Which way to Niagara Falls?
I really enjoyed my time in Ann Arbor. It rained almost the whole time. My friend lives out in the country and has lots of windows, so we watched hummingbirds and deer and squirrels and raccoons and cardinals doing their springtime things. No visible young-uns yet, but lots of prep work for them -- nest building (birds) and gestation (deer). We didn't do much but eat and sleep and talk and watch TV, but I'd forgotten how enjoyable those things can be with someone compatible. Things did *not* go well when I visited a friend in Tucson on my Maiden Voyage, so I was concerned that maybe I'd lost the ability to be a good houseguest by getting too old and crabby. This visit put those worries to rest -- hanging out with my Ann Arbor friend was a pleasure from start to finish, and I came away with a couple of new ideas for easy meals to prepare at home.
Before it was time to go, I had a decision to make. Driving from Ann Arbor to Niagara Falls is about 100 miles shorter on the Canadian side, but it requires going through customs twice, and I had a van full of stuff that would be open to search. I didn't have any contraband that I knew of, but just the idea of the potential intrusiveness of it bothered me. I kept doing research and found a website that lists things you can't bring into Canada: https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-can-i-bring-to-canada-1481670 and fortunately I noticed the part about stun guns. I have this walking stick with a stun gun built in that I would have happily left at home on this trip if I'd realized it could be an issue -- I've never even put the batteries in it -- but I have it and I didn't want to either try to find a box and ship it home or risk confiscation at the border. So, the U.S. side it would be, even though it's an extra hundred miles longer. Perhaps I'll feel like a day trip into Canada after I'm in Niagara Falls and I can stow the walking stick in my hotel room. Perhaps I'll take a bus trip over so that I'm not in a van full of intriguing things.
I decided to stay off the main highway on my drive from Ann Arbor to Cleveland. I made that drive a year ago in my rental test-run van, and the combination of wind and road conditions made that that trip not fun. The smaller highway nearer the coast of Lake Erie was not likely to be worse, and might be better. I was not disappointed! Large areas of wetlands, shore birds, signs pointing to ferries that would take you to islands with state parks on them... I drove through and by a whole bunch of interesting things that I would like to come back and visit when I have more time. I never imagined that Northwest Ohio was a vacation destination!
When I got to Cleveland, I drove straight to the Planet Fitness I'd picked on the map for its location. However when I got there, I saw a mostly abandoned mall with trash accumulating in the parking lot, a large part of the lot taken up by a car sales lot, and only the gym and a movie theater still in business. It was just not appealing. So I consulted the map app on my phone and picked another PF that looked like it was right by Lake Erie on the Northeast side of the city. I drove the 10 or so miles to get there and was much happier. I found an active shopping center that had some vacancies, but also had a really nice grocery store, craft store, pet supply store, mobile phone stores, bank branches, gas station -- and the Planet Fitness. This was much more like it.
I thought about walking across the street to see if I could get all the way to the lake, but there was at least one gated community between me and the lake, and I couldn't tell which way would actually get me there. So I went for a little drive and found a park next to the lake with a little observation deck to walk out to. It was a Sunday afternoon, so even though it was overcast and chilly, there were other people there enjoying the lake. I took this photo of the lake and sky:
And this photo of a historical marker explaining a deadly maritime accident that occurred offshore near this spot:
I hadn't realized that immigrants got to the midwest via the Great Lakes -- I knew about the Ohio and Mississippi rivers but had never thought about the Great Lakes, other than having heard "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"a bazillion times over the years. I tend to be pretty bad at figuring out what lyrics are by hearing them sung, so I enjoyed reading them here as I listened to Gordon Lightfoot sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKJNBxDCMIs
Next stop will be Niagara Falls.
Before it was time to go, I had a decision to make. Driving from Ann Arbor to Niagara Falls is about 100 miles shorter on the Canadian side, but it requires going through customs twice, and I had a van full of stuff that would be open to search. I didn't have any contraband that I knew of, but just the idea of the potential intrusiveness of it bothered me. I kept doing research and found a website that lists things you can't bring into Canada: https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-can-i-bring-to-canada-1481670 and fortunately I noticed the part about stun guns. I have this walking stick with a stun gun built in that I would have happily left at home on this trip if I'd realized it could be an issue -- I've never even put the batteries in it -- but I have it and I didn't want to either try to find a box and ship it home or risk confiscation at the border. So, the U.S. side it would be, even though it's an extra hundred miles longer. Perhaps I'll feel like a day trip into Canada after I'm in Niagara Falls and I can stow the walking stick in my hotel room. Perhaps I'll take a bus trip over so that I'm not in a van full of intriguing things.
I decided to stay off the main highway on my drive from Ann Arbor to Cleveland. I made that drive a year ago in my rental test-run van, and the combination of wind and road conditions made that that trip not fun. The smaller highway nearer the coast of Lake Erie was not likely to be worse, and might be better. I was not disappointed! Large areas of wetlands, shore birds, signs pointing to ferries that would take you to islands with state parks on them... I drove through and by a whole bunch of interesting things that I would like to come back and visit when I have more time. I never imagined that Northwest Ohio was a vacation destination!
When I got to Cleveland, I drove straight to the Planet Fitness I'd picked on the map for its location. However when I got there, I saw a mostly abandoned mall with trash accumulating in the parking lot, a large part of the lot taken up by a car sales lot, and only the gym and a movie theater still in business. It was just not appealing. So I consulted the map app on my phone and picked another PF that looked like it was right by Lake Erie on the Northeast side of the city. I drove the 10 or so miles to get there and was much happier. I found an active shopping center that had some vacancies, but also had a really nice grocery store, craft store, pet supply store, mobile phone stores, bank branches, gas station -- and the Planet Fitness. This was much more like it.
I thought about walking across the street to see if I could get all the way to the lake, but there was at least one gated community between me and the lake, and I couldn't tell which way would actually get me there. So I went for a little drive and found a park next to the lake with a little observation deck to walk out to. It was a Sunday afternoon, so even though it was overcast and chilly, there were other people there enjoying the lake. I took this photo of the lake and sky:
And this photo of a historical marker explaining a deadly maritime accident that occurred offshore near this spot:
I hadn't realized that immigrants got to the midwest via the Great Lakes -- I knew about the Ohio and Mississippi rivers but had never thought about the Great Lakes, other than having heard "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"a bazillion times over the years. I tend to be pretty bad at figuring out what lyrics are by hearing them sung, so I enjoyed reading them here as I listened to Gordon Lightfoot sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKJNBxDCMIs
Next stop will be Niagara Falls.
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