Day 8 Cedar Point

Today was one of the most awaited days of the trip so far. I have wanted to go to Cedar Point since i first learned of the roller coaster heaven 15 years ago. However it is nowhere near anywhere where one would want to go on holiday from the UK (the nearest cities are Detroit and Cleveland; enough said). The park's various coasters are a who's who of former record holders, for example Top Thrill Dragster (TTD) was the fastest and tallest roller coaster in the world up until around six years ago. We entered the park, which is located on a split of land of the coast of Sandusky in Lake Erie, and headed straight for the new coaster for this year called gatekeeper, however the que was an hour and a half so instead, after riding one slightly smaller ride, we headed for TTD. Well I headed for TTD as Claire was not enthused by the 0-120mph in 4 seconds or the 200ft+ ascent. The ride was exhilarating although it was so fast that my eyes watered to an extent that nothing was visible.
From there we both rode Magnum XL 2000 (not a condom), despite Claire's resistance, (she couldn't see the ride before we got on it). We then went on a couple more rides before i began lining up for Millennium Force, which ended up being my personal favourite of the day with a huge 232ft drop. After MF I rode the Mantis a stand up coaster which was a novelty, and then a couple of others. I understand that reading a list of roller coasters that I went on is pretty dull so i will cut it short there. Nevertheless, Cedar Point was a fantastic day of fun and I would definitely recommend the pilgrimage for anyone who loves roller coasters as there is no other park in the world that has as great a selection.

Tomorrow Chicago.

Days 6 and 7

Day 6: Niagara Falls and Buffalo

As was expected Niagara Falls are very impressive. We arrived around midday, drawn by the sight of the mist rising from the crescendo of water. As I had been warned the US side was slightly tacky with a hint if Blackpool, however the falls themselves were protected by the borders of the oldest state park in the US. We walked along the rapids before walking to the viewing platform slightly down river. One thing that struck me was the unassuming geographical surroundings; what I mean by this is the river appears as a normal river and then bang, second biggest waterfall on earth. We bought our tickets to the Maid of the Mist boat because one has to really don't they. We donned our blue waterproof ponchos and made our way along the bonder line, past the US falls to the horseshoe falls the larger more impressive falls that are better viewed from Canadian side. The boat ride was as expected; awe inspiring and soaking as you are driven into the heart of the mist. 

After the boat ride we returned to land, making our way up some stairs that run right u to the edge of the US falls for some photos along with the rest of the East Asian tourists. We then walked to the Horseshoe Falls viewing area where there was a large group of Mennonites looking around.

After our afternoon at one of the most striking national land features I’ve ever seen we drove to Buffalo to see the Bisons, a AAA baseball feeder team play the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, a feeder team for the Phillies. I had heard that Buffalo was not the most desirable of cities, one who's glory days were long behind it as the industry of the great lakes region had closed up shop in the 60s and 70s, however, from our brief visit it seemed relatively pleasant. We parked and made our way to Coke-a-Cola field, home of the Bisons. The stadium was nice and the game was entertaining, especially the Buffalo wing race (between people dressed as celery, blue cheese, hot sauce, and a chicken wing. Chicken won, just, as blue cheese whipped out spectacularly at the finish line) at the end of the sixth inning. 

After the game we drove for about an hour south along the edge of Great Lake Erie to our campground for the evening.

Day 7: Cleveland, Sandusky Ohio

I woke up during the night to really cold temperatures and pouring rain. The rain had begun seeping into our tent through the seams. We got up around 9am to put our tent away... still in the pouring rain. We then made our way to Cleveland, where we stopped at a restaurant called The Melt. It miss labeled their cheese as vegetarian, when it really did had animal rennet in it, which was really disappointing, but I ended up having a delicious grilled cheese made with vegan cheddar cheese and Josh had a grilled cheese with meatballs and mozzarella sticks in it. We then slowly made our way out of Cleveland, which was really difficult since there were roadworks that closed so many main streets. Once we eventually managed to leave we headed to a place called Sandusky. Its a bit odd here and there is a motorcycle rally event going on. As I sit here writing this all I can hear outside are motorcycles. Have seen a few Outlaw gang members. On our way to find a motel (I am almost thankful for the rain since I get to sleep in a real bed for another night lol) we stopped in Walmart, don't worry we didn't buy anything since I do not agree with their goods manufacturing, but we did see some people worthy of being posted on "People of Walmart." My favorite was a man dressed in a white women's wig with a red diamond shaped gem glued on the front, and then to top that off he had droopy rabbit ears on top. He was also dressed in an Anime/ space suit type outfit. I tried to take a picture, but was unsuccessful. Now that we have hung up all of the camping gear around the room to dry out, we are off to fall asleep to the sounds of motorcycles! 

