Sunday, August 10, 2014

Saturday August 9

Today we woke up in Cortland, NY.  We had found out before we left that this is the location of the NY Jets summer practice.  So, we dropped Noah and Tom off at the field to watch a few hours of practice and get autographs and the girls and I made the 30 minute drive back to Ithaca to visit the Ornithology lab.  The lab was phenomenal.  We spent an hour walking with binoculars around the grounds, stopping to observe birds, bullfrogs, and chipmunks (and more mosquitos than we would have liked).  After our hike, we went inside to watch amazing films of Cornell Ornithology Research and 'play' in a real sound studio.  We could have stayed there all day observing the birds at the feeders and walking on the trails we did not get to take.  It was a truly amazing place.  Maybe we'll be back someday with Dr. Abby, but for now, I was happy to pack up my 10 year olds and head back to pick up the boys.  We had so much fun this morning that it became clear that we would not be making it back to Holland tonight as we had planned.  We took off for our final stop of the trip.  Right before arriving at Niagara Falls we stopped in Buffalo at a Diner that was featured on a favorite show of ours, 'Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives'.  We enjoyed delicious food in a real old diner.  Niagara falls was just as I remembered it as a child, crowded and commercialized, yet still amazing.  We visited the American side, holding hands as we struggled through mobs of people.  After spending a few moments in awe, we packed up and took the kids across the border, to their first stop outside of the US.  We spent the night in a beautiful hotel in London, ON. 

0 comments: