Road Trip

Daddy had a conference in Toronto over Memorial Day weekend, so Mommy and Andrew decided to come along and we turned it into a road trip!  Our first stop was the Finger Lakes region in central New York, and we discovered Watkins Glen State Park.  After Andrew had some playtime on the very large playground at the entrance of the park, we set off on a hike through the gorge.

We started our hike from the top of the gorge rather than at the mouth, so we had a lot of stairs we had to climb down before reaching the trail.

When we finally came to the bottom of the stairs, we encountered a beautiful creek and many lovely waterfalls.

The trail even took us underneath some waterfalls!

It was a gorgeous hike.

Once we finished the hike and had a picnic lunch at the playground, we got back on the road.  Little did we know that the Finger Lakes region is known for growing grapes, so there were wineries everywhere.  Mommy and Daddy had to stop to have a quick taste at one winery, bought a few bottles of wine and a bottle of ice wine to enjoy later that evening.

Next stop: Niagara Falls!  Andrew napped in the car as we drove toward Canada, and he woke up right before we crossed the Rainbow Bridge and drove into Ontario.  He got to use his passport for the first time at the border crossing!  He was so excited when he saw the American and Horseshoe Falls.  He kept pointing out the window and was screaming "BIG WATERFALLS!"

We very quickly checked into our hotel, changed into warmer clothes, had a fast bite to eat, and headed down to soak in the glory of Niagara Falls.

Horseshoe Falls was beautiful.

The American Falls and Bridal Falls was equally as stunning.

Andrew was thrilled to finally see the big waterfalls he had heard so much about.

He loved being up on Daddy's shoulders to get a good view of the falls.

And he loved getting a little wet from the spray.

There was a firework show that night, so we let Andrew stay up late so he could watch the fireworks from our hotel window.  We had an awesome view from our hotel room.  It was worth every penny!