Day 5 - Cooperstown

We started the day by packing up our things in the luxury of the hotel and headed off in the car to the small town of Cooperstown, which is located in central New York State and is home to the baseball hall of fame. The drive took around 3.5 hours and took in some truly beautiful rural landscapes; the stereotypical red barns and tractors from the dawn of time were aplenty and the undulating forested farmland was stunning if not fuel consuming. We eventually arrived in Cooperstown after a drive alongside a lake reminiscent of Derwent water in the Lake District. Cooperstown is a town dedicated to baseball; the streets team with touring little league teams and father-son parties making the pilgrimage to the spiritual home of the national game and every shop and restaurant has some kind of hard ball theme. We entered the beautiful red brick HOF and slowly made our way through the plethora of exhibits from all of the ages of the game. Highlights included various jerseys worn by iconic players like Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, the collection of records of the most obscure stats, which is saying something for a sport were obscure statistics are kept with a certain degree of zeal. The collection of every World Series winners ring was also pretty stunning. The Hall of Fame itself consisted of a placard for each inducted player with a bronze bust of their face and a short blurb about their achievements etc. over all the HOF was fantastically interesting and a definite highlight of the trip so far.

After the HOF we looked around for somewhere to eat settling of the Cooperstown dinner which was basically a shed but the burger was enormous, cheap and delicious. We then decided to make the long drive to Niagara (4hours) eventually arriving at 11 pm.

Tomorrow we ride the Maid of the Mist.

Days 1-4

Day One: We got a free upgrade to a Dodge Avenger from the car rental company :] and After a tearful goodbye to Havertown/Philly and the baby rabbits in our flower pot, Josh and I finally headed out on our long anticipated road trip across the USA! We made our way up to CT, only getting lost in NYC, taking a small detour through Hoboken, NJ... very proud of our Garmin GPS. We drove along a beautiful scenic highway in CT and stopped at the Merritt Canteen, which had fantastic sweet potato fries. After driving all day, we finally reached the first camp ground. This was my first time camping and I must admit I wasn't terribly excited, but I must say it wasn't too bad. The woman at the reception of the camp ground was so bubbly and welcoming and gave us a free upgrade to a fire pit tent area, with the wood provided. Having the fire was relaxing and a great introduction to camping... until the bug descended upon us. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were no different- you could barely get in the door before the mosquitoes and beetles attacked! The tent was surprisingly comfortable and Josh managed to fall asleep right away, but it took me awhile to acclimatize to the sounds of the CT forest and feeling so vulnerable in a thin fabric tent.

Day 2: Today started slightly earlier than anticipated as a man decided to connect his speed boat trailer to his giant truck at 8 in the morning. Nevertheless we successfully packed up the tent, saved a turtle from being run over, (we later saw him walking head on into a log). We bid farewell to our first campsite and made our way on to Woods Hole which is on the heel of the Cap Code Peninsula. We drove through Rhode Island - all be it very quickly - and eventually arrived in Woods Hole, which happens to be the home of the US's largest oceanographic research centre. We arrived just in time for the seal feeding which was unfortunately a little disappointing as the seals were a little fat and were literally just being fed. We then went into the research aquarium to see the peculiar variety of sea life that was housed in the aquarium. After this we took the ferry across to the Devon-esk Martha's Vineyard and proceeded to rent bicycles to cycle around the Island. It was very much like Amityville (Jaws). We did in fact end up cycling past the beach/ bridge where they filmed the famous lagoon shark attack scene where one had to be temped to shout "get out of the water it's a shark", yet we resisted the urge, plus there was only about six people there, so we would just have looked odd.
After this cycle ride along the East side of the island we cycled back along the middle of the island, which was very hot. We eventually returned to the rental shop, dropped the bikes off, and went off to get ice cream, damn good candy floss flavoured ice cream. We ferried back to the main land and drove back north to our campground for the evening. The site was woody and pleasant and we drove off again to find some food. At the restaurant I (Josh) decided to opt for the local speciality, clam chowder, or as it is pronounced around here "charwdAr". It was fantastic; the best think I have eaten so far.  We returned to the tent for a night's sleep ready for whale watching in the morning.

