Baltimore, Niagara Falls and Toronto to Vermont
We arrived in Baltimore Oct 1st. We got to briefly see all the kids, especially our newest granddaughter Kate (4 weeks old). We had a nice stay with Denise and on Sunday we all got together for a Chinese take-out lunch party.
On Monday morning we left Baltimore in a rental car headed for Niagara Falls intending to make and overnight stop in Pittsburgh, PA. We were enjoying the ride so much we decided to go straight through to Niagara Falls and spend two nights there. We got to see some foliage change in northern Pennsylvania. A highlight was a stop for lunch at a restaurant in Breezewood PA with a gift shop and a large section with books with titles like: "Best prayers for Diabetes", " The 100 most efficient prayers" and "Best 60 sec. Prayers".
We got to the Marriott hotel right at Niagara Falls at about 7:00 PM and lucked out to get a room with a peek view of the falls, and got to see a lovely sunrise over the river in the morning. (Having used Marriott Points the price was right too!) We spent all day Tuesday hiking around the falls from the Canadian to the US side and took the Maid of the Mist boat ride to see the falls up close and personal. The mist looked a lot like heavy fog and felt a lot like rain, despite the plastic ponchos we were wearing we got pretty soaked. The Niagara Falls were worthy of their listing among the wonders of the world. It was cool to see the almost permanent rainbows stretching across the falls when we saw them from the American side. (We found the Hotel clusters at the falls to be a real tourist trap with outrageous prices and would probably stay further away next time).
This is the first trip where we are using Lance’s new toy, the Garmin GPS StreetPilot. "Garmi" as we call "her" has proved to be a real asset. She guides us faithfully and calmly from point to point, and even helps us find all kinds of conveniences and attractions along the way. We are totally sold on it!
Wednesday we took a leisurely drive from Niagara Falls to Toronto along the northwestern side of Lake Ontario. We stopped in the quaint little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and at an old (1854) steam powered waterworks at Hamilton. (Recommended by Garmi!). It was very interesting and fun and even Dahlia enjoyed it (Although she had her doubts.)
We finally arrived at Toronto toward the end of the day and after checking into our hotel we visited Dahlia's Cousin Paula, her husband Marty and Dahlia's 92 year old Aunt Halla. We spent Thursday with Paula and Halla and while Paula gave me a tour of Toronto, Dahlia chatted with her Aunt and heard about her experiences in Warsaw before the war, her escape to Russia and journey to Israel after the war. Halla is Dahlia’s last living relative born in Poland before the war. Dahlia recorded the conversation and it was much more meaningful after our recent trip to Warsaw. At the end of the day we all went to a wonderful Portuguese restaurant and said our good-byes.
Up until this time we had been having summer weather with temperatures in the 80’s, but the forecast was for a cold front moving in. With the cold front came pouring rain which started just as we were leaving Toronto for Vermont and followed us most of the day. We arrived at about 7:00 PM to our timeshare at Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont (a ski resort). Today (Saturday) it has been raining intermittently, but the leaves are incredibly intense in color and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Our camera broke (could it be the intense colors?) so we had to find a Best Buy (again thanks to Garmi) and get a new one and stocked up with groceries. Tomorrow we start some serious explorations and leaf gazing.
On Monday morning we left Baltimore in a rental car headed for Niagara Falls intending to make and overnight stop in Pittsburgh, PA. We were enjoying the ride so much we decided to go straight through to Niagara Falls and spend two nights there. We got to see some foliage change in northern Pennsylvania. A highlight was a stop for lunch at a restaurant in Breezewood PA with a gift shop and a large section with books with titles like: "Best prayers for Diabetes", " The 100 most efficient prayers" and "Best 60 sec. Prayers".
We got to the Marriott hotel right at Niagara Falls at about 7:00 PM and lucked out to get a room with a peek view of the falls, and got to see a lovely sunrise over the river in the morning. (Having used Marriott Points the price was right too!) We spent all day Tuesday hiking around the falls from the Canadian to the US side and took the Maid of the Mist boat ride to see the falls up close and personal. The mist looked a lot like heavy fog and felt a lot like rain, despite the plastic ponchos we were wearing we got pretty soaked. The Niagara Falls were worthy of their listing among the wonders of the world. It was cool to see the almost permanent rainbows stretching across the falls when we saw them from the American side. (We found the Hotel clusters at the falls to be a real tourist trap with outrageous prices and would probably stay further away next time).
This is the first trip where we are using Lance’s new toy, the Garmin GPS StreetPilot. "Garmi" as we call "her" has proved to be a real asset. She guides us faithfully and calmly from point to point, and even helps us find all kinds of conveniences and attractions along the way. We are totally sold on it!
Wednesday we took a leisurely drive from Niagara Falls to Toronto along the northwestern side of Lake Ontario. We stopped in the quaint little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and at an old (1854) steam powered waterworks at Hamilton. (Recommended by Garmi!). It was very interesting and fun and even Dahlia enjoyed it (Although she had her doubts.)
We finally arrived at Toronto toward the end of the day and after checking into our hotel we visited Dahlia's Cousin Paula, her husband Marty and Dahlia's 92 year old Aunt Halla. We spent Thursday with Paula and Halla and while Paula gave me a tour of Toronto, Dahlia chatted with her Aunt and heard about her experiences in Warsaw before the war, her escape to Russia and journey to Israel after the war. Halla is Dahlia’s last living relative born in Poland before the war. Dahlia recorded the conversation and it was much more meaningful after our recent trip to Warsaw. At the end of the day we all went to a wonderful Portuguese restaurant and said our good-byes.
Up until this time we had been having summer weather with temperatures in the 80’s, but the forecast was for a cold front moving in. With the cold front came pouring rain which started just as we were leaving Toronto for Vermont and followed us most of the day. We arrived at about 7:00 PM to our timeshare at Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont (a ski resort). Today (Saturday) it has been raining intermittently, but the leaves are incredibly intense in color and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. Our camera broke (could it be the intense colors?) so we had to find a Best Buy (again thanks to Garmi) and get a new one and stocked up with groceries. Tomorrow we start some serious explorations and leaf gazing.
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 7:59 PM
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