We are off on a 19 day trip to the North Eastern States of America - we will also be nipping across to Canada. This is an account of our crazy adventure. Sightseeing and Geocaching along the way.
The time is going way too fast, wish I could s-l-o-w it down. We were really sad to be leaving Canada today as we have really enjoyed
our short stay here. Definitely want to see more of it in the future.
Time to move on
We checked out of our hotel and headed to the falls for one last look before driving to the
Peace Bridge and back into America.
We were on that boat yesterday!
One last look at the majestic sight
Over the Peace Bridge
We had a long drive ahead of us to
Altoona.
Stopped off at Dave and Bev’s diner, a fabulous homely little diner in a
small town called Ellington. Bev was so friendly and was really
interested to hear about our travels.
To break up the journey we stopped off to find an old cache in
Pennsylvania – it was a bit worrying as there were signs warning about
wearing orange hi-viz in the hunting season.
– A quick google and as we suspected it is actually the hunting season right now so we dug around in
the bags and found our yellow hi-viz, oh well better than no hi-viz at
all at least we wouldn’t be mistaken for deer. I was a bit worried
about snakes too so made sure I stamped along as much as I could and
used a whacking stick to scare any that might have been lurking under
the bushes.
Ohio
Then it was back on the road stopping off to find a cache in Ohio and checking in at our Motel in Altoona about 9pm.
Today is the first day we’ve been able to relax a little as we are staying for two nights at Niagara Falls.
This morning we visited the Niagara Power Project Visitors Center – which is back on the US side. We'd planned to go there yesterday before crossing in to Canada but ran out of time. Luckily the toll is only payable one way and even then it's only $3.50us. It was really interesting and we were really lucky as we more or less had the place to ourselves – I expect it gets very busy at peak times.
Great fun in the Visitor Centre
View from the Power Plant
This is the first day of rain we’ve had, we can’t complain too much as up until now the weather has been fantastic.
EC in the rain
Back on the Canadian side we popped into a supermarket for some supplies and this we saw lots of unusual fruit and veg, it was nice to finally find fresh produce instead of mostly pre-packed in America. Also everything seemed quite a bit cheaper.
Sugar Cane
Sending Postcards
We’ve seen some interesting wildlife too – in America we saw lots of chipmunks, plenty of raccoons but sadly only road-kill raccoons and in Canada we’ve seen loads of black squirrels and this evening we went out to play a Wherigo and I saw a skunk! Sadly it was too dark to get a decent pic.
The accommodation at Cohocton was called an ‘inn’ but
in reality was a privately owned property with well-equipped rooms. No
breakfast was included so in the morning we walked down to a nearby
independent grocery shop to buy some cereals and milk.
Arrived in Niagara today. WOW wow wow, I was so excited to be finally be at Niagara Falls, I had to pinch myself as it felt like a dream when I first caught a glimpse of the great falls. I couldn’t believe that I was actually here. My whole life I’ve wanted to visit but never really thought that I ever would so to finally be here is amazing.
Niagara Falls, NY
Rainbow Bridge
Our accommodation is on the Canadian side of the falls but first of all we wanted to take a boat trip on the ‘Maid of the Mist’, I have wanted to go on this boat ever since I saw it on another of my favourite films – Bruce Almighty – The bit where Bruce Nolan reports for Eyewitness News after Evan (backstabber) Baxter gets the anchor man job that he was hoping for……….. it’s hilarious.... you can watch it here ....
Anyway.... we went on the boat and it was great fun, the fierce spray from the falls was a bit of a shock – it’s a good job we had the plastic mac on that was handed out otherwise we’d have been soaked to the skin. I took some cool footage on my GoPro which is luckily waterproof... this one's only a minute long.
Then across Rainbow Bridge and the border into Canada.
Crossing into Canada - Rainbow Bridge
We just had time to check-in to our hotel before going off to attend our event. We’d planned a very short 'meet and greet', as we knew we would have tight time constraints.
As is traditional for our events we try to find an interesting statue to hold the event by. This time we chose the statue of Nikola Tesla – inventor of the AC motor and hydroelectric power – apparently the statue stands in the exact spot where a photograph had been taken that Tesla later said had inspired him to invent hydroelectric power.
