Sunday, April 29, 2012
After having breakfast with Chuck and his family, we are headed to Iowa.  Due to our late start, we won't be going as far as we had originally planned.

Our grandson, Gryphon, who is 9 years old

 It was a dreary day with lots of rain.  Sometimes torrents of rain !

Typical countryside in Illinois

Lots more greenery and water in Iowa.

Bridge, and RAIN, on the Missouri River

We found our hotel with the help of our GPS, and ate dinner at the Tom Thumb Drivein in Fort Dodge, Iowa.  Really tired from the rain and gloom, so going to read and go to bed early.  Hopefully, the sun will shine tomorrow and we can take more pictures.

Saturday, April 28, 2012
After leaving Ann Arbor, we drove to the Chicago area and called our son, Chuck.  Today is his birthday and we surprised him by coming to see him and his family.  He had a Father-Daughter dance to go to this evening, so got a picture of him and his daughter, Irish, all dressed up.  Irish is 7 years old and on restriction for the rest of her life for misbehaving!  It is a lot more fun being a Grandparent, isn't it?

Irish and Chuck

We went to our hotel in hotel in Yorkville and got the last room they had available.  A much, much nicer room than we had in Ann Arbor for the same price.  This time we stayed at a Hampton Inn.

Tub in the corner of our room

Will take a lot more pictures tomorrow, when we can get the kids to calm down?

Friday, April 27, 2012
While we were loading the car this morning, it started snowing!  Not a lot, just enough to get us excited.
We drove around Lake  on our way to Toronto.   The lady at the Canadian border questioned us about where we were going, how long we planned to stay in Canada, etc.  She had absolutely NO sense of humor.

Border with Canada

There were a lot of cars leaving Canada this morning, but not very many entering.  After leaving the border, we saw many, many orchards, vineyards, wineries, etc.

Orchard in Canada

We are still circling Lake Ontario, of course.  Lots of riverfront homes, too.  Some look like estates, but many do not.

Riverfront home

Entrance to Honsberger Estate, billed as a "Victorian Retreat" on Lake Ontario

My wonderful husband never hesitates to take last minute detours when I see something interesting "down another road".  We took off at Jordan, on the way to Toronto, and found this wonderful cheese factory/store. 

We bought several of their cheeses, made on this site with milk from local guernsey cows.  Hope they make it home before they get eaten !

Before arriving in Toronto, we stopped at a local market to get something for lunch!

They had beautiful orchids on sale for $9.99, but we decided to pass them up. The exchange rate for Canada/US is 1:1.

Skyline in Toronto ... have no idea what this "spire" is. Lots of highrise buildings.

Toronto

Bridge leaving Toronto

We drove on to Detroit and since it wasn't too late, decided to drive to Ann Arbor to spend the night.  Big mistake.  Almost all the rooms were booked because the University of Michigan is having their graduation this weekend.  We ended up at a Clarion which charged us $136 for a substandard room.  But, we were too tired to go any further !

All the local restaurants were busy, too, due to the graduation.  We ended up at a Mongolian Barbeque downtown (thanks to Yelp!) and it was pretty good.

Then, back to our room to sleep!  The temperature was 44-degrees. Will be glad when it warms up !

Thursday, April 26, 2012
After breakfast with Scott, we hit the road again (without Willie Nelson singing) and headed to Niagara Falls.  All along, we have been using the wonderful Tour books and maps from the Automobile Club, but we didn't pick up one for New York, so this is even more of an adventure.  But, an adventure with GPS and my laptop and Google maps!  Aren't we the brave ones ...
Saw some more beautiful countryside and farms, like the one below.

Didn't get many pictures, because by the time we spotted something, we had driven right on by before I could get the camera ready.  Enough traffic to make it difficult to stop. 

We did pull off in time to get this picture and the next one ..

Now, if I just knew how to make dandelion tea, I have enough dandelions!
We checked into a hotel in Niagara Falls then went to a local laundromat to wash our clothes.  I haven't used a laundromat in many years, but it came back.  Then we went to dinner at a local place recommended by the desk person at our hotel.
The specialties in this area are the chicken wings, which were huge and quite good, and "Beef on Weck". 

It is a roast beef sandwich on a salty kummelweck roll.  Made only in the Buffalo-Rochester area, the kummelweck—often alternatively spelled kimmelweck—is basically a Kaiser roll topped with lots of pretzel salt and caraway seeds.  Really quite good.

Where we ate dinner

Then we drove on to view Niagara Falls.

Bridge down river from The Falls

Yes, they are awesome!  This is from the American side and called the American Falls.  Go figure ...

Since the temperatures are quite chilly here, it is in the 30's now, the boat ride is not running. Bummer !

Maybe we will use this one for our Christmas card?

