This time ten years ago we were starting to make plans for a huge adventure travelling across America. It took over 18 months to plan, but turned out to be the most amazing of months.
There were four of us embarking on the trip, all with different wish lists. We were never going to fit it all in. Where to start? We purchased a huge map of the US together with some travel guides, which we individually poured over to try to plot an itinerary.
We came together with maps, books and ideas for a sunny weekend break in Centre Parcs. In between cycling, swimming, eating, drinking and lots of laughter we formulated a plan. Then we had months of researching, more meetings, agreeing, and booking until finally the day arrived ✈️
September 2009 we left dear old Blighty behind for the bright lights of New York, one big tick off my bucket list. Arriving just in time for the old boys birthday, our transfer from the airport was a luxury limousine. I felt a little underdressed in my sloppy travel gear 🙂.
We had a wonderful stay in “the City that never sleeps”, from watching a newly married couple have their photos taken in Times Square, to some amazing views of the whole city from the top of the Rockefeller Centre.
We spent an afternoon in the Oyster Bar, within the spectacular Grand Central Station, whilst messaging our besties who, at the same time, were oyster tasting at the Hastings Seafood & Wine Festival. Spooky moment.
Visiting the busy China Town we watched Tai Chi & men playing games in the square. Then discovering New Yorks amazing way of resolving parking issues, with vast car parks that take the cars underground on their own lift and back up when the owners return. Ingenious.
Then another afternoon sitting in the sunshine in Battery Park looking out to the magnificent Statue of Liberty 🗽. Followed by the eerie quiet of Ground Zero, with people paying their respects. We saw the infamous fire station housing ladder 28, where so many of the crew were first on scene that dreadful day.
However work had started in one area, and we got told off by the concierge of a building for standing on his wall trying to get a peek at the rebuilding, over the hoardings. Oops!! 😬 So much to see, so little time.
We celebrated Steve’s birthday at Gordon Ramsey’s newly opened Maze restaurant. With the cocktails flowing, it was a fabulous start to our month long adventure.
Having had three wonderful days, sightseeing and recovering from the flight, the adventure now began. We picked up our hire car for the first leg and headed to Boston. As we arrived at the weekend, we stayed fairly cheaply, but comfortably in the business quarter. It was very peaceful but within walking distance to the main hub of the city. It is a very historical city and, as you do, we took an open bus tour of the sights, with a brilliant guide. He taught us all about the early settlers, the slave trade, the Boston massacre then we kept our heads down ( being British ) when he started taking about the Boston Tea Party. It is said the response of the British Government to the tea shipment being cast into the sea, was so harsh it escalalated into the American revolution! It all happened in the late 1700’s so I think we’re forgiven 🤣🤣🤣and we survived the trip.
Boston is a beautiful city with lots of historical, immaculately kept buildings, and museums, music and sports. After our bus tour we spent some time visiting some of the sights, walking about town in the glorious sunshine.
The Waterfront is amazing, for walking, chilling, having coffee and pastries, or in our case a glass of vino 🍷 and some fantastic restaurants. We had a marvellous evening at a seafood restaurant eating lobster. Ha ha it was hilarious 😂, and we staggered home, merry but very contented.
Boston is high on my list of places to re visit.
All too soon, our visit was over, the car was reloaded and we headed towards Vermont, looking for the beautiful colours of fall. Although the scenery on the journey was breathtaking, we were just a few weeks too early for the changing colours. We were, however arriving during the annual moose festival. We found ourselves having a pit stop in the quaint little town of Bennington. There were lots of highly decorated statues of moose all over the town. Ideal for some photos. I don’t think the towns folk were used to receiving outside visitors. We didn’t initially feel very comfortable, as we could hear the tumbleweed when we entered a restaurant but the server was very welcoming.
Onwards and westwards heading for an overnight stop in Syracuse. We knew there were some historic covered bridges dating back to the 1800’s nearby, so we thought while we were here a visit was a must. 🤣🤣 They were just what it said on the tin, bridges with roofs on (covered bridges). Oh well lots of laughter and obligatory photos taken, we continued across New York State to our next proposed stop.
Three hours later, after some spectacular scenery, we reached our destination. Well not sure if we’d programmed the sat nav incorrectly or just ended up a bit awry, but we found ourselves in a less than salubrious area, under a concrete flyover, with not much encouraging us to get out of the car. A rapid discussion resulted in the decision to continue on the road for a little longer and we ended up in a place called Weedsport!!
We checked into a motel. The rooms were VERY basic but adequate. Us girlies unpacked the necessities for the night………….pj’s & alcohol, whilst the men folk went hunter gathering. They came back sometime later with something they described as a Chinese! Well whatever it was it was inedible. So, tired, hungry and a little tipsy we headed off to bed. Breakfast wasn’t much better, consisting of dodgy cereal and coffee, but it stopped the grumbling in the belly! Weedsport is definitely NOT on my return list 😂.
Having refreshed and again reloaded the car we set off for the couple of hours drive to Buffalo, gateway to the Usa/Canada border and another one of my bucket list destinations ……..Niagra Falls. There was interrogation at border control as to why we wanted to enter Canada, where were we staying, how long for? Were we carrying any weapons? Nooooooooooo I just want to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the bloody Niagra Falls, pleeease let me in!
And then we were there……OMG…OMG, took my breath away. It was unbelievable how close you could get to the falls from the roadside. We were within feet of the cascading water, spray hitting our faces. And the sounds…….. calm but fast flowing water coming towards us then thundering as it fell down the waterfall, crashing as it hit the water at the bottom.
The boats taking tourists behind the falls, bobbing up and down amidst the spray. The venicular railway coming down behind us with views of both the American and Canadian falls. Fan-tas-tic. The sights and sounds will never leave me 💕.
My travel mates had to drag me away and back to the car to head to Niagra on the Lake for a spot of lunch, but all was forgiven when we reached the beautiful town nestled on the edge of where Lake Ontario meets the Niagra River. The town was in full bloom and absolutely stunning. Lovely horse drawn carriages were giving tourists tours of the spectacular town. My hubby was driving and was advised by our friend that he should park in the direction of the traffic flow, which of course he ignored.
We wandered through the immaculately kept town, with its beautiful old buildings, down to the lake side, watching the cable car carry passengers across the Niagra. We stopped for lunch and an ice cream overlooking the tranquillity of the lake before strolling back to the car, parked the wrong way, with a ticket stuck to the windscreen!!
Oh well again much laughter and a lesson learned. We headed of to pay the fine and the final destination of this leg, Toronto.
Not sure if we just chose the wrong end of town, but we didn’t find Toronto very inspiring. After a long day we checked into the hotel, for a siesta, before looking for a nice bar and a bite to eat.
The following morning we headed out to find the CN Tower, not terribly difficult! We had a table booked in the 360* restaurant for early evening. The tower reminded me of the one in Sydney, which we had visited nine years earlier. Then taking a stroll along what we thought was the waterfront, there were only a few bars, cafes and restaurants and only a handful open, even on a week day. Not feeling Toronto had made the most of its assets we found a little cafe for coffee and a snack to keep us fuelled till the evening.
As the sun set, all glammed up we took a leisurely stroll back down to the tower. We were looking forward to being wined and dined, whilst looking out over the City and the evening lights starting to sparkle. We weren’t disappointed, the food was exceptional and the waiters attentive without being instrusive. The wine “cellar” was immense and we looked in awe as we travelled passed on our dining rotations.
Content and suitably merry we went in search of the famous glass floor to look down on the world below. Steve, who doesn’t enjoy heights, stood back with a wary look on his little face. We survived and had a wonderful evening.
Rising late the next morning we wandered back into the City and found a bit more of the hustle and bustle you’d expect. We had been looking for somewhere serving local fare and found a little restaurant tucked away selling Buffalo burgers. Those of you that know me know I like my meat rare. I asked for my burger to be cooked that way, and was advised it was illegal to sell a rare burger in Canada. Initially a bit disappointed and I am not normally a huge burger fan, I decided to try one and it was delicious. If you ever get the chance to try buffalo do so. Yum 😋. Several beers later, some planning for the next leg of the adventure and more laughing (a theme of this journey) we headed back to the hotel to pack up and get ready for the following day to drop the car at the airport and fly to Denver Colorado.
It had only been a week since we had left home. We had done and seen so much and I had been lucky enough to tick two things off my bucket list. We were looking forward to a few days rest and catching up with friends in Denver, before embarking on the next leg of the adventure.
Sorry for the number of photos 😀But every picture tells a story 📖
So……….where DID we go from there? …….. Come back again soon to continue the adventure. ✈️ ⛰ 👨👩👧👦