Greetings from Victor, NY, a little south of Rochester. We awoke this morning in West Seneca, right outside Buffalo, NY. Without too much of an agenda for the day, we enjoyed the continental breakfast and indoor pool. We researched some options for the day, and we were able to call ahead and reserve spots on an Erie Canal boat ride. The drive was only about an hour, although not wanting to cut it too close, we ate lunch in the car. Literally. I climbed around and was able to make some peanut butter and honeys along with some dried apples. We arrived at noonish and boarded shortly thereafter. The tour was about two hours. We went up two different locks. Pretty cool! The gate opens, the boat drives in, and it fills up slowly like a bathtub taking you up to the next lock. We went through locks #34 and 35. It rained on us shortly after the tour began. But luckily we were planning for that, and we had saved and dried out the ponchos from the Maid of the Mist. Life was good and most everyone else headed downstairs leaving us prime seats in the upper deck, first row. We went back down the locks and also under two lift bridges. Unlike draw bridges, the entire bridge goes straight up. We also went past some old houses and churches made from "freestone." As they were digging the canal, literally out of nothing, there was tons of rocks and debris and people could come and take as much as they wanted for building. There was nothing where the canal was, they had to dig the entire thing out, all by hand. We thought it was hard planting Lelands and building a fence in rock, imagine an entire canal. Despite the weather, I think the kids enjoyed it, although the whines did start to creep in at the end, two hours might have been just a few minutes too long for them. However, tonight at dinner, Ryan did tell us he liked the locks better then Niagara and that the locks and COSI have been his favorite things so far. He's got that science-y, engineer brain :).
After the locks and a stop at the gift store for a magnet (the locks were a success and deemed magnet-worthy; Coleson didn't want to buy the magnet beforehand in case we didn't like the tour!), we started off towards Rochester. We came a little north to see the scenic route and avoid tolls, so it was a nice drive. And we even found a McDonald's for my coffee fix and yet another bathroom break for the kids. We arrived at our Rochester hotel about 4pm. Unfortunately, this was the cheapest hotel and without a pool. We had thought we'd be doing Niagara today and thus not arriving until after the illumination. Without much to do at the hotel and with the rain, we headed to the local mall. We parked and had to stay in the car and wait out the storm though. There were crazy winds, I put the parking brake on because even in park the car felt like it moved. Rain was blowing sideways. It didn't last long though and we were able to dash inside. We walked for a bit and let the kids throw pennies in a fountain (can we say distraction?!? They had spotted the food court carousel). Of course Chloe the copycat wanted to throw a penny, and you know what? She did it! Sure it wasn't a straight shot and it bounced its way in, but we were all surprised to see it splash in the water, go Chlo-Chlo! Nothing in the mall appealed to us for dinner, so we went to UNO Grill just down the road. It was quite tasty and we happened to stumble in on kids eat free night, score! Ryan and Abby loved making their own pizzas. After assembling them, we wrote their names on popsicle sticks and stuck them in the pizzas and they cooked them for us. It was a fun meal. The place was hopping. Apparently they are celebrating their grand re-opening and they were the only restaurant around that hadn't lost power in the crazy storm. This was when Ryan said his favorite parts of the trip were the locks and the COSI museum. Abby liked Niagara Falls the best. Chloe had no comment, although she did manage to get pizza sauce on her forehead and in her ponytail.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel for bed. After two late nights in a row- the Clippers game and Niagara Falls- it was nice to get the kids to bed on time. Hopefully some good sleep will cure the whines and fits that have been creeping in. Although all things considered, it hasn't been that bad, we've got pretty good kids in my humble opinion. Thanks to my awesome hubby for taking the stay-in-the-room-in-the-dark-without-making-noise-so-the-kids-can-sleep shift tonight. I enjoyed an amazing run! It we seriously one of the best runs I've ever done, it felt so good. I am not sure what happened, but all of a sudden I actually enjoy running. Weird. So anyways, I think I got all of today's highlights. Tomorrow we see Great- Grandma!!!
PS fun fact : auto correct tried turning "roadtripping" into "roast ripping." Not sure that I am a big fan of auto correct.
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