Canada, Eh?

On August 19^th we said goodbye to my Dad and headed out. We crossed over to the Canadian border at Sarnia, located at the southern tip of Lake Huron.

 At the border crossing. Good thing our lane was ouvert and not ferme.

This is how you know you're in Canada.

We of course had to make a stop at a Tim Horton's for donuts, because that's just what you do when you're in Canada:

Mission accomplished!

We drove east to Hamilton, Ontario, located on the west edge of Lake Ontario. We picked Hamilton for its location as a good stopping point on our way to Niagara. It turned out to be a very industrial city, with what looked to be some large steel mills or other heavy manufacturing plants…I just Googled Hamilton and according to Wikipedia, 60% of Canada’s steel is produced in Hamilton, which is known as the Steel Capital of Canada. Well OK then.

That evening we used Yelp and a tourist magazine from the hotel lobby to figure out where to go for dinner. We ended up driving about 20 minutes (this is where we saw all the steel plants) to Hutch’s On The Beach. It was a huge diner-style restaurant serving amazing hamburgers and fish & chips. It was a Wednesday night, but the place was hopping and obviously very popular with the locals. The restaurant was located right off of a lakefront walking path, so we took a walk along the lake after dinner, along with what seemed like most of the residents of Hamilton.

Alice dipping her toes in Lake Ontario.

We found a breakwater to climb on.

On the 20^th we drove to Niagara to see Niagara Falls. Unfortunately the rain and the parking situation were against us, so we weren’t able to get out of the car to view the Falls. We did drive by them though on the Canadian side:

I now understand why people say the Canadian side is better: with the way the Falls are shaped, you only get to see a portion of them from the American side. You get to view the whole thing from the Canadian side.

The rain let up for a bit and we were able to stop at The Whirlpool for a photo op and some smashed pennies:

The yellow contraption in the background is part of an open-air “Aero Car” that crosses over the Whirlpool on cables. There was no way we were getting Alice (nickname: “Freak-out Girl”) on that thing.

 View of the Falls from the border crossing

After entering New York the rain started to come down in earnest. In fact, it was some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen. Fortunately the downpour only lasted about 30 minutes. We continued on I-90 and stayed the night in Utica, NY.

On the 21^st we headed south to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Dan and I have always been big baseball fans, so we enjoyed seeing the tributes to many of our favorite players:

Iron Man!

 Pedro!

The Big Unit!

After Cooperstown, it was the last push to Connecticut and Cheshire. When we arrived we were pretty exhausted, so we ate dinner at the local burger place, unpacked the minimum necessary, and went to bed. And thus ended our cross-country adventures: 20 days, around 4500 miles, 2 countries, 14 states, and 1 province. Whew!