August 2, Toronto Ontario to Wellsburough PA

Early in the morning off, because another long days’ driving.  This time we need to cross back into the U.S.  We were able to do this in Niagara Falls with only a ten-minute wait when crossing the Rainbow Bridge, just downstream from the falls.  This gave us the chance to run around on the American Falls side.  Beautiful again?  You guessed it.  Pretty much any angle you can see and experience this falls, it is wonderful. 

From the American side, there are a couple of islands that are accessible, so you can get right to the lip of the falls form that side.  Powerful, strong, beautiful.  More photos!  Getting wet again.  Really a nice way to round out our Niagara experience.

Then we moved into a cross-country drive (literally, we were really driving through the COUNTY) through New York and Pennsylvania off to spend the night with dear old friends Gere, Betty, and Rowan.  They live in the lovely country of Northern Pennsylvania. 

While we waited in town for Gere to come guide us the last couple of miles in, we got to walk around the town square and see some great statutes, including one of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (from the Eugene Field poem).  There was also a monument to Civil War soldiers from this area.  In the end, it is all about the Civil War wherever we go.  Okay, maybe not quite, but close.

The home they live in in is really interesting.  It was once a quilt shop and an ice cream and soda fountain.  They changed it into a home, but the fountain is still the centerpiece of their kitchen.  It took some creative furniture arranging, but it is a really amazing home.

Gere is Secretary of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, a very important and influential position.  His work takes him around the world.  We got to catch up on all he was doing, as well as the rest of the family and tell them tales of our travels.  One of the new interests that daughter Rowan has is being a beekeeper.  She has a hive and is quickly learning the ins and outs of bees.  She was a wealth of information.

We got to go on a little trip to The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  A really pretty and very green tree-filled canyon area.  Gorgeous!  We soaked in the green, knowing that much of the rest of the country is in a drought.

On the way home, we stopped and all pitched in the to pick blueberries which were so ripe for the picking.  Of course, you have to eat a few as you are picking!

A lovely dinner was served, by kerosene lantern, and we talked late into the night.

August 1, Niagara Falls Ontario to Toronto Ontario

Did NOT have to get going so early this morning, although Patti woke up at 6.  Decided to get up and get a bit caught up on the blogging.

After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, it was now time to go on Maid of the Mist, the boat that takes you right into the horseshoe of the Canadian the Falls.  The mist part means that everyone gets totally soaked.  They give you stylish plastic ponchos, and we knew to wear plastic shoes, but still it is VERY wet. 

The view is very different when you are actually on the river.  First we cruised by the American Falls.  They were much more impressive when looking up at them.

Then, it was on to the Canadian Falls.  We could see the boat in front of us just heading into the falls.  Because of their horseshoe shape, the boat could go right into the middle of the boiling pool at the base of the falls.

The noise, or truly roar of the falls really shakes things.  The amount of mist is more like a torrential downpour than mist we had experienced with other falls.  Of course, we had not been this close to a big falls.  This was really a highlight.

A little more sightseeing, and then time to make the hour and half drive over to Toronto where two of our nephews, Chris and David live and work.  We had a delightful time with them and their partners Jenn and Eileen.  Patti has known these guys for the past nearly 20 years, and they have become really fine adults.  They both are Dick's Godsons and Patti is Godmother to David.

We grilled in the backyard, and got caught up with one another about our trip and the things that they have going on.  The biggest item right now for Jenn and Chris is the wedding in two months.  Both Dick and Patti remember the slammed feeling of planning our wedding, now 18 years ago.

We spent the night at Chris and Jenn’s home.  A delightful day.  We are now in August, which means only another ten days of this journey, but we are not at the end yet.

July 31, Ottawa Ontario to Niagara Falls, Canadian side

Up at 6:00 for a nice breakfast and a lunch “to go” packed into our cooler.  It is sad with all of these short visits with loved ones to have to leave so quickly.  The time is precious, none-the-less, and so we waved goodbye to Marti and Nigel and on the road hoping to slip by the rush hour traffic in Ottawa.

The drive was easy, going through Toronto without trouble. Patti took a nap while we drove, and we arrived in Niagara Falls at 1:00.  We were able to get an early check in at our hotel, and promptly both went to sleep for two hours.  We guess maybe we are a bit tired from our schedule.  It seems that doing a trip like this when you are in your 50’s or 60’s is a bit more tiring than in your 20’s.  But, with a good nap behind us, we were ready to go explore Niagara.

We were told by our hotel desk that the Falls were “definitely NOT walkable”…but they are about 6 blocks away from our hotel.  We took the shuttle down and really enjoyed seeing these powerful waters.  This was Patti’s first time there and it is hard to describe how large they are or what it sounds like.  So lovely! 

The American side is pretty small compared with the Canadian side, but both are great.  It is interesting that in certain areas the mist and water in the air from the Falls is so intense that we had to use our umbrellas and still got pretty soaked.  We heard one guy trying to figure out whether this was mist or it was dumping rain.  Mist.

