Shipping off to Boston

Annnd we’re back

     I’ve noticed that some of these posts have gotten rather long. Though I do have a lot to cover, I’m going to attempt to make this one a little more “reader friendly.” Though personally I thought that the last post, written by Natalie, was long but done quit well.

     Anyways, after our entry back into the U.S. we made it to the town of Webster, just past Rochester, in upstate New York. For those of you who have the pleasure of knowing my good friend Joel Peirek, you may know that this is the town he grew up in. Joel spoke of its beautiful foliage and scenery during the fall, but I wasn’t expecting this. We had pulled into a campsite at night, and weren’t sure what we would wake up to. But when I stepped outside in the morning, I was welcomed by a brilliant green surrounding lit by a surprisingly warm sun. Natalie wasn’t up yet so I felt it only necessary to go tromping around in the woods, then make coffee and read some Lord of the Rings. This was followed by Natalie whipping up some awesome pancakes. The perfect morning, basically.

     Webster is right on Lake Ontario so it feels like you’re right on the Ocean, just more clean and lined with trees. We walked around the lake for a bit, then made our way to the town of Sodus. This is an oddly shaped place, made up of multiple small bays and peninsulas. It has an old fishing town vibe complete with lighthouses and crab shanties.

     Past Sodus, we found the local “bluffs” which are strange stalagmite-esque points made from eroding clay bluffs. Natalie and I hiked around for an hour or so and then hit the road.

     It took us two days to get to Cape Cod, so we spent another night in a Wal-mart parking lot, and again had someone doing burnouts while we slept. Fun times in small towns! This was all forgotten, however, when we arrived in Cape Cod. I loved it there. One road in and out, small fishing towns, light sand dunes and of course the Atlantic Ocean! This was definitely a milestone on the trip.

Patches, meet the Atlantic

Path to the beach

Where's the SURF!?

The Moo-Flower II...get it

The May-Flower II...get it

     However, we were met with a rainstorm comparable to the one in Big Fish (if you’ve seen it). We managed through it, however, and woke up to 16 degrees and sunny. Getting up to around 24 degrees later on! That day we took the train into Boston, because the ferry had stopped running two weeks prior. I have to say, Boston is doing something right. The city just felt good. Natalie and I checked out the famous Quincy market, had real clam chowder and pizza from a thick elderly Italian fellow.  Later, we took the train to Harvard in Cambridge. We walked around the old brick buildings and made our way through the shops. We attempted to find The Thirsty Scholar, from The Social Network, and failed. But we ended up at an equally quaint pub and rested from the day.

That's right

The Harvard Bookstore

     The next day back in Cape Cod we went into Provincetown with a newly wed Australian couple we had met. The funny thing was, they had been doing a curiously similar trip to ours, driving around the U.S. too. Provincetown is on the very tip of the Cape. It is sort of a strange and beautiful place. Beautiful, because it’s surrounded by the Atlantic and has been spared from being over commercialized. But strange in the sense that there is only one small artery connecting it to the rest of the U.S., which in turn has left it to develop its own peculiar lifestyle; Which they are seemingly very proud of.

The owner of this pub was a total dog

     All in all, life is pretty sweet. I did pick up two ticks in Cape Cod, but the Internet told me the worst that will happen is Rocky Mountain Fever, which I think sounds like a pretty cool dance trend. Anyway, the bright foliage is almost done making its way to the ground and the days are suddenly much colder, but we’re officially heading south now. After a couple days in Connecticut and NYC things should start getting warmer. I’m getting so excited to come home to the Christmas season that I’m almost hoping to catch at least a few flakes of snow before we hit the South. With that being said, as I write this I'm in yet another Wal-mart parking lot and I can definitely see my breath.

Well, I tried to shorten this up. Maybe a bit less next time.

A Canadian Intermission

When we last left off, we were camped in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Port Huron, Michigan. It was going pleasant enough until some rednecks thought it would be really funny to rev their engines really loud among the RV’S  and campers outside of Wal-Mart. I was appalled, but Luke found it quite amusing. Anyways, they quit their annoying antics at about midnight. I guess there is not a lot to do in Port Huron.

  

Anyways, we continued on our drive to St. Catharine’s, Ontario. As we crossed into Canada, we were met with quite possibly the friendliest border guard ever! She welcomed us back with open arms and as we drove away we both remarked, “We love Canada!”

I know this is ironic, but as soon as we came back into Canada it was cold enough for my parka. However, that didn’t last long at the temperature rose to a balmy 18-21 degrees for the rest of the trip. My grandma (Oma) and her siblings welcomed us warmly with a very Mennonite dinner, twibach (sp ?) included. The next day we met up with my Oma for breakfast at a local greasy spoon and went on our way to be tourists for the day. We drove through the scenic Niagara on the Lake, paid $20 ($20!!!) for parking at Niagara Falls, and of course completed the day with Tim Horton’s.

