Canadian Road Trip

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Up early and packing the bags again. We leave a bit of excess weight in the Mamaroneck basement - books and shopping - and load up the Jeep. The Armstrong-Robinsons are also heading off for their spring break - Camp Cod for them. The weather is glorious for this time of year and Alex and Dave are deciding if they could even take their surfboards.

Milla has woken up sick. She's had a sore throat and headache and now it's a full blown head cold and she's feeling a little nauseas. Good day to be sick, she can rest in the car for 7 hours. We virtually retrace our route to West Point and getting out of Mamaroneck and onto the freeway is confusing, stressful but at least a little familiar. We cross the Hudson River on impressive Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge following the 87 past massive shopping malls and standalone Wallmarts. Randomly there's an enormous Legoland between Chester and Goshen. Apparently where Dave would like to live. Goshen, not Legoland.

Millsy falls asleep pretty quickly and misses Legoland. She only awakes to vomit in one of the Glad Ziplock bags Jules gave her as a precaution. The bag was a parenting masterstroke by Jules and Milla's timing was impeccable. Right on two hours, I was ready for a stretch and we were 500 metres from a roadside toilet stop. We pull in, zip up the bag of bile and dump it in the trash can. Millsy isn't great. She's vomiting, blocked up and a little feverish.

The toilet stop has a couple of vending machines and the toilet attendants notes my interest and warns me. These machines are managed by disabled people to provide them with a bit of income. He hopes I like surprises. The guy who manages this machine is partially blind and a bit of prankster. He gets a laugh out of filling it up wrong and surprising Sugar Free Coke lovers with a Mountain Dew. 😊

The sign says we're in Delaware! My American geography isn't great but this doesn't sound right. Garth from Wayne's World goes to Delaware and Jules and I recount that gag from the film. I thought we were driving through New York State and I hope my unquestionable faith in Google Maps hasn't been misplaced. Turns out there's a tiny town in NY called Delaware.

As we drive on we seem to duck in and out of Pennsylvania. Nice to see another part of America.

Another hour or so in the car and Millsy unzips another bag and rejects the apple she just ate. The exit signs here are much more informative. Not only do they announce the knife and fork and the bowser symbol before the exits, they also announce the fast food brands and gas brands. We're fine for gas but looking for a Wendy's.

We pull off for lunch and try Wendy's for the first (and possibly last time). A carpeted family restaurant reminiscent of a 1980s Pizza Hut back home. The burgers are big and the drinks are bigger. There's a crazy eyed, wild haired guy that stares us out in the carpark as we disembark the Jeep. I deposit the 2nd ziplock bag in the gas station bin and we head inside. Crazy guy follows us and pretends to inspect the air conditioning control panel and the door frames. The staff tend to ignore him and even deliver him a cheeseburger he hasn't ordered. We think he might be a regular visitor and while a little offputting, is harmless.

Burgers aren't bad and Milla manages to ingest a couple of fries. That was the last of Jules ziplock bags. It's empty Doritos munches from here on in. My only downloaded spotify playlist is on it's second or third rotation now and we're back on the freeway.

We pass Corning (finally), it's been on every road sign and we've been directed towards Corning for hours! Horsehead, Bath, Dansville before an unexpected turn off the free way to Mt Morris. The detour off the 390 feels weird and we are on smaller roads for 5-10 kms. It's a cute town and we stop for fuel and a toilet break. It's all pay at the pump here and I clumsily get the pump walking after swiping the QANTAS card. It only fills about $15 worth and then cuts off. Probably missed a critically step on the keypad but $15 will do for now. We load up on gas station treats and it's noticeably cheaper out here when you're not paying NYC convenience prices. And the staff are real friendly and helpful. Everyone we see is also a bit heavier. We'd heard about the big Americans but hadn't noticed it in NYC. It's more relevant here. And while it's not Deliverance country, Deliverance country can't be far from here.

We drive through Warsaw and it's a quaint farming town with fields and barns and this style of cylindrical silo that seems unique to the area. We manage to witness a real hometown America moment as we cruise through Warsaw. We're stooped behind this iconic yellow and black school bus as it drops a young girl home from school. She leaves the bus and runs up a long treelined driveway to leap into her mothers arms. Grandma is up at the house drying her hands on a tea towell. A beautiful scene.

This doesn't feel like the Main route to Niagara but I'm glad we took it. And I'm sure Google has her reasons. We're not far from Buffalo now. It's supposed to be great there but we just want to get out of this car and into our hotel. We skirt around Buffalo but we're quickly back amongst the freeway chaos. I'm glad for the multiple sets of eyes on road signs and apps - though my tone of voice may not always express my gratitude.

Niagara Falls NY is a bit sad looking and we have to pay $5 to leave. The first gate on Rainbow International Bridge is a toll booth. Put your passports away. The second booth across the bridge is customs and immigration. For some reason these checkpoints have a way of making us nervous. We needn't have been nervous. The Canadian border guard could not have been more different to the American guy in LAX. Within seconds we are chatting and laughing as he goes through his questions. "Australians...I'm not even going to ask about the firearms". He checks/scans our passports barely even looking at the kids in the back. We bond over how hard it is to drive in each others country - he was tempted to abandon his hire car in the streets of Sydney he was so stressed out. Or is that stressed ooot?

We get our first glimpse of the falls from the Canadian side and they are impressive. We check in to the Oakes Hotel and Jules has secured a Falls view room on the 11th floor. What a veiw!!! It looks fake and we laugh at how shit it is on the American side. Our allegiance to Canada vs American is instantly identifiable.

Millsy crashes on the hotel bed and we head oot for dinner at the nearby Applebees diner. The town is strangely quiet and somewhat rundown. Hotels, casinos and fast food joints (mainly Steakhouses), it has a real 1990's Gold Coast/Twin Towns vibe. Dinner was enjoyable - we all craved salad. Milla has requested grapes and juice so we ask the waitress where we could find a supermarket as nothing is open in town. She's super friendly and chatty and directs us to drive to the Walmart. It's open til 11 and has everything. She's not wrong! It's huge. Everything in it is huge. It has everything! Except grapes. Sold out.

We grab some juice and some apricots. After all those bagels and pizza slices we could all use some apricots. Jules grabs some vegie chips (they're vegies right?) and Deaks and I grab some Chips-Ahoy.

Milla must be sick. She had the hotel room and TV to herself and we get back to a pitch black room. We wake her up for some apricots, check out the light show on the waterfall and hit the sack.

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