Bukkit Tour Day Four: Travel/Boston, MA

Day four found us waking up in Westfield, MA which is about an hour and a half outside of Boston. We started the day with "brunch" at the Friendly's which was next to our hotel and then got on the highway. Aside from some drizzle the drive was pretty uneventful until we got off of the freeway into downtown Boston. Driving downtown is nuts. Our hotel was right by the freeway exit so I ducked into the nearest parking garage trying to avoid driving around as much as possible. Well, that was a mistake. After two laps around the garage, no unoccupied spaces, and $9 later we thought we'd try our fortunes elsewhere. I decided to pull up in front of the hotel and unload our bags (and the girls). Of course the bellhop directed us to the Colonnade's garage which is right behind the hotel and I had no problems parking. Oh well, live and learn.

We went up to our room and it is ridiculously swanky with a great view of the city. So far we've had great luck with hotel rooms. The Colonnade was a Travelocity "Top Secret Hotel" so we got a four star room relatively inexpensively. It is one of the nicest rooms I've ever stayed in and it is really close to lots of sites in downtown Boston. More importantly it's within walking distance of Fenway Park!

After we settled in, we rested for a bit and organized our things. It was raining and we didn't really know what to do so we took a Boston Duck Tour which was really the only thing other than Fenway that was on our list of things to do while we were here. The photo above is the three of us in the rear view mirror of our duck, the "Red Sox Nathan." The "Red Sox Nathan" was the lead vehicle in the 2007 World series parade when Boston won the championship. Our guide, Captain AL (Amazing Lee) Courageous was the driver in the parade. The duck tour takes you by all of the historic and interesting locations in the downtown Boston area and being an amphibious vehicle, goes out on to the Charles River. It launches into the water right by the site of the forthcoming Charles River Skatepark (but we all know how that project has stalled out). Both Miranda and I had an opportunity to drive the duck while it was in the water. Of course I was the only "adult" to volunteer.

Later on that evening, we went for a walk up and down Boylston St. in search of dinner. We wanted to eat at McGreevy's but they are 21 and over after 8PM so we're going to try to have lunch there today (July 15). We ended up having dinner at Legal Seafood in the Prudential Center on the recommendation of Dan Michalec and he did NOT disappoint. The food was spectacular. Afterwards, we retired to the Colonnade for the evening for some much needed rest.

Today is Fenway Day, so I'm anxious to get out and get to it.

Bukkit Tour Day Three: Niagara Falls/Travel

Day three was FULL of touristy goodness. We woke up in the morning with no concrete plans. We went across the street from the Crowne Plaza Hotel and had breakfast at Denny's. It was nothing fantastic, but a good deal of food to start the day. Turns out we were going to need it. Check out time at the hotel was 12:00 so we went back, grabbed our bags and packed up the Escape. In the hotel lobby at the concierge desk, they will set you up on a Niagara Falls tour. We had gone and looked at the falls the day before, but having a guide seemed like it would be fun. We signed up for the Niagara Majestic tour and the bus came to get us at noon.

Our tour guide was "Prady" thus we were dubbed the "Prady Bunch." Prady is an immigrant of Indian descent, has been in the United States since 1972, and has been a tour guide at for Niagra Majestic for 15 years. The first thing you do on the Niagara Majestic tour is go straight to the "Maid of the Mist" cruise of the falls. The boat ride takes you by the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and the Horseshoe falls. To stand at the top is one thing, but to be riding by the falls on a boat is an experience of mammoth proportions. You just can't fathom the volume of water cascading over the brink unless you are down there. It was truly amazing.

The second part of the tour is going to the "Cave of the Winds" which hasn't actually been a cave since the 1850s, but the name has stuck. I knew we were going t get drenched when they made us wear sandals and put our shoes in plastic bags in addition to the disposable rain poncho. CotW takes you down an elevator near the foot of the falls. When you get off of the elevator you then descend a bunch of wooden steps to the foot of the Bridal Veil falls. This was ripe with photo opportunities so check the facebook page to see all of the action. After the CotW, we went to a gift shop. The rest of the tour was bus rides to seeing the electric plants and other sites, but it was pretty much hop out of the bus, look over the rail, listen to some facts, hop back in the bus, repeat. One cool thing that we did get to see but not do was the jet boat tour of the whirlpool and the gondola that travels above the whirlpool.

