A Dayton Visit

First of all, I'd like to wish our oldest granddaughter, Grace a Happy 7th Birthday. This photo was taken in the spring since Grace was at school when we were there yesterday.

Today we had made arrangements to go to Gordon's son's place to see his family and his sister, Carol and her husband, Rick were meeting us there as well. As we were early, we drove to New Carlisle where Gordon grew up an I took a photo of the family home.


We arrived at Ian and Tracy's around 11 a.m. and were happy to see that the kids knew us and weren't shy at all. Here are some photos of the family. We spent some time at the house and then went to Applebees for a late lunch. As I had forgotten my hat, we went back after lunch and then left to come back to Columbus.



We want to be on the road early tomorrow as we have a long drive to St. Louis, MO.

Our First Day in Columbus (Ohio)

Below are the grandchildren. Unfortunately the oldest was still in school so we didn't get to see her.


Today didn't pan out the way we had planned. Michelle called this morning to tell us that Faith had a sick stomach and was home from pre-school. We have no desire to catch anything at this point especially after both of us being sick while in Lindsay a few weeks ago but this was our only chance to see them so we went over and stayed outside and watched them play for a while but didn't stay long.

Then we went to K-Mart to look at electric throws but with all the 'don'ts' in the instructions we decided not to buy them and continued on to Walmart to get groceries and other items. We stopped at Taco Bell for dinner and had another grocery stop at Krogers as Walmart didn't have my cereal then home to relax!

Goodbye Sherkston Shores, Ontario - Hello Columbus, Ohio!

Here are some photos I took this morning before we left. I'll miss Lake Erie and the beach!





We left Sherkston Shores this morning at 9:30 and arrived at Alton RV Park southwest of Columbus at 4:15 p.m. By 5:30 p.m. we were set up. We're not setting up the TV dish while we're here, we'll just get the channels from our aerial.

It was a beautiful sunny day although only 47F (8C) when we left Ontario. By the time we got to Columbus it was 68F (20C). You'll note now that we're in the U.S. I've reversed the temperatures putting Fahrenheit first. We had a bit of cloud here and there on our drive but it was mostly a beautiful sunny day. No problems at the border although this is the first time the border guard has asked to go inside the trailer on our way south. Just a sign of the times, I guess. We ran into construction along the way as well but nothing that brought us to a dead stop. Just the kind of travel we like, uneventful!

It looks like we'll be here 2 nights and possibly 3 depending on whether Gordon's son and his family can make it up from Dayton on Saturday. We won't know until we hear from him. I called him this morning and he was really busy at work.

Below is a photo of our site. This is the first time we've been on the east side of the house but we have 50 amp service and they now have wifi. The internet satellite works so all is good! The site isn't the greatest especially coming from Sherkston Shores but it's really close to Gordon's daughter's place and the owner here is really nice. The place is also almost full so sure glad I called for a reservation!

Getting Ready to Leave Canada!

No rain this morning so I got to go for my walk on the beach. It almost felt like Mustang Island in Texas except I was walking beside a lake not the gulf.

When I got back we got ready to go into Fort Erie to cross into the U.S. and see what the route through Buffalo was like. We stopped at Canada Customs and got my new computer and camera registered as well as our Verizon cell phones and a camera lens that Gordon bought last winter. Then we continued on to Buffalo and drove on 190 till we hit I-90 and turned around (that's not an easy thing to do as there was no exit for I-90 Eastbound and we had to go further, turn around and come back). Traffic was light and hopefully the height at U.S. Immigration will be high enough. No one seemed to know how high it is but a big bus got through.

The Buffalo Skyline on our way back to Canada on 190

Back into Canada, we went to pick up a few groceries and some rice crackers for Gordon that I've never found in a grocery store in the U.S. Once he runs out, he'll have to eat Tostitos. We filled up with fuel so we don't have to go in search of that in the morning then stopped at Windmill Point RV Park just to see what it was like. I knew it was closed for the season so we could only look at it from the road. We definitely have the best park in the area where we are.

An old barn along Hwy 3 just west of Fort Erie

A couple of photos that we took along a side road on our way back to the RV park today

We stopped at the office on the way back and found out that the rates go down here on October 1st just so we have that information should we need it in the future.

