jon and annes adventures: Headed to Canada for a July Vacation

So we hit the road at 12pm or so... a tiny bit late from our 8am intentions but nevertheless, we were on our way! Me, with my pre-travel anxieties and last minute computer things to do in the car, and Jon, ready to chill and ride Flatland somewhere once we got there.

We headed out and drove through the gorgeous Smokies and right through little Cherokee, NC where people were hanging out, fishing, and sunbathing... oblivious to the lightning and drizzle and preparing early for the July 4th holiday weekend instead.

this is one of them

two of them, I mean

hangy outers in Cherokee, NC

john frollicking

awesome red firework flowers along the road through the smokies

It was a beautiful drive until we passed through the "gaudiglamoricious" Dollywood filled with traffic, lots of dazzle, kitsch and color, and people flicking their cigs on the ground. We stopped in Tennessee at a place called Golden Girls restaurant because we had starved ourselves waiting for an adorable BBQ place to sit and eat... (my idea) but waited way too long until we only had highway chains to choose from. We were starving and ill with each other and had to make an alternate decision, which turned out to be a fried chicken plate for Jon, and a hot ham and cheese sandwich for me. We were happy again and drove on peacefully.

(I was too hungry to take pix I guess...)

As we headed to Columbus, Ohio we saw tons of fireworks from different places along the highway and it was awesome! And, just as the Cincinatti cityscape surprised us and lit up the highway horizon, we saw a postcard perfect BURST of a beautiful, enormous red explosion RIGHT next to it. I wish I had been able to capture it but we have the photo in our memories instead.

We reached Scott Nagy's at 12:30 or 1:00am and he and his wife were patiently waiting for us and offered us a beer and a twinkie immediately once inside their adorable house. In the morning Scott made us breakfast with eggs and sausage and we met their adorable children, Res who is spitting image of Scott, and Malia who is spitting image of Melissa (personality as well for both).

We later took an hour to look for the car keys, found them, and drove on to meet some of Scott's flatland crew at a park near his house. We had watermelon and apple and peanut butter sandwiches, and I enjoyed skipping rocks and hangin' with Malia at the playground afterward. We headed on after a few hours for a campsite on the Pennsylvania/Ohio border along lake Pymatuning.

Lake Pymatuning

We watched fireworks and a million equally luminescent lightning bugs along the lake, then ate a cheddarwurst/avocado/peanut/arugula salad for dinner and it was wonderful! I got mad at Jon for getting sleepy before we could watch the stars and/or eat s'mores so I pouted and headed to the tent with him and we went to sleep early. When we woke up, my travel anxieties had finally taken their course and I was myself again, thank goodness... We drank hot tea b/c we (Jon) forgot to pack the coffee, and had raspberry flavored Monkey Brains oatmeal for breakfast. The rest of the morning we let Rudee swim and get really nasty before jumping back in the car to Niagara Falls for a view from the American side.

I put my logo on these in case Jon's sexy body makes me lots of money

same

just look at those little paws under the water!

I had seen the Canadian side of the falls already on a trip with Mema, Poppy, and my parents when I finished high school, so I wanted to experience the American side. We walked around for a while, oggling at the mist from the falls and the shadow of the city behind it.... omg it's BEAUTIFUL and fascinating!!! A park surrounds the area and Rudee enjoyed herself as well and even lapped up some of the water, as it's her 2nd natural wonder! The first being the Grand Canyon : )

view above Cave of the Winds

view of American Falls, after I discovered that underexposing the scene really makes the water stand out

the squealing, masked dog that taunted Rudee at several overlooks

view of Canadian side cityscape with people on the American side

rocks down below the falls

city shadow scape with birds

We heard on the radio that Pat Benatar was performing during the ArtPark free concert series but the traffic was to bad so we made a U-turn for Whirlpool State Park instead. We had a little picnic with the rest of our cheddar wurst, bread with olive oil, a little stuffing (per Jon b/c he found an old box in our camping stuff), and a couple o' Heinekens.