So the trip home was a crunched, fast, but fun way to end our summer trip. Brandon and I said goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle in Victoria and headed to catch the ferry to Washington. It was a gorgeous day and made for a great start. Our intention was to drive straight to South Dakota so we could enjoy our time there without having to rush through. We did an 11hr driving session the first day and slept overnight in a mountainous rest stop. Then starting again at 4.30am, later that morning we came to the town of Leavenworth, WA which we knew nothing about but were happily surprised to see that it was a Bavarian town just like Bavaria in the south of Germany. It was so much fun to walk around and take a break. We then continued on driving and driving until we made it to South Dakota. There we started into the Black Hills where our first stop was Deadwood. Not such a fantastic place like we had heard - because it was ALL casinos. I didn't see anything else and as I'm definitely not much of a gambler, it really wasn't for me. It was neat however that it looked like an old western town and we did go in and blow 5 whole dollars (Brandon said we couldn't come all the way and NOT play at least the slots). We walked out empty handed of course, but it was fun. We slept over at a campground after getting in arond 9pm and woke up to start our drive through the park. It was so much fun to take the Needles Highway which takes you through all these tunnels in the rock formations. We then pulled up to a traffic stop- Burros were the cause and everyone was feeding them. I was so mad that people were feeding the wildlife after driving by numerous signs that ask you to PLEASE NOT FEED them...but we gave in and invited them over for a bite and then they wouldn't leave us alone! It was kind of funny as I was trying to roll up my window and shove one of their heads out and a guy on a motorcycle passing by was laughing at me freaking out on the thing. After having my windows cleaned by all of their tongues we pressed on to the Badlands. It was really beautiful driving up to the lookout and seeing all the cliff plateau looking rock formations. We did a drive through the park and got back onto Interstate 90 and went on through to Chicago and over up into Ontario to go to Niagara Falls. We slept one night in a parking lot during a wicked storm and we also stopped in Petrolia, Ontario where my Grandmother was from. It was a neat little town where they claimed to be the first of the Oil towns in Canada. Niagara Falls was absolutely gorgeous. It was very busy, but it didn't matter because the falls are so huge there's enough room for everyone to be looking. Even though you are several hundred feet above the falls while walking around, you can feel the mist on you as you walk along the side of the falls. Brandon insisted on going on the Maid of the Mist which I wasn't super thrilled about because of the ginormous line up - but they get so many people on and off so quickly that it took no time at all for us to make it on the boat. We were first on so we secured our spot up front where we would be sure to get really wet! Oh did we ever get soaked! It was totally worth the 14 dollars and it was a really fun way to end our day. We then left Niagara, crossed the border again, and headed through New York state as far as we could make it before finding a campground just off the highway at Cayuga Lake. The lake is part of the Finger Lakes district in New York and as Brandon had been to Watkins Glen on another one of the lakes before, he wanted to take a detour down the lakes to show me the town he comes to almost every year. Here he and some of his male family members have a camping trip. It was very neat to see the gorge and then go to a small park that has a waterfall where he and his cousin have repelled the cliff wall.
The final bit of our trip was a ton of fun and we felt like we were able to fit a lot in for having just a few days to get home. Brandon was sooo excited to be reunited with Summit and I was so happy that he had his buddy back. At some point I will put the video of them meeting again up on YouTube because it's so cute! Thank you Steve for watching Summit for the summer! We owe you lots of hats!
I will have a couple other updates before I close the blog - so keep checking every once in a while! :)
Love Amy
Pics are of the way home:
Ferry to Anacortes, WA
On the boat
Leavenworth, WA
Billy Goats Gruff
Montana
Battle of the Little Big Horn National Monument
Standing where hundreds lost their lives, including General Custer
RATTLESNAKES?
Deadwood, SD - Casino visit
Into Black Hills National Forest
The Burros
Smile
Free car wash? ick, no thanks!
Badlands, SD
Petrolia, Ontario
Niagara Falls
Getting our Bag On lol
Here we go - it was pouring on us so I have few pictures of being right under the falls.
Really WET
Finger Lakes, NY
On the dock
Watkins Glen