We got back to our car at about 4:30, punched in our destination to the GPS and set off to Boston. There is NOTHING to do or see between Niagara Falls and Boston. We stopped at a little town called Canastota, NY: Home of the Boxing Hall of Fame. We stopped for a quick photo opportunity and then tried to find some dinner. I was sick of eating at chains so I wanted to find a mom & pop eatery. We ventured further into Canastota and found "New York Pizzareia" in the heart of downtown. It was around 8:00PM and we hadn't had a meal since Denny's so we were starved. It was definitely dive-ish, but the pizza was fantastic.

Hopped back in the Escape and and planned to drive for an hour, but like I stated earlier there is nothing between Niagara Falls and Boston. It took us until about 12:00 to find a suitable hotel. We finally stopped at a Holiday Inn Express (which is brand new) and got a fantastic room at a decent rate. So, here I sit writing about day 3 and about to embark on day 4.

Bukkit Tour Day Two: Niagara Falls

It's 7:40 and I'm sitting in the common area of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Niagara Falls, NY. The girls are still sleeping so I thought I'd get up and write the account of day two really quick.

We didn't really get on the road yesterday until a little before 2:00PM so I had really written the day off. It turns out that our hotel is three blocks from the falls so we were able to walk there and have some activity for the day even though we really didn't get settled in until after 6:00PM. I thought that all we would end up doing was driving and eating dinner.

We started off using the google maps that I had printed out, but then I activated the GPS on my phone. WOW!! I didn't know what I was missing as far a directions and navigating. We were going to rent a GPS from the rental car agency, but at $12 a day, it seemed cheaper just to activate the one on my new phone. Aside from the massive battery suck it's fantastic.

It is really beautiful around in Niagara Falls, NY. The falls are an impressive sight to see. The park leading up to the falls is gorgeous too. Looking out over the edge and peering into the maelstrom created by the water sure has a way of making one's self to feel insignificant.

After chcking out the falls, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It seems like our choices for vittles around here are all Indian food or the Hard Rock. I don't think I could get M to eat Indian food, so our choice was made for us.

Here is the most important lesson I learned yesterday. Natural beauty is ruined by makeup. At night they project colored light onto the falls. For me, it just kind of cheapens the experience. It is so alluring on it's own, I don't know why anyone felt the need to make it so gaudy.

The area around the New York side of the falls is really tacky. If someone took the area around Myrtle Beach and dropped it in downtown Columbus..boom..you've got Niagara Falls, NY. I kind of feel like I'm an extra in Neil Gaiman's "American Gods." Today we're going to go to the wax museum and do the boat tour of the falls and then we'll start making our way towards Boston.

We got back to the hotel around 10:30 last night. Laela booked a few more hotel rooms for later in the trip, and Miranda had her first PC access in two days. She was pretty hyped. I started working on my silly "art project" and then took a shower so I could go to sleep. All of the walking around really seems to get me tired quickly. Fortunately, I got a great night's sleep last night due (in no small part) to the super comfortable beds here. The hotel room is really nice but the hallways "smell like old people" according to Miranda.

Having a blast, missing my dog, and I hope everyone is doing well.

Bukkit Tour Day One

It's raining this morning and I'm sitting in the common area of the Hotel. It is the only part of the hotel that has Internet access. Hello, Cedar Point....welcome to the year 2010. Wireless access for the whole hotel wouldn't be a task of mammoth proportions. Connectivity complaining aside....

Wow, what an great day we had Sunday. Saturday's rental car debacle had me feeling a little dubious about the upcoming vacation. Finally arriving back in Columbus nine hours later, after what should have been a five hour trip, we set out to pack. What did not help was that we got our new telephones on Saturday so Laela and I spent a good portion of the evening setting those up and getting our contacts transferred. We finished packing and were in bed around 2:00am.

