Road Trip 2002

Sunday Aug 19 - Sandusky-PA-NY-Niagara Falls
Slept in, packed up and had a real breakfast buffet and off to Niagara Falls. Drove along Lake Erie through Cleveland, Erie (PA) where we ate lunch at Bob Evans, and into NY. We could see the spray from Niagara Falls from miles away. We drove around Niagara Falls Park and parked near the observation tower by the American Falls. We went on the Maid of the Mist, a boat, right into the falls! It was amazing! Only our blue plastic raincoats kept us from being drenched. It was like a scene out of "Perfect Storm". After a couple of hours we left (over Mom's objections) and checked into our hotel, then went searching for Chinese food. We finally found this hole in the wall. First words out of Marcus' mouth at the counter: Do you know where any other Chinese restaurants are? Nice, huh? It wasn't Silver Pond, but it was okay. After dinner, Mom & Dad walked back to the falls and saw it all lit up, and fireworks overhead at 10:00. It was truly spectacular.

Monday Aug 20 - Niagara-Boston
Up and out early, sort of. Ate at the Denny's inside the hotel and went to pull the car around, only to find a dead battery - AGAIN :( Maintenance man of the hotel gave us a jump ( turns out someone had flipped the inside light switch :( ) and we drove off at 9:00. All the way across the beautiful landscape of upstate NY - the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, Saratoga and Schenectady, Rochester, Utica and Syracuse. Finally, through Albany and down toward Massachusetts. The Berkshires are magnificent. Massachusetts is nearly as hilly as NC, certainly as much as Atlanta. Stopped in Natick at Target Boutique for long pants for Elliot and Marcus. Mom made reservation at the Oak Room inside the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel - thank goodness for tour books! We walked 14 minutes 6 or 7 blocks to the restaurant. Wow! The hotel looks like a palace inside, and the Oak Room looks like the dining room in the Biltmore in Asheville. Opulent, oak paneling covering the walls, vaulted ceilings, and (ugh) animal heads over the transoms. The food was awesome. Unbelievable chateaubriand. Logan and Ilana fall asleep in their huge chairs, so we took 2 cabs back to the Radisson. 3 of us in each cab. The fares were not the same - can you believe it?

Tuesday Aug 21 - Boston
We woke up to drizzly overcast weather. But the forecast has promised that it would clear up. We walked through some drizzle to the Prudential Plaza to get tickets for the "Duck Tour". The ticket office was in the most beautiful mall we'd ever seen - it makes the Boca Town Center look shabby! We boarded the amphibious landing vehicle actually used in the invasion of Sicily in WWII. Pretty cool vehicle. Bostonians quacked at us as we drove along the historical sights of Boston. The driver, Ex(cellent) - yes, his real name, gave us an excellent history of Boston. But the amazing part was when we drove into the Charles River! All the kids in the vehicle got to drive the now boat, including Logan! The only negative was that after the first half an hour, of this 80-minute tour, Mom had to go pee, and I mean REALLY had to go. When the tour was over, Mom RAN across the street to the nearest bathroom! We had lunch at a wrap place on Newbury street - a very cool and upscale shopping and residential district. Students are everywhere. Boston is full of colleges and universities - over 60 of them in the greater metropolitan area. We then walked through Boston Common, and we caught the olde town trolley. It took us on a leisurely tour around and back to the hotel. But our "conductor" was sooo boring. We rested up at the hotel for a while, and then walked a few blocks to the subway, which we took to Harvard Station in Cambridge. From there it was a short walk to "Harvest" - recommended by the hostess at the Oak Room. Food was imaginative and dessert was yummy. Our waitress is an incoming grad student at Harvard Divinity School. And where had she been an undergrad, you ask? Sarah Lawrence! She had indeed heard about Professor Bella Brodzki, but she was unable to take her class. Said she had heard that Dr. Brodzki was tough! Subway back to Boston, and we watched a street artist spray painting fantasy "space" art in minutes - it was fascinating. We were all wiped from the day!