This was another day spent primarily driving, but this time with better
weather and with an interesting interruption. We drove from Utica to the
Canadian side of Niagara Falls to test the “it looks way more impressive
from Canada” claim, and it is definitely true that all three falls are
better seen from this side. We also had great light, with the sun shining
brightly but some pretty clouds overhead. The crowds were impressive, but
again not completely crazy, and we avoided the worst because we had bagels as a picnic lunch so we didn’t have to wait in a food line. We even managed to get ice cream cones at a place without a line! The tourists on this side were just as international as on the New York side, but more diverse–we heard easily 30 different languages. We stayed for about an hour and even got a glimpse into the old, but still operating, power plant that diverts part of the weather to run the giant early 20th-century turbines.
We then took off for our drive through Canada, from Niagara Falls via
Hamilton and London to Sarnia, and back into the U.S. The landscape is
pretty boring along the freeways in this region (flat, green) and nothing
spectacular happened. We got gas, a Cadbury bar and a Mars bar about midway thigh, and just as we were waiting in the customs line on the way out a big rain storm moved through. But unlike our east coast rains, this front did the Midwestern thing and was on its way out in 20 minutes. We then drove partly up the eastern coast of Michigan, already in the sunshine again, but that was a bit disappointing, because we really could only see the lake less than 5 percent of the time. The rest of the time, it was trees sheltering beachfront property. So we turned inland and drove a very straight road (80 miles with one stop sign and one stoplight ) from Lake Huron to the interstate, and then on to Bay City, where we got very lucky with an Econolodge again–it had everything we needed, even a washer and dryer and a pizza delivery. We’ve been craving deep dish pizza, and everything to be had in the east was thin crust! We wrapped up our day around 11, and hope to drive a little less tomorrow.