The “Midwest” is a concept I’ve never quite understood. To me, it has always been a bunch of corn squares I fly over that somehow generates 90% of the food I consume. For Michael (the...you know...GUY...who..you know...I've been DATING for over a year now), it is home.
The “road trip” – what is this quirky little concept? When you leave the county you reside in to do something OTHER than going on a school field trip involving vomit, heat exhaustion, altitude sickness, or other “education,” or a time-sensitive task, most of which involves traffic, I think that what WE are doing is the ultimate way to explore world up close and to connect with the land (and also polluting it with exorbitantly-priced gasoline). Many of peoples’ most wild, simulating, and memorable stories come from road trips. We are hoping for similarly memorable stories, but if nothing else some entertainment. Everyone is invited to live vicariously.
So, happy graduation to us. With our common love of hitchhiking (we met that way in fact), Michael and I have been inspired to actually go across this land together.
(Just kidding.)
Throughout these next few entries, I will be bolding little sections called Note to future travelers. Here’s the first one.
Note to future travelers: Get friends that get married in the middle of the country so you can have an excuse to drive across it.
This is Lia, my good friend from college. She's getting married June 25th in Helena, MT and I am a bridesmaid.
So here’s the itinerary: Boston to Niagra Falls to Cleveland to Chicago to Mount Rushmore to Yellowstone to Helena, Montana (Lia’s wedding) and then finally to Seattle. Then, we fly to Kansas City (Michael’s home) for a week. Then we fly back to Boston. Make sense?
Okay, so here’s day #1:
On the way to the rental car place, the train got delayed because someone had a heart attack, two women got into a fist fight, and it was also pouring rain. Once we got there, my credit card was declined, then accepted, Michael’s AAA # was not enough to waive the fee for the extra driver, but after almost an hour of logistical hell, everything actually worked out.
Later that evening, Michael and I went in search of dinner in Niagra Falls, NY. We didn’t plan on driving over into Canada at that time (and thus left our passports at the hotel) but somehow ended up taking a wrong turn into the line for customs at the Rainbow Bridge, right on the border. Turning around was not an option, according to the person in the booth, because then we would be arrested. Half an hour later, after being searched and questioned by four different armed officers, going into the customs facility, and telling almost our entire life stories, we were turned around, hungry and a wee bit cranky.
Note to future travelers: Don’t do that. Also, don’t go to the casino for the food. Go for the second hand smoke.
The next day we crossed the border successfully and spent the afternoon amongst this amazing natural wonder. Grand, powerful water falls, gorgeous scenery. This was actually the first site of power generated from water. Such a great place for the first stop on this journey.
At the Riverview restaurant, $16/person got us spoiled ranch dressing, rubbery pizza, grainy macaroni and cheese, spicy fruit and bread that might have taken a bit of enamel off our teeth.
Note to future travelers: If you find yourself in a bad restaurant because it is in a tourist trap and you are just hungry enough to eat anything, ask for your money back. They just might give it to you.
So now stay tuned for our next stop, the home of rock n’ roll, Cleveland, OH.
For some unjust reason, I cannot upload videos to this blog anymore. That means you cannot listen to us singing 99,999,999,999 bottles of beer on the wall. I'm really sorry. :( But I'm working on fixing the problem.
To read about the rest of this cross country road trip, go here.
