Vacation: First Stop Niagara Falls

A group of friends were heading out to the Northeast on a vacation. They asked me to come along. I wanted to but didn't think I'd have the time. October is in the middle of the Fall busy season at my job. Well, luckily there was a gap and I was able to make the trip.

So the four of us (Tom, Burke, Paul, and myself) hopped in brand new 2011 Jeep Patriot and headed East. Now when I say brand new Jeep, I mean it was purchased two days before the trip.

My first new vehicle

The plan was to head from to Niagara Falls to Burlington, Vermont to Bar Harbor, Maine to Portland, Maine to Salem, Mass and back to Indiana in 6 days. Hefty goals and a lot of miles and four people wanting to see and do different activities.

On Wednesday evening Paul traveled from Nashville to Indianapolis where he picked up Burke and Tom. Then the trio came up to Fort Wayne and slept at my house for a couple of hours. At 8am we headed out for the 7+ hour drive to Niagara Falls, NY.

We made it through the boring ass drive called the Ohio Turnpike arriving at the Park late afternoon.

The Falls are a thing of beauty. We walked up the trail to view the roar of the rapids as they strolled over the cliff barreling below. We went to the observation tower to witness the mist rise from below. It was the kind of spectacle I could have watched for hours.

We then hiked around the trails over to Goat Mountain. There we witnessed the Falls at a different angle. Burke noticed little observation decks at the base of the Falls. We knew that we had to go down there. The decks were called the Cave of the Winds.

The Cave was pretty damn awesome. You get to the bottom and the rushing winds of the Falls blows hard. The mist covers your body. At times, gallons of water splashes over your entire body.

Dusk had sneaked upon us. The three hours at Niagara Falls flew by in what seemed liked minutes. We decided to get a hotel, grab some food, and drinks. I found a tapas & wine bar a few blocks from the hotel called Wine On Third. I highly recommend this place. A friendly staff, great selection of wine, and nice food.

We drank many bottles

The four us sat around, ate, drank, relived pass memories and age old arguments. Exhausted, I bailed around 12:30am and headed back to the hotel. The other three stayed and kept indulging, a couple perhaps too much. It happens.

After another short night of sleep we woke and got around to head out. Next stop was Burlington, Vermont. Another good 7hrs of driving, maybe more as we decided to take the scenic route through the Adirondacks awaited.

(To Be Continued)


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