Made this friend at Niagara on the Lake. 

Niagara Falls was great. We were amazed at the all the different languages we were hearing as we strolled around the falls. Nothing brings people together more then nature’s tremendous phenomenon’s and the tourist monstrosities that are built up around them. On the one side you have this remarkable display of nature and creation, and then right across you the street you have about 5 casinos and every chain restaurant you can imagine.

The next day we attended a Mennonite MB church with Oma. It was so nice to be back in a Mennonite church, but it did make me miss home and all my family. A trip to St. Catharine’s would not be complete without a visit to the local Chinese food buffet. Oma loooves Chinese buffet. We went to the Mandarin, which apparently is a chain in Eastern Canada. She invited about 16 other family members and we had a blast.

Chinese Food? I'm not sure how the pizza made it in there.

Alas, the time came where we had to get on with our trip and head back into the great U.S. of A. Oma sent us off with a very bacon-esque breakfast, and we were on our way. It was great to visit St. Catharine’s, it reminded me of my time in Ottawa and my love for Eastern Canada.

The U.S. border guard didn’t really know what to do with us, but when is superior spotted the figurine of Luke Skywalker on the front of Luke’s truck, they let us in no problem. Now we write from a completely empty campsite in Rochester, New York, right alongside Lake Ontario. We have managed to catch the tail end of the Fall foliage, and it is just beautiful.

Tomorrow, we will try to make it to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to finally dip our feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Until next time!

Natalie and Luke

The Windy City

Hello friends,

     We are in Michigan for the night, sleeping outside a Wal-Mart in Port Huron. It’s actually not bad. The towns nice, there are other people sleeping here and we are so close to the Canadian border I can feel the crisp clean air drifting over to us. Tomorrow, we are returning to Canada for the first time since we left, and to be honest it feels a little odd. Not to say that I don’t miss Canada, it just feels as if we’re starting the trip all over again. The point of this re-entry is to: Visit Oma Ronto (Natalie’s Dad’s mom), buy some parts for the Paj and finally, to breathe a final breath of real fresh air, before we plunge back into the highly-populated depth, that is, The Eastern U.S. of A.

     When we last left you, we were heading into Indiana to visit Natalie’s cousins Jenna and Keith Grubaugh. They live in the surprisingly happenin’ yet old school town of Goshen. And yes, I’m aware that that town description makes me sound like an out of touch columnist writing for a real-estate magazine, but that is how I felt. Back to the point, Natalie and I got to sleep in a real bed for a couple nights, eat indoors and even catch the third period+OT+Shoot-out of the Canucks vs. Blackhawks. I find it unnecessary to mention the outcome of that game. Jenna even made us a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with everything from cranberry sauce to stuffing. There was something very grounding about staying there for a few nights, like a total break from the road.

     Goshen is the type of town where you can find candy shops the sell candy of the nostalgic genre, legit diners that haven’t changed since the 50’s and a pub that had “Women-of-the-Bible” trivia. Jenna and Natalie felt they were sure to win this category of trivia but unfortunately lost due to the fact there were four pastors enjoying a pint one table over, and a whole slough of other Mennonites to boot.

     We also visited THE Notre Dame University. Sadly, Rudy wasn’t there.

Rudy ran down this hall to the field.

      There was also an absolutely incredible Catholic church on campus

      On Wednesday, Natalie and I decided to take a day trip into Chicago. Despite years of warnings given to me from my dad, we still managed to take a wrong turn and end up in the thick of Gary, Indiana. For those of you who don’t know, this very detour happened to my family and I about 16 years prior while driving across Canada. Now, I am certain some of you are thinking, “Gary, that sounds familiar.” This is because it is the hometown of Michael Jackson and the rest of the 5. But trust me when I say you’d be better off crossing this stop off your M.J. history tour. We drove in circles for a while because all the freeway on-ramps were torn out, then when we finally found an open on-ramp, we noticed we were on a totally abandoned freeway. This went on for a couple miles. Super creepy.

     Anywho, we made it to the Windy City® alive and had quite an enjoyable time. Once again I was reminded of Vancouver, except a more colossal version. I wonder what New York will feel like? Millennium Park was straight up awesome; including everything a big city park should have, like a giant chrome bean and a Frank Gerhy structure. (Gary?)

  Nat and I were also told we had to try the infamous Chicago deep-dish pizza, so we did, and it was incredible. Normal pizza will never suffice again.
          

     We did some site seeing and managed to track down an Aritzia. I’m told this is exciting because Aritzia is a Canadian company. We also walked the pier and rode the giant Ferris wheel, which gave us an outstanding sunset view of the city. I regret to say that the Canucks were even in town that night and we didn’t go because apparently it’s difficult to find affordable tickets just floating around the streets in a city you’ve never been in, minutes before the puck drops.
                                       

                                                                   That’s all for now