Another adventure checked off the list

I’ve got lots to tell you about our latest vacation adventure. And I can’t wait to go through all the pictures. Oh fun, fun stuff. But today I’m tired and have a mountain of laundry staring at me and a dirty house (because I was too sick to clean it before we left). So today you get a short self-interview:

Q: Did your headache ever go away?
A: Friday was bad, bad, bad. I did lots of wincing in the front seat and wiping of tears from my eyes. Thankfully the frequency of the stabbing pain moved from every 5 seconds to every 5 minutes by dinnertime so I was still able to enjoy our first Niagara Falls adventure. Saturday it was down to a dull headache. And thankfully the rest of the trip it barely made an appearance.

Q: Did anyone fall in the Falls?
A: Nope. All present and accounted for though we were wet enough after the Cave of the Winds tour so that we looked as if we went over in a barrel. (which by the way, after standing at the bottom of those falls I have to say that those people are even more insane than you think.)

Q: How was the Man vs Food recommended restaurant?
A: We ate dinner our first night at the Lewiston Silo, home of the Haystack sandwich. It was fantastic! Beautiful views and great food. Eating outside after driving all day was a nice break for the kids. Definitely worth the extra 10 minute drive from our hotel. Plus, the little town of Lewiston is quaint and cute. The town of Niagara is tacky and dirty. It was nice to have dinner in the former.

Q: How bad was the drive from Niagara Falls to the Gettysburg area?
A: I was worried about this one. There is no interstate that runs directly between our two vacation destinations. I’m happy to report however that the drive was 95% divided highway and followed a pretty river valley for much of the time. Very nice drive. And very nice mini family reunion waiting for us at the end 🙂

Q: How much complaining did you hear during the Gettysburg tour?
A: Our family has done our share of battlefields. We’ve sweated our way across plenty of hot, shadeless areas to read plaques and hear park ranger presentations. I knew Gettysburg was the biggest battlefield of them all so I was braced to hear some serious complaints. Instead we hit a Gettysburg that was quite different from most battlefields. We ended up on a bus tour of the battlefield that let us out at key stops and told us all sorts of information about the battles. I’ll tell you more about this day later but there were no complaints. As an added bonus we had a fun hook-up with some of our Indiana friends who were also in the area on vacation. And we ended the day at 4:30 by jumping in the hotel pool.

Q: Did you have any side trips to break up the drive home?
A: You know it! And it was a side trip that everyone really enjoyed too (yes, even my husband). We toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater home. Beautiful and kind of crazy and very cool.

Q: Did you have to threaten to pull the car over and leave anyone on the side of the road?
A: We considered it once or twice when the 6yo decided his primary mode of entertainment was to annoy the crap out of his sisters (and his mother). But we refrained.

Q: Did you see any bears while driving thru the Blue Ridge mountains?
A: While we were definitely on some backroad highways thru the Blue Ridge mountains – twisty, turning kind of highways – I looked & looked but didn’t see any bears.

I promise to share more about our fun this week. But now I’ve got to establish some sense of order around here.