Niagara Falls and such

So, one more post to finish up last summer's trip. We took a jaunt over to Niagara Falls, after staying the night with the lovely White family in Syracuse.  I know there's a lot of hype about the falls, but it's one of those things you gotta see once, if you can. I really did enjoy seeing it, and was glad we took the time. I remember having a lot of trouble figuring out parking - so if you go, skip the "town" and go park on the island. There's lots of parking there. :)

Looking back at pictures, I see it's very hard to get good pictures of the falls, because the viewing is at the top, not the bottom. But, there you go.

Next, we went down to W. Virginia to see Andy's folks. We're always glad to spend time with them and see some more of their beautiful state.  Andy's sister and nephew drove all the way from S. Carolina for the weekend to hang out with us, and that was a treat! It's also a treat to get to spend some time with his great-aunt Emma. She's such a sweetie. We went to a local historic mansion for lunch. It is part of the local college's hospitality program. We got to go and peek into the motel rooms upstairs - they are quite grand.

Back at John and Hope's house, in true Andy/John fashion, they strung up a rope for climbing. It kept the kids entertained for the afternoon.

Another day we went to lunch at a local BBQ place, and went out to see Seneca Rock. It has a very nice visitor center, which had live music that day. There's also a very cute homestead museum, as well as lots of hiking. Andy and the kids headed up to the top of the rock. You can go a ways before you need rock climbing gear. It was fun to see little tiny people on top of this huge rock.

Then it was time for the long trip home. Since we had taken the long, meandering way there, we tried to take the shortest, most direct way home. This is a lookout at some rest stop in the midwest - not really sure where...

Another "rest stop" at the Missouri River in South Dakota. We didn't see any snakes, but it makes for a good picture.

Then we hit a wild storm as we neared the Badlands. I could see it brewing off to the north and thought - that's going to give us a lot of trouble! It rapidly overtook us with extreme winds, rain, and hail. There had to be a tornado out there somewhere! Luckily we didn't see it, but it was nerve racking, slow driving there for a while.

We got to our destination of Wall Drug as the storm was subsiding, and was treated to a gorgeous rainbow as we walked around. Somehow, we always get a kick out of Wall Drug. It's one of the cheesiest places I know, but I still like going. I love their big dining room with all it's paintings, and cafeteria food.  This time we stayed the night at the local Best Western, and it was a good place to stay.

We then pulled into Manhattan, MT for a few hours at convention. Since we had missed seeing our niece, Katie in W. Virginia, we thought we'd see her during her trip to Montana! Another NY cousin, Tori, was there also.

And then, as lovely as cross country trips are, it's always so lovely to get home. The Palouse was looking so serene and pastoral when we got back. The hay rows just accentuate all the rolling hills and it's quite pretty - a lovely way to be welcomed home!