Day Forty-Seven

Day forty-seven and we met up with our friends – yeah!  We all toured the Maker’s Faire first, since it was outdoors and the day was already heating up.  Lots of new ideas and innovation out there!  Some practical, some logical, some whimsical, some way out there!  All interesting, though.  The highlight of the morning was when Sam got to get up close to the TIV, which is the tornado chaser’s vehicle.  Sam got to meet Sean Casey, the filmmaker, and his crew, and got some pics with him and his vehicle – awesome!  He was all smiles!

After a hot morning, we all went inside to spend the rest of the day touring the museum.  The place is massive!  There is some renovation underway as they are moving some things around and preparing a new display area for next year, but most everything was still on display.  We viewed all the vehicles from the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile to the HUGE steam locomotive, the Allegheny.  There were lots of impeccable old vehicles, including a 1931 Bugatti (only six were produced), and some of the past president’s limousines, including JFK and FDR.

We ate lunch at their café, and the food was excellent!  Afterwards, we continued on our tour, checking out all the steam powered engines, the Dymaxion House, and the Heroes of the Sky.  One of the most fun activities of the day was building the Model T Ford vehicle.  There is an actual Model T Ford on display that the staff literally takes apart each evening, and it is assembled piece-by-piece by visitors throughout the day.  Sam, along with Sean and Tyler, our friends grandchildren, helped assemble the vehicle.

Another fun activity for the kids, and everybody, was an assembly line model, where the participants put together 14 model vehicles along an assembly line. The whole gang got involved in that one (while I took pics) and they had a blast!

As usual, our feet got tired before our eyes, so we finished up the day and headed out.  It was great to see our friends for the day, and we get to visit with them more tomorrow!  We are actually driving to their house tomorrow to park at their place for a few days – yeah!



Day Forty-Six

Day forty-six found us at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.  Some dear friends of ours were going to meet us there the next day to tour the museum, so we opted to go to the Ford Rouge Plant Tour today.  When we arrived, we found that there was something going on called the “Maker’s Faire” for the weekend, and it was packed!  There was a special two day preview at the IMAX theater of a movie called Tornado Alley, covering some storm chasers that were frequently seen on television.  It turns out that the filmmaker/storm chaser/star of the show and his crew had his special vehicle at the Maker’s Faire!  Since we didn’t buy tickets for the Maker’s Faire, we would have to wait until the next day to meet him.  We did, however, see the IMAX film today – it was very cool!

We then went on the factory tour, and it was great!  The production line was running, so we got to see the truck assembly in progress.  What a nice, clean working environment!  I have worked in some factories, both in the automotive field and in large appliances, and they were never this clean and quiet!  The tour was very informative, and it is quite a feat that Henry Ford accomplished everything that he did.  It is also inspiring to see that his great-grandson is taking the company to new heights, and leading the way with environmental concerns.  They have the world’s largest “living roof” and it is quite a sight!

Day Forty-Five

Day forty-five and we drove to Monroe, MI to stay at the Harbortown RV Resort.  We picked this campground because it is close to Detroit, and our destination for this stop is The Henry Ford Museum.  This campground seemed like it had lots of nice amenities, so it was the winner.  Once we got here, Sam was off to play at the playground while we were checking in.  They have a very nice pool that looks extremely inviting, and they handed us a sheet of weekend activities that look cool!  There is mini-golf, a go-kart track, and they have a little café where they serve breakfast, and some lunch and dinner items!  They even deliver to your site.

We played a round of mini-golf later that day.  We didn’t keep score, but Jim and I both think we each won.  J  Sam took part in the last planned park activity of the day, which was a flashlight candy hunt.  There are LOTS of kids at this park!

 

Day Forty-Four

Day forty-four and we went back to Cuyahoga National Park to catch the train from Peninsula to Akron.  It was a nice scenic train ride along the Cuyahoga River, and there was a free audio tour given on the headsets if you were interested.

