Road Trip

Just a warning... This is going to be a very long post with many pictures.

I just returned from one of the best weekends I have had in a very long time. My roommates Maggie, Aderienne, my friend Helenah and I all went up to Maggie's home in Horse Heads, New York. It was a six hour drive to her house but we took a nice break at a Cracker Barrel on the way. Aderienne and Helenah are both from Sweden so we took them there to get the over-exadurated view of American cooking. Adrienne had never played checkers before so I made sure we changed that (as you can see in the picture). We got to Maggie's house around 2 in the morning. This weekend was the peak color weekend for the trees in the area it is really did feel like we were in a painting. I have never seen such beautiful colors. The area in upstate New York has many hills so you could see miles of trees when you were driving along. The pictures I took only captured 1/10 of the beauty.

On Saturday we took a tour of Horse Heads and went up to Watkins Gorge which is a beautiful park located east of the town. There was a huge gorge and a waterfall. Granted this was not the largest waterfall I saw all weekend but it was pretty none the less. This is a picture of the gorge and of us by the waterfall. We also went to Glenora which is a winery located on one of the finger lakes. I had never been to anything like this or even knew they made wine on the east coast so it was a new experience for me. I bought a bottle of wine and I think I'm going to save it for a fancy occasion. We then took an hour road trip to Ithica, NY to visit Cornell. It was a very old and historic campus. It also reminded me of The Office because Andy Bernard went to Cornell. "I went to Cornell. Ever heard of it?" After that we called it a day and went back home where Maggie's family treated us to some New York style pizza and then we had a bonfire out side. One thing I really miss from Minnesota is bonfires. Needless to say, I was in heaven. We even got the Swedish girls to have their first taste of a s'more.

Now on for the biggest day of the weekend... a three hour trip north to Niagara Falls! We packed a picnic and ate at the park over looking the falls. We then meandered over to get tickets for The Maid of the Mist which is a boat that goes right by the Falls. It goes so close actually that we were all given free rain coats so we would not get soaked. I look pretty good in blue if I must say so. The boat trip was seriously one of the most awe inspiring things I have ever been a part of. They seriously take you right into the horseshoe Falls so that you are surrounded by water on 3 sides. The water was turning so fast and we were getting so wet that it almost didn't seem real. It was an experience I will never forget. We lastly took a trip into Canada and went to eat at the top of the tower that looks over the Falls. We got up there at sundown so we got to look at the Falls when they were lit up at night. The food was so good and the observation deck that was outside of the tower made me think of being on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We drove home after that and got up the next morning and drove the six hours back to DC. It was one of those weekend that really makes you see how blessed your life is.