It was a great to see some old friends from the UK, Wigglesworth, we first met them while we were playing a Wherigo at the UK's 1st Mega Event in Harrogate in 2008. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, Ehunter3 and Volkssporter41 bought home-made cookies and shortbread along which we thought was a lovely gesture.
Can you believe this is just the starter??
134 miles today.
(The strange route is because we'd set the sat-nav to avoid toll roads)
When researching what here was to see between Albany and Niagara Falls I spotted Watkins Glen State Park, in fact it was a picture on Pinterest that first caught my eye and I told Mark that we were going to visit as it looked amazing.
Watkins Glen State Park is a 1000 acre park and the main attraction is the 400 foot deep narrow gorge that cuts through the rock by Glen Creek stream over the last 12,000 years - fascinating and mind-blowing.
We walked the gorge trail to the end which was 1½ miles and altogether more than 800 stone steps and then back again along the Indian Trail. A truly amazing experience.
We had taken much longer over our visit to Watkins Glen than we had first planned to we were much later arriving at GC39 The Spot. This is a May 2000 cache and is the last box that need to be ticked on our Jasmer Grid so we were really keen to find it as it’s the only one we’d be able to find on this trip.
We had carefully read the previous logs and found a suitable parking place to begin the walk. This cache was the reason we hired a 4WD this trip as we knew the road leading to the trail head was rough we just weren’t sure how rough.
The previous logs had described the walk as being quite an arduous and had mentioned a steep climb so we set off not really knowing what to expect.
We thoroughly enjoyed the walk in the early evening sunshine and soon found our way down into the gorge and to the cache – YAY! Jasmer Challenge now complete! It was a nice feeling to complete it after working our way through the grid over the last few years.
Jasmer Challenge Complete!
We then set off to our accommodation in Cohocton but decided to take a detour to a virtual on the way. The virtual caught our eye as it is set on the bridge that features in one of our favourite films – ‘It’s a wonderful Life’….
One of the things we we struggle with when travelling is explaining to B&B
owners what we are doing and why we need to have breakfast so early. This time was no exception. We usually prefer to opt for self-catering apartments because then we can be up and out without too much delay.
The B&B owner suggested we had
breakfast at around 9-9.30. This was far too late so she agreed to
bring it forward to 8am – which is still really late for us. We went
down to see if breakfast was ready just before 8 and there was no sign
of it – the owner was only just about to get the frying pan out! So we
asked if we could just have cereal as we needed to get back on the
road. Luckily tonight we’re in another Best Western Hotel so no
awkward questions and they usually serve breakfast from 6am.
Bed and Breakfast
First stop was a webcam in Dublin, New Hampshire before a walk around Chesterfeld Gorge and an EarthCache. The sun shone again all day today, such a beautiful day.
Dublin, NH
Then it was on to Vermont. Saw lots of signs to beware of moose in the road but we didn’t actually see any which was a pity. The beautiful fall colour is just starting to appear on the trees. It’s the one thing I have always wanted to experience for as long as I can remember and I’m gutted that we are a week or two too early to see it at its best. Oh well, we’ll just have to come back another year and make it a few weeks later next time, maybe combine it with a trip further North.
It really is beautiful here, amazing views and beautiful trees.
100 mile view - Hogback Mountain
We stopped off at a point on the road where you can allegedly see for 100 miles at a place called Hogback Mountain.
Then we headed to Bennington to do a walking tour Wherigo – These are my favourite type of Wherigo, as they usually teach you something about an area. The wherigo took us near to the Bennington Tower so we paid our $5 each to go to the top. There were about 270 steps to the top but luckily we didn’t have to walk them as the steps were closed off for public use and you have to take the elevator... sorry lift. At 306ft tall this is actually the tallest building in Vermont.
After a lovely couple of hours in Bennington, walking around the historical town in the sunshine it was time to get back on the road and head to Albany where we’ll be staying for one night.
Seth Warner Statue and Bennington Tower
One observation made was that roads in Vermont were the best we had driven on since arriving in the US – most surfaces were pothole-free with many newly surfaced roads.
Day 4 - 136 miles
Once in Albany, we checked into our hotel and then went out for our evening meal, grabbing a few virtuals on the way.
it’s hilarious.... you can watch it here ....
At 306ft tall this is actually the tallest building in Vermont.