When we reached Akron, they provided a free shuttle bus to the Akron Zoo, so we spent a couple of hours checking it out.  It was a small zoo, perfect for a couple hours of wandering time, and Sam had a blast, as usual!  The animals seemed much more aware of their audience here than I have ever seen before, and seemed almost like they wanted to interact with us.  The lion pair was looking at everyone and posing, and the sun bears were a hoot!  They were right on the glass, sitting up and rolling around on the grass, rubbing up against the glass like they wanted to come home with us!  It was another hot day, so they were all probably looking to get inside to some air conditioning!

The train took us back to Peninsula, and we had dinner at a local restaurant in the quaint little town.  What a beautiful area!

Day Forty-Three

Day forty-three and we are being lazy today, hanging around the campground.  Sam is playing on the playground and the jumping pillow, while I catch up on the blog.  Jim is organizing inside the coach.  Good day to finish reading my latest book!

Day Forty-Two

Day forty-two and we went hiking in the Cayuhoga National Park.  We checked out Brandywine Falls, although we couldn’t walk the trail because they are working on it – constructing a new bike trail.  We then drove around quite a while on scenic Riverview Road, and stopped to hike another trail at the Ira Trailhead.  We did a three mile hike through a beaver marsh, although we didn’t spot any beavers.  There was a ranger on the boardwalk, and she said there were beavers  in the marsh, but they were active mostly at dawn and dusk.

The trail was actually a towing road along the Ohio-Erie Canal.  This particular section of the trail took us past old Lock 26, and there were at least three beaver dams that had been built along the way.  The ranger said she had seen muskrats there, as well, but we had no luck.  We did spot a family of wood ducks, and also saw three snapping turtles about eighteen inches in diameter.  It was a nice day for a hike, and we enjoyed it, although Sam was a little tired on the way to the car.  We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, and Sam was so hungry that he ordered a double quarter-pounder with cheese.  He ate the WHOLE thing!  He was so full, that he fell asleep, and napped for over two hours!  Ha Ha!!

While driving home, we went through Kent, OH which is home to Kent State University, and was a beautiful campus.  We also went through Ravenna and drove by a drive-in movie theater, which caught Sam’s eye.  We decided to go to the movies that night and take Sam to his first drive-in movie!  It was a double feature – Captain America and Transformers 3 – both good movies for an eight-year old boy!  The only problem was the first movie started at 9:15 pm, and the second one started at 11:30!  We didn’t know if Sam would make it through the first movie, but he ended up watching them both!  I napped on and off through the second one.  It was after 2:00 am when we left there.  Yawn!  Needless to say, we slept late the next morning.

Day Forty-One

Day forty-one took us to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.  This was another awesome science center with lots of interactive displays.  I just love all the creative thinking behind these displays and their designs, the great lessons and scientific principles they teach!  Sam spent several hours making the rounds and trying out everything.  Jim and I tried them out, too!  J  It was a good day.

Day Forty

Day forty already!  Wow!  Time is flying!  Today was a rainy Sunday, so we hung out at the coach.  Lazy, rainy, laundry, housecleaning, paperwork, naptime, tv watching day.  Even we take days off every now and then.  :)

Day Thirty-nine

Day thirty-nine and the heat wave is still on!  We went to Akron this afternoon for the Soap Box Derby World Championships.  It was the last day of a week long event, and it was cool to see the cars in action!  This was the first time any of us have seen them in person.  Of course, we had the standard fair food for lunch, and lots of cold drinks and slushies to fight off the heat.  We even sat under our umbrellas to try to cool off a little!  A few hours was enough for us, so we headed back to the coach.

Sam and Buster had a good run in the dog park when we got back, and Sam gravitated toward the playground after.  He later had some new friends he just met come by to play with him for a while.  I used the time to catch up on my blog!  J

Day Thirty-eight

Day thirty-eight and we were on the road, heading to the Country Acres Campground outside of Ravenna, Ohio.  This is about twenty-five miles from Akron and about sixty-five miles south of Cleveland.  What a beautiful campground!  As soon as we pulled in, a man we had met in Clarksboro at the campground came up to greet us!  What a small world!  The couple running the office at this campground also knew Madeira Beach, and said they had a place in Largo, FL.  We have met someone at almost every campground who either lives in Florida part-time or has family that lives in Pinellas County.

