Friday, Sept 2nd: We were going to try to get out of town early, but DH had some issues at work and was later getting home. I tried to relax and not stress about it, because as he pointed out, whats the point of stressing about it when the purpose of the trip itself is relaxation? So I chilled, straightened the house etc until he got home, then we headed out. We drove up to Erie, PA; I really wanted to at least cross the state border to feel like we had made some progress. There we checked into a really overpriced Comfort Inn with the most unprofessional lady, "Tina in Training" (that is what her name tag said). The real moment of hilarity was when we walked into the room - it had the queen bed we requested - and a set of bunk beds, completely decorated w/marine life! So we spent the first night of our vacation sleeping under the watchful eyes of a manatee...
Saturday, Sept 3rd: Got up, had the complimentary breakfast and hit the road. We drove up Buffalo NY and then crossed into Niagara Falls, Ontario. I don't know if it was just because we were only planning to stay the day or what but our customs check seemed to take about 1/4 of the time everyone else's was taking, and I am totally OK with this. We circled around and found parking, hopped out of the car and headed for the falls. I have been to Niagara before, but DH had not. Comparing them to my memory, the horseshoe falls were the same as I remember and the American/Bridal falls were bigger. The real difference though was that I don't remember all of the build up - hotels, restaurants, etc. I remember it being much smaller/more open. Not sure how much of that is in my memory and how much is things actually changing. Anyways, we looked at the falls for a while then went down and got in line for the Maid of the Mist. It was quite the line, but luckily mostly in the shade, and it moved faster than I expected. The Maid of the Mist was WAY better than I remember. In my memory, it did not get close enough to the falls and I couldn't see anything, just mist. This time we definitely could see things! It was really cool, and so refreshing to get covered in mist since it was a pretty hot day. After the boat ride I was totally exhausted and just wanted off my feet and wanted nourishment, so we went to the first sit-down restaurant we could find, which happened to be Hard Rock Cafe. I had never been to one, so I guess I can check that off the list. It was kind cool seeing some of the memorabilia, but I am just not a big enough music fan to fully appreciate it. Feeling very much refreshed we ventured back out into the heat, which had dissipated somewhat, and walked all the way up to the head of the falls, stopping for photo ops along the way. We got tickets for the Behind the Falls caves and then walked around a bit waiting for our turn. My feet were starting to get very tired by this point. We went down and saw the falls up close, also way better than I remembered. At this point we were both ready to get off our feet, so we headed back to the car and looped back to the United States, waited a LONG time to cross the border but it went smoothly. We stayed in Batavia, NY at a Clarion Hotel that beat the Comfort Inn both in price and comfort. No evil sea life! We had good local pizza. We also saw an "Antique Archeology" truck at a gas station, I don't think it was being driven by the guys on the show (American Pickers), but DH does not think they have any other trucks.
Sunday, Sept 4th: We took our time getting going in the morning, but did not sleep in too long. We were taking 90 pretty much all the way across NY, which was kind of annoying because it is a toll road, and therefore you have really limited access to rest stops and food. This was not good for my picky pregnancy stomach, but we managed. It was weird also, as soon as you hit Albany or so (still a good distance from the coast), you could just feel the population density increasing. More traffic, more people, totally different feel. We made it into Boston around 4pm. I was driving and DH was navigating. We sort of got a mini tour of the area thanks to this fact, as we had to circle twice through the greater area before making the right turn to end up at our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton in the Back Bay area. I wish I could take full credit for booking the room, because it was awesome, but I used Hotwire, which means I did not know which hotel I booked until I had paid (I knew the neighborhood, the rating, etc). Anyways, they put us in a river view room on the 25th floor that was just incredible. Additionally, the hotel is attached to the Prudential Center. Prudential Tower is the second tallest building in Boston and has its own mall pretty much. This proved to be highly convenient throughout the stay. Anyways, when we got into Boston I was STARVING, so we just ate in the food court there, they have this great fast food place "Cheese in a Box" that does grilled cheese! From your basic white bread and American cheese to gourmet piles of meat, veggies, spices on foccacia or something. Stomach satisfied, we just started walking. We walked and saw the Christian Science complex, which is very pretty. We walked over to the fens and to Fenway (baseball stadium), then looped back to our hotel, stopping for frozen yogurt along the way at a place called Berry Line. I thought it was great, DH thought it was too much like real yogurt. LOL.
Ok.... I don't want to inundate you with a post so long no one reads it, and these were really the "short" days of our trip! Perhaps I will write about Monday, our busiest day, tomorrow!
Also... there are pictures on facebook, so I did not feel like reposting here.
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