Sunday morning, we packed up the car, rolled through Tim Hortons and set off. We finally go up to Cedar Point around noon. We checked into Hotel Breakers and then went to the park. Guest services was extremely gracious to us and got the family a fast pass. It was nice to be able to sign up for a ride, go do some other stuff and come back at a scheduled time. Frequent rest breaks were required throughout the day.

Highlights: Maverick is without a doubt the best roller coaster I have ever ridden. It was the first and last coaster we rode yesterday (extra cool in the dark). We hit Mantis, Top Fuel Dragester, Magnum, Millennium Force, and a few others.

We also had dinner at Tomo, the Japanese Hibachi restaurant in the hotel lobby. It was a lot of fun and our chef was awesome. He had a old timey squeeze bottle full of sake and decided that it would be fun to continually squirt it into my mouth. He cooked with a little bit of it but for the most part I consumed about 2/3 of that bottle. I was feeling good by the time we got back into the park.

We got back to the hotel to unwind and then took a midnight stroll on the beach. In bed by 1:30 and now I'm up preparing for today's jaunt off to Niagara Falls.

Retirement, Unenjoyment, Funemployment...

Call it what you will, but I've not worked for a full week. It doesn't seem like it because I've been twice as busy since I've been out. Good thing it started off on a holiday weekend.

The Independence Day weekend was fantastic. I had lots to do and got to see a lot of people.

Thursday July 1, brought a new tattoo courtesy of Naomi Fuller at Thrill Vulture Tattoo. I got the date of my wedding anniversary inked on my ring finger, so my ring can't ever be taken away from me. It's that important.

Friday July 2, a big group of my friends got together at Bob's Bar in Clintonville. There were friends from the library, skateboarding friends, and old friends from back when I moved to Columbus. It was a really good time and I got to see some old faces that I hadn't seen in years. We closed the place down and didn't get home until 3:00am. Special shout-out to my homeboy Tim for taking one for the team and being the evening's designated driver.

Saturday July 3 found me doing the following: got up and walked 4 miles because I wasn't too hung over, too Miranda to All-Start softball practice, went to Plain City for lunch, went to the zoo, went and saw the movie "Kick-Ass." We even got an unexpected fireworks display by just stepping out into the back yard. Apparently, we can watch the Dublin fireworks without even leaving home. You'd think that I'd know that after living here almost seven years.

Sunday July 4 was an Independence Day spectacular. We woke up and went to the NCIL All-Star Game Pot Luck breakfast. The NCIL Girls Senior softball league hosts a pot luck on Independence day before the All-Star game. It's a good opportunity for the girls and parents from all of the teams to have a chance to get together and mingle. Miranda has been elected to represent the Athletics two years running by her peers. Unfortunately the Blue team fell to the Red team by one run in the bottom half of the last inning. On a brighter note, Miranda played one of the best games that she's played. She fielded and hit great. I was really proud of her. My parents and sister came to Columbus to watch the game too. Afterwards we went over to my mother-in-law's house for lunch. We came home after lunch and rested. For Independence Day fireworks, we went to see the Worthington fireworks which has become somewhat of a tradition in our house. The evening ended with Miranda being angry at me because I wouldn't let her use her cell phone while we were there. If you want to know the REAL reason she was angry, you'll have to ask her.

The next few days found me doing thing but not quite as busy. Monday evening I was honored to be able to chaperone a group of Worthington Library's finest librarians to see the vampire movie. I here it's the first time that a male has been privileged to witness the bookworm response to the cinematic rendition of a teenage boy without his shirt. I didn't realize that was such a huge event. Tuesday I had another biopsy performed, because not enough material was extracted the first time. I pretty much fatbacked around the house all day but I did get to see one of Miranda's classmates play baseball for his travel team in the evening and met Tim and Dan for dinner. Dan broke down Boston for us so we didn't waste time there. Other than that, we're just prepping for the Great Bukkit Tour of 2010. Coming soon to the East Coast.