See America 2008

Today might have been the closest-to-plan day so far. We were eager to get up and get out of the dump motel we had in Niagara Falls. There was zero traffic at 9:30 going into Canada over the Rainbow Bridge border. We paid $20 to park in the main public parking, which is a bargain if you consider that no other admission is charged for full access to the Canadian side of the falls.

We did what I imagine 99% of tourists do at Niagara Falls. We walked the paved walk from just above the falls, downstream to nearly directly across from American Falls. These two huge waterfalls are truly magnificent and should be seen in person once in one's life. Then we crossed the main avenue and walked back to the car via the several souvenir shops along the way. We were back across the border by 11:30am.

Since we were trying to keep a schedule, we passed on all the other tourist trap attractions in the area and headed south and west to Ohio. In an attempt to control costs, we are having our lunches on the road, from the cooler we bought and provisioned as we left Boston. We made it to the Kirtland Visitor Center by about 3pm. While there we took the abbreviated tour, which included a 24 minute film about the settlement of the area by Mormons in the 1830's, which can only be seen at that visitor center. The film was followed by a tour of the Whitney Home and the Whitney Store. These locations figure very prominently in the early history of the LDS Church. The first Bishop's Storehouse was run from the Whitney Store and became the basis for what today is a worldwide welfare and humanitarian aide complex spanning 6 continents.

Tonight we are staying at the Hampton Inn in Westlake, OH. It is below average for the many Hampton Inns in which I've lodged before, but is a night and day improvement over the dump we stayed in yesterday. We had dinner in the local Buca di Beppo - a chain yes, but not one available to us in the Tri Cities. The food was good, but for some bizarre reason, they did not have any bread available. They resorted to baking pizza dough into dinner breads. How does that happen?

Plan for tomorrow: Drive 40 miles west to Sandusky and the Cedar Point theme park. Known as America's Roller Coast, this park on the Lake Erie shore is considered the roller coaster capital of the world. I expect we will spend 4-5 hours here, depending on the crowds, then make for Chicago.

Additional pics have been uploaded.