Once we had looked at the Falls from all angles and taken a ton of photos, we decided to wait until tomorrow to go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. 

 The streets just up from the falls are a mass of touristy things from House of Horrors and Ripley’s Believe it Or Not to Wax Museums and Dinosaur mini-golf.  We avoided all of these.  Patti thought we should find a place for dinner that was less crowded and we chose a Korean restaurant which it ended up with us being their only customer until we were nearly finished with dinner.  Good  food and good visualization!

We keep seeing great animals.  The squirrels and chip monks were terrific in the area close to the Falls.

We walked back to the hotel…oh those long 6 blocks, did a bit of blog work, and then caught the shuttle back to see the Falls at night.

They have huge lights that they project colors unto the Falls in the dark.  Some were spectacular, some not so much.  And we didn’t have the type of high power cameras to capture it in all of its glory. The full moon was in and out, and the mist was very strong in several places.  No umbrellas this time and we were pretty wet.  It was a nice stroll along the Falls, and then time to walk back and wrap up for the night.  If you have not seen Niagara Falls, you should put it on your bucket list.  It is worth seeing.

July 30, 2012 Ottawa Ontario

A great day spent with Marti and Nigel in Ottawa.  We had been happy to have them for a week’s visit last year in San Diego at our home and are glad to be back at their home. 

We got to sleep in a bit today.  What a luxury to not get out of bed until after 8.

We had such a nice breakfast, and had the chance to meet Marti and Nigel’s new dog, Tessa.  Tessa is a really nice dog with a ton of energy.

A day filled with talking and getting caught up on life’s happening.  It is hard to have our families scattered across North America.  Always glad when it is possible to get together.

The morning was full of errands:  laundry, getting an oil change after driving over 7000 miles (the folks insisted that we also get our tired rotate which we didn’t), doing some blogging, buying another flash drive to back up the thousands of photos we have been taking.  Dick joined the gang on going for a walk with the dog.  

Patti then joined up with them for lunch at one of their favorite places, a “made from scratch” buffet.  Then we walked around the market area which was a feast for the yet with such lovely clothing, and food.

The vegetables just looked picture perfect.  We couldn’t resist buying a bit of real Canadian maple syrup. 

Then we took a “non-tourist” drive through the area.  Ottawa is, as you might know, Canada’s capital and so in filled with beautiful old buildings.  It was great soaking it all in.

The afternoon left Dick to revise some driving routes for the next few days, and Patti napped and caught a bit of the Olympics.

Dinner was an amazing fresh veggie salad which we all devoured.  Oh, we have been well fed by our loved ones on this trip!

Later, we watched a video of photos that will be used for our nephew Chris’ wedding in two months.  We are so pleased we will be back for that event (although we will fly that time!)

Patti enjoyed a rousing game of fetch the pink elephant squeaky toy with Tessa.  And then we all shared homemade lemon ice cream, made with Grandma Weaver’s special recipe.  It was a catch your breath kind of day.  We really appreciated all that Marti and Nigel did to help us get ready for the home stretch of the trip. 

We all sang a chorus of “Happy trails to you until we meet again” over dinner.  Now doesn’t THAT date us?

July 29, Arlington MA to Stowe MA, to Montreal Quebec to Ottawa Ontario

Early Sunday morning breakfast with Dennis and Kathryn.  So nice to connect with old friends and get caught up.  We also got their take on what Mitt Romney was like as Governor of their state.  They were not impressed!  Wish we could stay.  What a nice visit.

We had a beautiful drive through New Hampshire and then into Vermont.  The green mountains of Vermont live up to their name.  Everything is lush and green.

Lunch and the afternoon were spent with Dick’s dear friends from his Ph.D. program:  Dennis and Michelle Reina.    They live in a great house just outside of Stowe VT.  We arrived as Dennis was putting some finishing touches on his Japanese-style pond.   We got the tour of all of the beautiful wild property.  We heard plenty of great stories of adventures, including Dennis doing battle with a porcupine and a family of woodchucks. 

The two of them do really interesting consulting and training work on trust and betrayal in organizational settings.  Both of us really respect this work and find it very useful in our lives and work.  We spent a great afternoon eating a healthy lunch of organic veggies and grilled buffalo burgers.  Then we traded stories of our families, our work out travels and your interests.  What a blessing it is to reconnect with old friends.  The Reinas just got back from working with a client in South Africa.  Such interesting stories they had to tell.

Again, wish we could stay, but we have to get on the road towards Canada, and they need to be up at 3am to catch a 6:00 flight.  Great that we had this little overlap of time!

On our way out, we drove by the Headquarters of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  If we had had more time, we could have gone on an ice cream tour, and the seen the graveyard they have with headstones for the ice cream flavors that didn’t make it.  Maybe next time.

