Road Trip 2009 (part 1)

7 Days of driving and over 4,000 miles logged on the car. You might be thinking that we are crazy, and if you are, then you are thinking correctly. However, the road trip started remarkably harmoniously as is evidenced by this totally non-staged photo of the boys in the backseat.

On our first day we left New Hampshire (State #1) drove across Vermont (#2) and New York (#3). We stopped in Buffalo to have hot wings at the Anchor Bar, the place where hot wings were invented. http://www.anchorbar.com/ (annoying website).

After consuming wings (they tasted like hot wings), we continued on to Niagara Falls. I was a bit nervous about the customs guy scanning Cooper's passport because he's got kind of a sketchy reputation. However, getting into Canada was easy.

Customs Guy: "Do you have any guns?"
Me: "No."
Customs Guy: "Welcome to Canada."

We parked and walked over to see the falls...


Annnd... here it is. A big waterfall. We were amazed to see how many tourist traps were set up around this thing. We were there for all of an hour yet it seems like many people spend quite a bit of time here. I'm not sure if it looks drastically different from another angle, but once you've looked at it, you've pretty much tapped out the potential excitement for this area.




We stayed the night in Hamilton, ON. I bought gas in liters. We ate donuts at Tim Hortons (the Canadian version of Dunkin' Donuts). We slept. The next day was Canada Day. We did not know this until the hotel clerk wished us a happy Canada Day. Do you know why Canadians celebrate Canada Day? Niether did we. However, we spent many hours guessing as we drove towards Michigan. The entire country shuts down for this day, so it must be a big deal. From Wikipedia:

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country, which was in turn composed of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally.

Leave it to the Canadians to have a federal holiday without a really kick ass war attached to it.

After traveling through Michigan (#4) we arrived in Indiana (#5). We spent the night in Portage, IN. It turns out that I forgot my book light and since one hotel lamp is capable of lighting a runway at JFK and landing a 747, I needed to buy a new one so I could read without keeping the northern half of Indiana awake. Jackson and I headed to the Wal-Mart supercenter of Portage, IN. This was the biggest Wally World I have ever seen. In addition to the regular Wal-Mart stuff this place had food, fireworks, a car dealership, horse farm, and orphanage. However, no book lights. Jackson found a worker to ask him where the book lights were. I caught up to him in the next aisle as he was trying to explain the concept of a book light to a Wal-Mart Workhere Person. Lets just say that Stephen Hawking would have an easier time explaining the Theory of Everything to Elmer Fudd. Portage is not the center of the learned universe.

The next day was our trip to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL (#6). This place is great. There's a giant cylinder in the middle of the atrium with big fish and small sharks.


Haley and the boys take a pic in the rainforest room.



Jax and Coop get ready for the Spongebob 4-D Experience.


Jax and Cooper row to shore.


After the Aquarium stop we headed out towards Papa and Grandma Kristi's house in Wisconsin (#7). We stopped on the way at Paradise Pup for a Chicago style hot dog and great burger. No pics of that. Imagine the four of us eating hot dogs and burgers. That mental image will suffice.


Next stop, Wisconsin. That's another post.