Canada day 10

After a beautiful night at the Four Points in Niagra Falls we decided to make our way back home to Montreal via the U.S. Just so that we'll have a change of scenery. It feels like a really strange thing to do but since we are driving alomst 650 km one way, we would like to see different things. But first breakfast. We decided not to have breakfast at our hotell but go to the "All you can eat buffé" across the street, breakfast American style...

We were up early and at the restaurant at 8 a.m. Bright and early. They pretty much had everything you see in the movies - pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, bacon, sausages, donuts, muffins and lots more. Served with bad coffee, just like the movies... 

After breakfast we packed up and got our car from the valet and started our trip back home. We took the road towards Fort Erie and the boarder crossing in Buffalo. But first we grabbed the Sailor Power cache in Niagra Falls. The boarder crossing is kind of cool, since you drive over a bridge and half way over you find the three flags, The Maple leaf (the Canadian), the Stars and Stripes (the American) and the International Waters flag. 

On the Canadian side the boarder crossing is called Fort Erie and on the American side Buffalo. At the crossing we encountered a slightly overzealous female Border Security Officer who really just was too much. Since we have the same last name, but I've also kept my maiden name, one would assume us to be married, but she didn't seem to believe us. And I was wearing my sunglasses since it was a very sunny day and the sun was in my eyes, she got mad and ordered me to take them off. A please or a "could you..." would have worked much better :-)

But all-in-all we didn't have too much of a hassle and they let us into the U.S. Driving through Buffalo might have been any larger city in the U.S or any city in the world. They did have some great buffalo sculptures along the highway that looked very lifelike. We drove on I90 for quite some time, it's quick but surprisingly scenic. We had decided to take the roads via the Finger Lakes, at least see a couple of them, on recommendation from my In-laws. We headed towards Canandaigua and Canandaigua Lake. What a gourgous place! 

The weather was brilliant so we decided to stop and have an ice cream. Luckely we found a great place right along the water and could sitt for a while admiring all the sunbathers, swimmers and wind surfers. The soft serve ice cream, we didn't want a big ice cream to share so we asked for a medium. What we didn't realise was that a medium soft serve with a chocolate twist was 25 cm tall, without the cone...It was HUGE.

After a half an hour of sun we continued our trip. We took the road on the east side of the lake and managed to grab a cache along the road, Lakeview. Then we drove south and west towards Pen Yann and Keuka Lake. The lakes area really beautiful. Then over to Dresden on the west side of Seneca Lake and we followed the lake north towards Geneva, on the northern tip of the lake. 

One of the goals of the trip was to visit the Waterloo Premium Outlet in Waterloo, NY. But unfortunetly we had a really hard time finding the Outlet and drove all around the city to find it. Our energy was slightly depleated and we were really tired and cranky so we stopped of at PizzaHut for lunch. We ordered a Super Supreme and even got a doggy bag to go, since we couldn't finnish the pizza. We did eventually find the Outlet but we only spent about an hour there. It was just too much to see and buy. We were just not in a shopping mood. And since we knew that we'd be goingto the U.S with my In-laws just a day later, we didn't feel the pressure. Instead we decided to drive onwards and enjoy the nature and the fact that the weather was brilliant.

We took Hwy 104 north towards Clyde and furter on towards Oswego. In Oswego we tried grabing a cache but couldn't find it so we bough ourselves some coffee and donuts from Dunkin' Donuts instead. 

Along the roads of NY, there are lots of Amish people and it's such a joy to see them driving along in the horse-drawn buggie. It's such a different culture from ours so I think it's very interesting. Then we entered the into Mexico, the town not the country ;-) and continued along through lots of great little villages and towns. The beautiful houses with large porches and flags adorning their gardens. After a while we followed I81 north towards Colins Landing but didn't cross the border back to Canada instead we decided to take the scenic route along Route 12, along the south shore of the St. Lawrence river. Sunset along the river was beautiful. We passed by Alexandria Bay and Morrisburg, and then changed to Route 37. 

We took the Ogdensburg/Johnston border crossing and connected to Hwy 401 in Ontario, which becomes hwy 20 in Quebec. We stopped of for some dinner at Burger King and then continued the end of the trip back home to Montreal. It had been a really great trip with lots to see and a true dream come true moment for me! Niagra Falls were amazing and the beatiful scenery made the trip rush by!