The drive towards Canada ground to a halt when we spent over an hour and twenty minutes waiting for the lines at the Border Crossing.  It occurred to us that we were arriving at 6pm on Sunday evening, likely a time when people from Quebec were returning home form their weekends in the Sates.  Traffic just slowed down to stop and go…mostly stop.   It is hard to be stuck at the border when we know we have five more hours to drive once we are across.

The final part of our drive went easily, driving through Montreal, where we enjoyed seeing a beautiful sunset and the terrific scenery.

On this trip, we have been driving by the most animal crossing signs that we have seen in a long time.  Everything from turtle crossing, to deer, to deer that seem to be being chased by moose, to beer.  We have been fortunate to see quite a lot of wildlife.  What a treat.

 Ultimately,  we arrived at Dick’s sister Marti’s house in Ottawa a little after 10.  We were ready to stop for the night, but so please to be at their home and welcomed so warmly.

July 28, Truro MA to Plymouth MA, to Arlington MA

Up early and goodbyes after a great visit on The Cape.  We needed to get going quickly, because the traffic of people pouring onto and off of Cape Cod was heavy.  We were successful in beating the worst of the traffic.

Our journey took us to Plymouth Mass, and PlimothPlantation, home of the original Pilgrims. (We discovered that the two Plymouths are spelled differently.  The original folks used Plimoth and so that is what they names the plantation and museum after that spelling.) We spent a fascinating morning at this living history center. 

The first of two main areas was dedicated to the Native American people who lived there.  This group, the Wampanoag…. lived in this area for thousands of years.  In this village area, interpreted by members of the tribe, there were houses, and other buildings, gardens, and cooking areas. 

The tribal members were dressed in traditional clothing, but spoke from a current day perspective answering questions both about their ancestors and themselves.  We got to see some pots of soup cooking that looked delicious, and have many interesting discussions including the fact that they consider lobsters to be bottom feeding garbage fish that they use only for bait.  It was powerful to see many customs and skills still being taught and passed along.

The second main area was that of the English colonial settlement, set in 1627.  These interpreters, also in period dress, spoke to visitors as though they were actually living at the time of 1727, the 7^th year after the colonists landed on the Mayflower.  These interpreters were excellent, and we both learned quite a bit about the day-to-day life and politics of these people who came basically working for a corporation who was hoping to make profits off of their labor. 

We learned that there was a good bit of communication with the colony at Jamestown, and some of the representatives from the village were able to return to English to do trading or bring items back to the colony.  It was clearly a very harsh life, but we got a glimpse of how hearty and hardworking these people were in taking on these enormous challenges.  They also were not at all a religiously tolerant group of people.  They came to be able to freely practice their highly conservative brand of Christianity, and were not at all interested in others having religious freedom.

The final part of our Plymouth visit included and visit to The Mayflower II.  This was a ship commissioned in the 1957 to be as closely as possibly a copy of the original Mayflower.  It was then sailed from England to Mass. We discovered that it was actually a freighter that had been engaged in the wine trade and was temporary contracted to transport these colonists to the new world.  The ship was not constructed for passengers, so over 100 people had to make the over two month passage in the cargo hold.  

 As small as this ship is, we assume that many of these passengers spent the entire voyage seasick, which resulted in a weakened condition when they arrived at the beginning of winter causing a higher death rate during that first terrible winter.  The passengers also shared space with chickens, pigs and goats.  And there were not good bathroom facilities.  It must have been stinky!

We also found that less than half of these settlers were part of the original religious group that went to Holland.  This was also the first time that they tired doing colonies including families with women and children. 

We made the obligatory stop at “Plymouth Rock” and read the story that the pilgrims had stepped on land at this rock, although that story was most commonly told over 120 years later.  The ship was way more impressive.

Then we made the quick drive into the Boston area into the city of Arlington.  This is the home of old friends from Minnesota, Dennis and Kathryn.  They treated us to a lovely walking tour of the area, including right kitty-corner from their home was the site where the largest engagement with the largest death count of colonists on that faithful day when the British marched to Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the revolutionary War.  (Our time travel machine continues to bring us back and forth between these major wars and time periods.)

The neighborhood is filled with historic sites and plaques and great old tree lined streets and bike paths.  We learned that Arlington was formed at the same time as Boston and is a very old city.  The people of Arlington are sensitive that they are NOT a suburb of Boston when they were founded at about the same time. 

We had a fabulous time catching up with these drear friends and they prepared a lovely meal for us and we talked late into the night about all of our mutual travels and families and life events.

More blogs coming soon

For those of you who are worried because we haven't posted for a while, no worries.  We have had a combination of some days of not reliable Internet connection and nights with dear friends and family, so not much "blogging time".   We didn't want to cut short our visits in order to spend the evening downloading photos and writing.

We are doing great and will get some more updates up as soon as we can.  Thanks for your good wishes.