thunderstorm as we were heading back to the house, with a small detour to a 7-11 for some basic groceries.

As you can see, it was a bit of a lighter day. We still drove 243 km, and the rain was no fun, but we only did 29 photos curated down to 19.

2023-07b July – Day 08 To Boston

19 photos