I took another walk down to the beach this afternoon, probably my last until next year. It's so pretty here! Here are some photos that I took.

You can see that we had quite a bit of rain yesterday

What A Change!

From summer like temperatures and bright sunny weather yesterday to rainy, damp and cold weather today. As I write this blog the temperature is 9C (48F) having declined from 15C (59F) when I got up this morning. The good news is that the rain is supposed to stop tonight and the sun should be back tomorrow but the summer weather has gone, at least for now.

We had planned to cross into the U.S. today for a dry run to see where we have to go on Thursday to reach I-90 and how much of the city of Buffalo we have to go through. I also need to register my camera and computer at Canadian Customs so I guess we'll have to do that tomorrow as today is a day for staying indoors.

That being said, I did indoor things today, read and worked on my yo-yo quilt, surfed the internet and just generally did not much of anything.

Since I didn't take any photos today, I'll leave you with some taken over the last couple of days in and around Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.





This is the first time we've used our eavestroughing to hold up the sewer hose. Gordon says it works much better than the slunkie.

Niagara-on-the-Lake (Ontario)

Today I was up before the sun came up to get ready for our day at Niagara-on-the-Lake. Betty and Garth were staying at my friend's B&B called 40 The Promenade. I hadn't seen Sue since she retired from Nortel so it was great to see her again. Here we are pictured below:


Betty & Garth had come from Toronto yesterday to go to the Shaw Festival Theatre. We arrived about 10:30 a.m. and had coffee with Sue. We left our truck parked in her driveway, thanks Sue and drove downtown with Betty & Garth. They dropped us at a restaurant that actually sold gluten free food for lunch called the Irish Tea Room where we had a very expensive lunch for what we got but at least it was gluten free!

After lunch Gordon went to see Fort George, Garth went to buy a paper and to find a place to read it and Betty and I did the shops on the main street. I didn't buy anything finding most things overpriced and also because I have no room. It's a very interesting touristy town with beautiful homes and landscaping.

Here are some photos of Betty and I when we were out shopping. Note the 'hand' I'm sitting on. I also took a photo of the beautiful sinks in the ladies room at the Prince of Wales Hotel.




We met up just around 3:00 p.m. at The Prince of Wales Hotel and then Betty drove around to show us the town. We had been there before but had only driven down the main street. Then she took us back to pick up the truck and we parted ways until we see them next summer.

The plan had been to possibly go to see the Falls for twilight photos but we were both tired and my back wasn't interested in doing any more walking so we came home.

Today was like summer, 25C (77F), bright and sunny but things are taking a turn for the worse tomorrow!

Off to Niagara Falls and the Butterfly Conservatory

Today dawned sunny and bright but still windy. I walked down to the beach again and took a few photos but I have so many photos to post today that I'm not posting any from this morning's walk.

Since today was such a beautiful day with a high of 25C (77F) we decided to go in to Niagara Falls and go to the Butterfly Conservatory. We drove through downtown Niagara Falls and were amazed at the number of people that were there considering we're in off season. We decided not to stop and just headed out to the Butterfly Conservatory which is between Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake. It was more expensive to get into this one than the one in Cambridge that we visited earlier this year. There were more butterflies but a lot of the same species that we saw before. We both took lots of photos but a lot of mine are blurry as these little fellows don't stop moving for long! I haven't even tried to identify them so just enjoy the fact that they are so pretty.

Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Ontario

The Skywheel (new since we were last here)

Me in front of the Niagara Falls Tourist Bureau with all the beautiful canna lillies in the background


Lots of Butterlies

When we left there we stopped at a few of the lookouts on the Niagara River Parkway, then drove by the Falls again on our way back home.

Look at all the people at the Falls

I sat outside and read for a while when we got back and had just come in and gotten my nails done when we had a visit from one of our readers, Jim Watson who lives nearby. Jim just retired last week and is heading out shortly to visit family in Minnesota and then south for the winter. Jim is another reader of rv-dreams.com (Howard & Linda) as well as coulsoncastle.ca (Rick & Susan). Thanks for dropping by, Jim. It was nice to meet you!