Crossing the border to the U.S., Saturday, July 10

Canada has been a wonderful experience; however, we are ready for the ~190 mile drive to the U.S. Crossing the border was really fun.

Most of the 30 minute wait was spent on the beautiful, high bridge over the St. Clair River (at the mouth of Lake Huron).

The water was clear blue and turquoise and busy with pleasure boat traffic, including what appeared to be a sailboat regatta. We loved that view before arriving at the border crossing and the next thing we knew, we were in Michigan!

We can now use our phones without paying international rates and have discovered that Curt and Yvonne are at a campground only 19 miles away.

We didn’t know when we parted yesterday that we would be on the same route today, but were able to get the spot next to them and were not surprised at a knock on our door in the afternoon. “Yes, Curt, we’ll probably always be next door.”

This is a very “family friendly” campground and it was fun watching all the kids at various activities….lake swimming, bike riding, air pillow bouncing, putt-putt, and the list goes on. It doesn’t get dark here until about 9:30 which makes it easy to stay outside late. We enjoyed the evening visiting with each other and fellow campers.

Niagara’s Fury, Friday, July 9

We are all alone in Canada! Curt and Yvonne left this morning in order to be in Michigan tomorrow for Yvonne’s family reunion. We miss them. Ivan and I have decided to stay here another day, since we will be traveling in a different direction into Michigan for our scheduled recall on our motorhome. We are due to arrive there on Monday to have the work done Tuesday.

Savvy bus people that we are, we braved the rain, armed with windbreakers and umbrella, and went back to the falls. We were provided disposable rain parkas at the entrance to “Niagara’s Fury”. WHAT?? We thought this was going to be a movie about the creation of the falls!! Well, it was a movie…very creative! In the movie we got snowed on, rained on and splashed on. We were thankful for the parkas, and they came in handy when we went outside in the rain again.

White Water Walk, Friday, July 9

Our next stop was the “White Water Walk”. This was an amazing site which began with an elevator ride down 225 feet to the Niagara Great Gorge. We strolled the boardwalk along some of the world’s wildest rapids (classified as category 6). There were stories of those who went through these waters in barrels and boats and some with only life vests. The ones who walked a tightrope over the rapids were also among the daring. A few of these adventuresome people were successful. Many were not. This exciting and beautiful walk would have been a great photo op on a sunny day, but we really loved it and are happy that we took advantage of the adventure.

The pictures don't do it justice.

Maid of the Mist,Thursday, July 8

We discovered the bus today, which makes site seeing from the campground cheaper and hassle free. It was a great day, beginning with a “Maid of the Mist” boat ride.





The double decker boat took us right to the base of the falls, where the plastic parkas provided did little to keep us dry. The water was quite rough and the “mist” was more of a soaking. It was awesome! We all loved it!

Pictured is us before getting to the falls.

The Journey Behind the Falls, Thursday, July 8

We took “The Journey Behind the Falls”….tunnels beneath the falls with portals to view the raging water. Pretty spectacular!

Our walk around the “downtown” area was kind of like Vegas…very touristy and pretty seedy, actually. We did not feel inclined to make purchases, making the decision to return to the park and find a grocery store. We did find a very nice market, but were shocked at the food prices here. Give us the good ol’ USA!

The drive to Niagara Falls, Wednesday, July 7

Curt’s GPS sent us down a road that turned out to be too risky to proceed so we had to backtrack about 20 miles and go another way.












After preparing for a big ordeal at the border, we had an uneventful border crossing into Canada today. We produced our passports and were only asked a few standard questions. They didn’t ask if we had vegetables or wine so I didn’t really need to throw my salad greens away or pour a ½ bottle of wine out the night before in preparation for the crossing!





We are in a very nice campground in the town of Niagara Falls, so we had plenty of time this afternoon to drive to the Falls, pay our $20.00 to park and check out activities for tomorrow.










We walked for a while, then stopped in a nice place overlooking the falls to enjoy a glass of wine and enjoy the views (more spectacular than I had imagined).

We are all tired and decided cooking is not an option. A great meal in a neat Italian grill was the perfect way to end the day.

A Travel Day, Tuesday, July 6

Today’s route takes us through two “blurry memories” for Ivan and me. We drove non-stop to Binghamton, NY, and back to California in 1963, to buy his first sailplane. We had deadlines back then (like jobs), so we did it in 5 days. Several years later, Ivan flew commercial to Elmira, NY, where he purchased the second one. This time, one of the local pilots towed the glider in its trailer to Illinois where we met him and took it the remaining miles home to CA. That was only a 3 day round trip!
On this less hurried trip, we are not far from Elmira at a campground in Hancock, NY. I must say that Pennsylvania and New York farmlands and hillsides are beautiful. We will head for the Canadian Border and Niagara Falls tomorrow.
Just as I was signing off today, I happened to catch the portion of the news telling of the record breaking heat in New York City (100+) and of all days, the day the Queen visited the City. Last Thursday, the day we toured, we were wearing sweat shirts and wind breakers!