Niagara Vacation Day 1: Hamilton, Ontario

Brandon and I went on vacation for four days earlier this week. We spent a night in Hamilton, Ontario, then a night on the New York side of Niagra Falls and finally, a night on the Canada side of Niagara Falls. On the first day, we headed out in the morning and drove over the bridge into Canada near Sarnia. We got into Hamilton around 2:30, unpacked a bit and freshened up. That evening, we headed out for dinner and then down to the beach. We were going to play some putt-putt, but it had started raining, so we headed back to the room, watched some TV, went back out for ice cream at a local shop and then headed in for the night.

At the beach

 Overcast and Chilly

 Like a GQ cover....so handsome



Survivor

Well, I survived....I went camping the in the U.P. and was not eaten by a bear, nor did I fall off a cliff....though both things were possible. Keri, my friend from the PA program, and I drove up to Marquette to meet our classmates, Dan and Luke. Both live in the U.P., but Dan is from Marquette, so we met at his house. When we arrived, we dropped off our stuff and promptly headed out to tour the town and go hiking. The area is so gorgeous and the day was perfect for outdoor exploring. We hiked about ten miles back into the woods on hiking trails and then climbed a peak called Hogsback; the peak is about 1600 feet up...just a couple feet short of killing my sorry, out-of-shape butt. The climb, (and muscle cramps, profuse sweating, and near vomitting), were soooo worth it though...the view was incredible!

Looking back toward Marquette.

So glad to have made it to the top...loving the breeze!

Between Luke and Keri....Happy hikers!

Looooooong way down!

Almost rested enough to head back down....almost.

After we climbed, carefully, back down the hill and hiked back out to the car, we headed into town. We headed to a local microbrewery. We each had a beer and decided to do an impromtu bar crawl. We hit four more bars, having a beer at each, and then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We then headed back to Dan's dad's house for a bonfire. When we got there and got all settled on the edge of the yard near the woods, Dan and his dad told us all about the bear they saw in the yard the morning previous; I spent most of the evening jumping at every noise. Worries of being a bear's midnight snack aside, it was a really fun evening. By midnight, we were all pretty pooped so we put the fire out and headed to bed.

The next morning, we got up bright and early (i.e. 10am) and packed up to head out. Luke drove and stopped along what looked like a nice wooded area. Dan and Luke marched us out into the woods to check out our camping spot. We followed along behind and stopped short when they showed us where we would be camping...a gorgeous beach surrounded by sandstone cliffs....the only problem: we had to climb down the cliff to the beach....a 1200 foot descent. We picked our way down the hill to check out the beach, without breaking any bones or sacrificing any dignity by tripping and rolling the whole way down. The beach was even more gorgeous than we thought....sunny and warm with just a little hint of breeze. The boys, gentlemen that they were, offered to climb back up to the car and transport down all of our gear while we soaked up some sun. Honestly, it was probably a smart move on their part, because two treks down the hill for me and Keri probably would have resulted in at least one broken ankle, but a sweet gesture none the less. They managed to haul our 50 pound duffel bags, sleeping bags, pillows, and other various crap along with their bags and our camping gear, down to the beach....even made it look easy. We set up camp, changed into our swimming suits and then Keri and I layed out towels to soak up some rays while the boys ran off to explore and swim.

The beautiful beach!

Loving the U.P.

Waiting for the boys...

<3 sandy toes <3

Yay for tans!

Hatchets and machettes...good for chopping firewood...and bear protection.

Dan gathering firewood... "I am man...hear me roar!"

Luke and Dan

Tucked in a hole in the sandstone cliff

We wandered the beach all day and enjoyed the sun. I was really nervous about the bug situation....I was warned that the bugs and flies were REALLY bad this time of year, but there were hardly any. I think the slight breeze was enough to keep the bugs at bay....or it might have been my super-de-dooper heavy-duty chemical-based bug spray. Either way, there were a few flies, but nothing to worry about.

We built a campfire on the beach and roasted hotdogs and made s'mores for dinner. We sat around the fire and chatted over some adult beverages, and took in the beautiful night sky....so many stars! We finally crawled into the tent around 1 or 2 and all promptly cashed out....busy day made for easy sleeping. We woke early this morning to a light rain, but waited it out and were able to pack everything up and head out by 11am. The trek back up the hill laden down with our stuff was quite interesting. We finally made it back to the top and took our dirty, greasy, unshowered selves into public for some breakfast. We went to a great little restaurant that makes all of it's dishes fresh from local sources; it was sooooo good.