Wednesday April 25, 2012

On our way out of Washington DC, we stopped at the Eastern Market .... which was built in 1878.  We thought of Tory when we saw all the wonderful pastries !  Too bad we are soo far from home, huh?

Pastry case

Driving out of DC, we headed out for Pennsylvania to visit our friend Scot (Al) Miller and his cousin, Linda ... she owns a 120 acre farm with the house she grew up in.
Saw a lot of farms on the way and the Susquehanna River.  It was really beautiful, but cold. 

Pennsylvania road

Scott and Linda ... the last time I saw him, he had a beard.  Scott is a nurse with whom I worked many, many years ago

After a long time catching up on the years, Scott took us out to dinner at a small Italian restaurant.  Then we went back to our hotel room and turned up the heat !

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Our last full day in Washington DC and Craig walked my legs off !
We found the MetroRail entrance about a block from our hotel.  It's amazing what you can find when it isn't raining!  The skies were blue and clear, the temperature in the 60's.  Nice ...
So, we bought an all-day pass for $9 each and headed out to Arlington National Cemetary.  The first train we got on was going the wrong way, but some guys gave us the correct directions.  People have been mostly very nice for our whole visit here.

Craig by the underground Metro Rail sign

 It was a nice, fast trip to Arlington, with a one-block walk from the station to the Visitor's Center.

Exit from Metro Rail

Lost Heroes Art Quilt in the lobby, with a name and picture of someone from all 50 states

You can't perceive how many grave markers are there from looking at a picture !  Very moving ....

 We took the tour, as the walk was very long and uphill.  Didn't get out at the JFK gravesite, but we did stop at the Tomb of the Unknown.
I took videos of the Changing of the Guard, placing a wreath and playing of Taps. I tried to include it, but it didn't work.
After we left Arlington, we were walking to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall when we noticed a sign for a Food Court outside the Ronald Reagan Building.  As with all the government buildings, we had to pass through Security to enter.  Had no idea what we would find inside ...  Went down one level and found a massive food court, similar to one at a mall, but with a much better selection.  There were a lot of office workers there and students on tours.  Craig and I ate Mediterranean food and it was great.

The food court

After lunch, we walked to the Vietnam Memorial Wall where Craig spent a few minutes in contemplation.  I am just thankful that his name didn't end up on the wall !

Three representative ethnic soldiers of the Vietnam War

A park ranger said that presents are left at this wall DAILY !

After leaving here, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial, where a nice couple took a couple of pictures of us.

Lincoln Memorial

Guess who?

Our new Christmas card photo ??

Our favorite Park Ranger .. and rider !

White House in the background

After leaving the Lincoln Memorial, we went to the White House.  Barak and Michelle were too busy to meet with us today !

After leaving the White House, on the way to the Metro station, we passed this beautiful building.

Dwight D Eisenhower Executive Office Building

A Secret Service lady told us that this is where a lot of the government officials hold special meetings.  Beautiful, huh?  And, it is huge !

Another view of the Eisenhower building

The back of the White House

We can honestly say that we have seen almost every sight that we wanted to see on this trip.  What a wonderful time we have had !

Monday, April 23, 2012
Another cold, rainy day .... but we will NOT let it dampen our spirits or adventure!
We walked to the Capitol Building and took a tour.  Lots of people were there, in spite of the weather, probably because it was warm inside? 

Toured the sculpture hall and the rotunda.

The top of the rotunda in the Capitol Building. 

The Apotheosis of Washington 

Suspended 180 feet above the Rotunda floor, the fresco covers an area of 4,664 square feet. The figures, up to 15 feet tall, were painted to be intelligible from close up as well as from 180 feet below.

Each state has 2 statues .... California has Fr Junipero Sera and Ronald Reagan.

Chief Washakie - Wyoming

 There was soooo much there is the way of artwork ... I won't bore you by posting many of the sculptures and paintings.

The Declaration of Independence, the most famous painting.

After touring the Capitol Building, we took the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress.

It houses the Jefferson collection, many books from Jefferson's personal library.  Many, many exhibits of life in the US!

 From here, we went to lunch at the Monocle Restaurant, which is close to the Supreme Court and the Capitol.  It is the haunt of Supreme Court justices and members of Congress and we were the only people in it not wearing a suit or carrying a briefcase !  But, the hamburger was good !

Next, on to the National Archives.  Displays included the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc.  I believe that these are the actual documents, but didn't ask anyone.

Poor lighting but this is the main room of the National Archive Building

Lots of Security Guards in all of the buildings, but they were very friendly and helpful.  Everyone we asked knew where the restrooms are located !  We did find out that we could go to the Research entrance and lool at old census records.

We walked about 4 miles today in the wind, rain and cold.  Wouldn't you know that records have been set here for Spring weather?

This is the closest we have gotten to the White House so far

 For dinner, we just took our vehicle out and found a Safeway market.  GPS is soooo great!