Day 3: Whale watching! We drove out to Provincetown, only getting lost once when the website for the whale watching company listed the wrong address. It was exactly as I remembered it! We boarded the boat and were supplied motion sickness tablets for the choppy waters. I didn't get motion sick at all, which was a shock! The waves were so big at times the splashed up the sides and almost knocked us over while standing. We waited and scanned the waters for about 3 1/2 hours with no luck at all, just spotting a small harbour seal that was unusually far from the coast. We has sadly given up 4 hours and and took a seat in the enclosed lower level while the boat headed back to shore. Not too long after a voice came over the loud speaker shouting, "Minke whale!" Josh managed to spot it during its split second surface for air, but it quickly disappeared. Feeling disillusioned again, we headed back inside. After heading even closer to shore, another boat had reported spotting a Fin-Back whale. We stopped by on our journey back and I finally saw it, that distinctive spout of ocean spray and the curved back of a whale going down for a deep dive. We saw it surface about three more times before having to give in to our time limit of 1pm. Although this whale watching trip hadn't been as successful as the one I went on a number of years ago, it was still just as amazing to even see the Fin whale's back. That view did not expose the absolutely massive size the whale, but did remind me of how amazing, graceful, and beautiful they are. How people could ever hunt such amazing animals, I don't understand. After we got back to shore we walked around Provincetown and I had delicious vegan frozen yogurt. While making our way back to the car, we saw a rather creepy looking man dressed as PeeWee Herman (who wouldn't look creepy dressed like that?) who was shouting "why be a 9 when you can be a 10 with a tan?" and "Can't tone it? Tan it?"... clearly advertising a tanning salon in the area, but I am still perplexed as to why he was dressed as PeeWee aside from drawing attention. We then made our way to the Indian Head Campsite, where we set up our tent and then went to buy a few snack and take a short walk on a nature trail. We managed to fall asleep while listening to an audio book in the tent; however we were suddenly woken up by flashes of lightening in the distance at 2:30 AM. We quickly packed up all of our things just in time. As we uncomfortably tried to sleep in the car, large thunderstorm passed over releasing thrashing rain on to the campsite... definitely a good call to move back into the car. The heavy rain lasted for over 2 hours. We managed to eventually fall asleep in the car... how? I don't know.

Day 4: We set off for a pit stop in Plymouth to see a well known cemetery, Burial Hill, and Plymouth Rock, which was really neat to see where the Pilgrims first landed on the Mayflower in 1620. It was still raining as we made our way to Boston. I was particularly excited for this day, not only because we were staying in a hotel with a shower, but because I had never been before and had only ever heard wonderful things about Boston. We listened to "Shipping off to Boston"by Dropkick Murphy as we drove in. Note to self- never drive into Boston's city center again 1) the drivers suck and 2) parking rates are extortionate! Although we had some difficulty while finding the second parking lot, it was the cost that got me... $45 for a day's parking?!?! That is crazy!
We stopped at the same diner for breakfast that Tom and Josh had during their nerdy weekend at Pax East. I bought a mug from there because I loved the color and design, but I have come to find the one the waitress gave me had a chip-like imperfection on its handle... disappointing. Oh well! Moving swiftly on... We started the Freedom Trail and it was fantastic! During that 3 mile trek I fell in love with Boston. If it didn't get so cold and snowy there during the winter, I would love to live there. We saw so many famous graves, such as Paul Revere, and monuments (photos to come!) and took in the beautiful areas of the city. The rain eventually stopped and it began to really warm up as we were walking. Unfortunately, the temp reached its peak as we were walking up to the Bunker Hill Monument... somehow Josh also convinced me to climb all 294 steps to the top of the monument. At the top we found several other people who were also very out of breath. The view out of the windows was spectacular and made it definitely worth the effort. We took the train back to the car park and Josh decided to continue risking the drive with the mental Boston motorists. We eventually got to our Motel 6 and I took a wonderful long shower to make up for being so gross without functioning warm and bug-free showers the past few days. Also, so happy to be in a real bed!!!! With no bugs!

Baby rabbits!

William Bradford's grave on Burial Hill

Plymouth Rock

Seal feeding near Martha's Vineyard

Burial Hill

Boston

Grave of John Hancock in Boston

Grumpy fish from aquarium 

Beach on Martha's Vineyard

Dock on Martha's Vineyard

Seal tricks :]

Grave from Burial Hill in Plymouth

Camp fire from our first night