This campground has a pool, a nice dog park, big playground, canoe rentals and a lake/river, and a jumping pillow!  Sam is a happy camper!  J  We saw some rain action for the first time in days, and even some thunderstorms came through.

Day Thirty-seven

Day thirty-seven and we had the first run of the day on the Jet Boat Tours!  We wanted to sit in the front row, but they won’t allow anyone under twelve years old and under 100 pounds in the first three rows – boo!  Didn’t matter – we got SOAKED anyway!  What a GREAT time!  I would HIGHLY recommend this one for everyone!  We did some 360 degree “Hamilton Turns” and went a few times down some class five rapids – awesome!!  Now I want to go whitewater rafting!  J

That afternoon, we decided to go back to the Canadian side to view the falls from there, as they have the best view. 

We drove around for a while before deciding to park in town and then walking down.  It has been about ten years since we last drove down by the falls in Canada, and things have changed.  We walked down to Table Rock and went on the Journey Behind the Falls to get up close and personal!  It was pretty cool, but we liked the Cave of the Winds better!

After a long walk back to Clifton Hill, we went to the Fun House and Crystal Caves, then Sam went back to Bronto’s Adventure Playland for a while (while Jim and I went to a cold beer playland next door again).  The bartender there said the heat index was being reported at fifty degrees celcius which he said equates to roughly 120 degrees farenheit.  Whew!  No wonder business seemed slow!

A stop at Boston Pizza for some food, and we played some Galaxy Golf, which was mini golf in the dark, and then toured Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  At that, we bid a fond farewell to Niagara Falls, for we were on the road tomorrow for another destination.  Just to show how quiet it was due to the heat wave, there was NO line at the border.  That was a first!

Day Thirty-six

Day thirty-six we got an early start because we wanted to hike along the river before the heat of the day.  We went back to the Discovery Gorge Center and hiked along some cool trails that were mostly shady (whew!).  Buster got to go along with us on this one.  At the beginning of the walk, he was leading the way, and on the way back, he was walking behind us.  Guess that was a sign that he was tired, eh?!

We went back to the coach to cool down and relax for a while, then went to Lockport to go on the Lockport Locks and Cave Tour.  We learned a little history about the Erie Canal and the locks system, viewing the Flight of Five, which were the old original locks built in the 1840’s.  The guide said that boats would line up at this area for over a month sometimes to get through the locks, there was so much boat traffic.  The new locks handle the traffic much quicker, and this is the largest elevation change in the system at 49.1 feet.

The cave tour portion took us through a manmade tunnel that had been dug beside the canal and under three plants that used the diversion of water to operate water wheels for providing power to their plants.  The first portion of the tour was on foot, and the last portion of the tour was on a boat.  Very cool and informative tour!  We made a quick stop at the Erie Canal Museum located right there on the locks on the way out of town.

 

Day Thirty-five

Day thirty-five we went back to Niagara Falls to tour all the places in our Adventure Pass booklet.  We started with the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, which showed a lot of the history of the falls, and some of the power plants, etc. that had been there in the past. 

There was a cool silent film shot around the turn of the century by some visitors, and it was interesting to see their vehicles and period dress.  Their faces had the same expressions as ours did when they saw the power of the falls.  There was a cool interactive display that showed what the area was like thousands of years ago and how the falls had moved over the years.  Sam really enjoyed that one.

Next, we walked over the bridge to visit the Aquarium, and saw a variety of fresh water species of fish and invertebrates.  There was an outdoor tank that housed a few harbor seals that were rescue animals, and they would only poke their heads out of the water long enough to take a breath because of the heat. 

