The Underpants Gnomes tell me that
Gene Sullivan <curiousgene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Kevin Williams <me@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> I'll be gone until 5 August... not that there's much traffic to miss
>> anyway. Vacation to Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, and DC[1] with SWMBO's
>> family. I detest traveling but I'll enjoy being there.
>
> So how was it? I've seen Niagra (from both sides of the border - the
> Canadians definitely have the better view), but I've never been to
> DC or Gettysburg. Both are on my list of places to visit. I'd bet I
> could probably spend a good month in the Smithsonian and still not
> be satisfied.
Started off at a Super 8 in Kansas City, MO near the air****t. Slept
poorly, mainly because of all the light coming in past the drapes, and
to a lesser extent idiots making noise at all hours. Caught the plane
to O'Hare in the morning, then to Buffalo. So far so good.
The Econo Lodge in Niagara Falls near Rainbow Bridge is ratty. Stay
somewhere else if you can, probably on the Canadian side since there's a
lot more stuff over there. Our room had a good view of the fireworks
show, though. Not much to choose from WRT food on the 'Merkin side
anyway, unless you like Indian (yum!).
We went on the boat up to the falls. Impressive and cool; up around
the Horseshoe falls you can't see anything because of the mist kicked
up, and while we were there, at least, there was a permanent cloud over
that fall. Also went behind Horseshoe in some tunnels, not really that
impressive, since it's just a bunch of running water. Now, walking up
under Bridal Veil Falls was _cool_! It was /something/ to stand there
and let the falls cascade down on me. Also neat was doing the walking
tour (Canadian side) right up on the river downstream. Lotsandlots of
rapids. In my geeky way, I sat and stared at a pool for a while, musing
on chaotic systems as the water washed over it regularly and
unpredictably. Also, it takes an object (well, spit) about 10 seconds
to hit water from the bridge, and the Canadian customs officers were
generally friendlier than ours.
Then we drove our rented vans down to Gettysburg. Some really pretty
terrain once you get to mid-New York, around Dansville on the 390, very
hilly and picturesque, and it continues such all the way through
Pennsylvania.[1]
The Sleep Inn in Emmitsburg, MD (just across the border) was nice and
modern, and to our delight it had self-service laundry facilities --
can't carry 9 days' clothing when there are eleven other people who need
to get baggage into two rented minivans. It also had a guest hanging
around out front who was mildly retarded and/or mentally ill. :-) I ate
at McDonald's, and remembered why I haven't done that for nearly ten
years.
Loved Gettysburg[2]. Toured the battlefield, saw where the 20th Maine
made its stand and bayonet charge on Little Round Top, where Pickett's
Charge was, Cemetery Hill (you can almost see the rebels coming up at
you), played on the stones opposite LRT ("Devil's Den"), and just had a
fine old time. The visitor's center has an amazing museum of period
military hardware, including a complete Napoleon cannon and its limber,
and many dozens of muskets and breechloaders; it was also really neat to
see all the artifacts pulled off the field in the years after the
battle, such as a Confederate musket, bayonet still attached, rusted out
and with a half-rotten stock, and a revolver in similar condition that
was still loaded. Don't waste your time on the Lincoln train ride/train
museum, unless you've a thing for model trains. Gen. Pickett's Buffet
is pretty good home-cooking style food and cheap. There's an
/excellent/ ice cream parlor in the downtown area, Kilwin's. Not cheap
but definitely worth the price, and they give free samples. There are
still buildings in the area with bulletholes, one with a cannonball
hole, and another with a cannon-bolt still imbedded. Take the
self-guided audio tour if possible, or meet up with a park ranger for a
free group tour.
DC: Meh. Neat to see the monuments up close, but the weather is awful
and the prices high. I made a point of turkey-cursing the White House
but didn't have the same op****tunity for the Capitol. I definitely
enjoyed the Air & Space Museum and spent five hours walking around in
it. I had expected it to be bigger (there's airplanes all over it!);
one of these days I'll go out to their facility at Dulles, IIRC 3x
bigger. We only had the one day to run around DC, or I'd have visited
more of the Smithsonian. SWMBO wanted to visit the Holocaust Museum,
but they'd run out of tickets until later in the day and she didn't want
to visit it alone (me being in A&S all day). Don't eat the food at A&S,
btw; either sneak in a granola bar (eat in the restroom, kplzthx) or
visit a vendor elsewhere. Low quality and overpriced (essentially a
giant McDonald's that also serves pizza and some Boston Market meals).
Also watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, which was nifty. The sergeant of the guard told us to stand
quietly out of respect, then some poor sod's kid immediately started
screaming and he (the sod) hustled him away. :-)
Near our hotel in Crystal City (across the river) was a Legal Seafood
restaurant. Not cheap, but also worth it. I had the Total Tuna, which
was very good. SWMBO was disappointed that they didn't have crab legs
and/or a lobster tail, though. Wish I'd had time to check out the
Ethiopian restaurant, since I've yet to try that sort.
Trip back reminded me why one should avoid O'Hare. Weather delays
totaling four hours, one spent on the tarmac at National.[4] It was
good to be home.
Insert rant about air****t security theater here. When's that
revolution coming?
[1] ObNerd: wish I'd brought a copy of _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_ so I
could compare where we went vs Hostigos and its neighbors. :)
[2] M-i-l[3] wishes the South had won the war; Gettysburg was what
she wanted us to see, f-i-l wanted us to see Niagara. DC was
a bonus.
[3] A dear old woman, but she has Views on some things.
[4] I won't refer to it as Ray-Gun since I don't wor****p at his
personality cult.
--
Kevin
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