A lady had a hot dog stand at the exit, and was the only lunch available, so she had a brisk business!  We helped her out.  J

Our Adventure Pass included free rides on the trolley bus all day, so we hopped aboard for a ride to the Observation Tower and the Maid of the Mist.  The heat wave was still upon us, and everyone else thought a ride on the trolley would be cooler, too.  Not so much.

We checked out the view from the Observation Tower that extends out over the Niagara River – you can actually view both the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls from there.  It was a good view, but the stiff breeze was magnificent!  Ahhhhh!

The elevator at the Observation Tower takes you down to board the Maid of the Mist, which is a boat tour that takes you right up to the Niagara Falls.  We got our ponchos and boarded the boat.  It was exhilarating!  Talk about feeling the power of Mother Nature!!  Woo-hoo!

After squeezing back onto the trolley bus, we decided to call it a day, and headed into town to look for a place to eat.  The Canadian side is cram packed with everything, resembling Times Square in its ferocity.  The American side – dead as a doornail.  We drove around and finally found a TGIFriday’s at a Sheraton, right across the street from the casino.  The American side needs to compete for business!

Day Thirty-four

Day thirty-four was a travel day, and we left Sned Acres Campground and the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail area for Niagara Falls.  We opted to stay at a small campground/motel in Grand Island called Cinderella Motel and Campground.  It was small with no amenities, but it was only four miles from Niagara Falls, so we liked the location.

 

Since this was a short trip, we went to the falls that afternoon.  We drove to Goat Island, and walked around to explore the falls – awe inspiring and beautiful, as always!  They are currently selling a package of tickets for several of the attractions for a savings off the regular rates, so we bought that to check out the sights. 

We planned on going to most of the attractions the next day, but we did manage to go to the Cave of the Winds that afternoon.  What a cool way to get really close to the falls!  They give you a poncho to wear, but also some sandals to change into, so you KNOW you are going to get wet!  Sam had a blast, and we all got good and wet – really refreshing during this heat wave.

After this, we decided to head over to the Canadian side to check out the tourist attractions for the evening.  This was Sam’s first trip to Canada, so he was full of questions as we stopped at the border to present our passports and answer the customs agent’s questions.  “Why did he ask us that?  Why did he want to see me?  Why did he look at the back of the car?”  J

Sam had talked about the Mystery Maze all afternoon after seeing it advertised in a magazine, so that was first on the list!  We also toured the Guinness World Records Museum (Sam has one of those books and is constantly reading it aloud to us), and we also went to the Bronto Adventure Playland, where Sam played with some ball shooting cannons for about an hour-and-a-half.  Luckily, there was a restaurant right next door with an outdoor bar, so Jim and I had a couple of cold beers while waiting and keeping an eye on Sam! 

We took a break from the heat at the Boston Pizza to have a bite to eat and watch some baseball games.  Sam played a few games in the arcade they had there, and I thought the bowling alley looked inviting, but wasn’t up to it on a full stomach.  We then finished up the evening with trip on the Sky Wheel to get a view of the falls at night while it was lit up – pretty cool!  Sam was asleep in the car before we even passed through customs at the border, and we didn’t make it back to the coach until 11:00 pm.

Day Thirty-three

Day thirty-three took us hiking!  We went to Robert H. Tremen State Park in Ithaca, NY.  They have a beautiful gorge with a five mile round trip trail hike to the top – gorgeous river views, waterfalls, and LOTS of steps! 

We were on the lookout for wildlife along the way, and I did see one garter snake.  It was a really good workout, and we all needed it!  J  Unfortunately, my camera battery died before we got to the most beautiful part of the gorge and Lucifer Falls – arrrgh!  The hike to the top is definitely worth the trip!

There is also a cool swimming area at the park, with a diving board and a waterfall to hang out under.  Jim and Sam went swimming after the long, hot hike, but the water temperature was only 65 degrees.  Sam got cold after about twenty minutes, but it was refreshing!