After breakfast, we headed back to Dan's house, unloaded Luke's car and reloaded our stuff into our car. We exchanged goodbyes and Keri and I headed out. We took the scenic route home, along the west side of the state, hoping to stop off for the afternoon at a beach, but we left a little too late and had trouble finding a public beach. We finally scrapped the idea and headed home; we got back into town around 8 and I promptly hopped in the shower...mmmm hot, running water. I loved the U.P., but wish it were closer...I want to do some more hiking and climbing, but don't think driving 6 hours to do so is very practical. I'm sure I could do some hiking around here, but I don't think it will be the same..rather flat in these parts. I guess I will just have to wait for our next roadtrip to the beautiful upper peninsula!

Still Blustery

I really did mean what I said about winds of change....I am working on getting my life in order, but life got in the way a little bit...let me explain.

I started out with the Atkins and Wii Fit just like I had stated; things went perfectly well for the first couple weeks. At my first measurement I had lost 7lbs, 2 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. Shortly there after, I went on a long weekend trip to the U.P. with Chris to meet his family and some of his friends....it is REALLY hard to stick to a diet and exercise plan on a vacation.... When I arrived back home, I was feeling pretty punky for the next week and finally went to the doctor...yup, I was sick..with a great big ol' sinus infection. Ugh. All excuses aside, I am restarting my plan with the same vigor as before and hopefully I won't be derailed as easily. Currently, I have lost 9lbs. I have started my workouts again and I have been eating like I should. I will keep you updated.

Along with life changes, I have also decided to make some blog changes. I have created a secondary blog for photos only....Belle's Photos at http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com. I will continue to post on this blog, with a few of my favorite photos for each post. However, the rest of the photos, ('cause you know I like to take lots), will be posted to my other page. We'll see how it works, and if I don't like it, I will go back to the old way.

Now, for the more interesting stuff...more info about my trip up north with Chris. We left on Thursday and went directly to his parents' house. He had told me quite a bit about them, but I pictured them differently than he described. His mom was really funny and sarcastic and his dad was quiet and funny in a slightly corny way....in short, I really liked them, a lot. We stayed at the house that night and the next morning, made our way up to Houghton to visit Michigan Tech and check our their Winter Carnival.  We met up with some of his friends and took a scenic drive up to Copper Harbor. The lake was gorgeous; I couldn't believe how blue the ice looked! That night, we all went out to dinner and went our separate ways. Chris and I stayed in the area so we could wander around the campus and check out all the ice sculptures the next day. The sculptures were incredible...so much detail!

(http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com/2010/02/winter-carnival.html for more photos)

We wandered around for a while and noticed that the Mineral Museum on campus was open, so we decided to stop in for while to check it out and to warm up. The room was quite large and had so much to look at!

After the museum, we headed back out to the car and decided to go to the frozen waterfall in Munising. It was a bit out the way , but worth it. We hiked back into the woods a bit and took some pictures in front of the falls.

Nobody was around, so we hiked a little further and were able to make our way under the frozen falls. It was gorgeous. The outer water was completely frozen, but inside the ice, you could see, and faintly hear, running water.

(http://bellephoto7861.blogspot.com/2010/02/munising-falls.html for more photos)

After the falls, we went to dinner and headed back to his house. The next day, we went to breakfast with his mom and then came back to pack and make our way home. I couldn't believe how much we were able to see in just a few short days!

Saturday: Connecticut and Home

We got up at 5:30 and were on the road by 6:30am the next morning. We made our way through New Jersey with Diana drving. We switched at 9:30am and I drove all the way through Pennsylvania, Ohio and into Michigan.....what a looooong drive. We made it home in just under 13 hours...made excellent time. We had such a great time, but were very happy to be home.

Just because we loved it so much, we did a little photo shoot in CT with the Avenger....

Friday: NYC and Connecticut

Friday morning we got up and headed out on a little shopping trip. We went to a three-level H and M.....I was in loooooove. I got a bunch of super cute shirts and a really pretty dress. I also got a couple of necklaces and a shirt for Michael to thank him for watching Indy while I was gone. After our shopping trip, we did a little sightseeing, grabbed lunch and headed back to check out of the hotel.

We headed back to Grand Central Station...it's so beautiful. We had to wait for an hour for our train, but it was fun to people watch.



We took the train back to Connecticut where we picked up the car. We headed out toward New Haven to our hotel for the evening. After we checked into the hotel, we showered and got cleaned up to head over to check out Yale's campus. I absolutely loved the campus....it was breathtakingly beautiful.



The entire state of CT is breathtakingly beautiful. I wanted to stay forever!

We headed back toward our hotel and decided to stop for dinner. We ordered and were sipping on our wine when all hell broke loose. An older man started yelling at the staff about the fire door at the back of the building being locked (it wasn't) and refused to sit down or calm down. The yelling escalated, and the man began talking about unrelated issues like older ladies having to walk in the rain. The cops were called, and in front of all the patrons of the restaurant, the man attempted to assualt one of the three police officers. He was quickly spun, slammed into a glass door and cuffed. We couldn't see, but he had to be tasered four times on the way to the police car. Dinner was delicious, the restaurant beautiful and the staff superb....we just called it dinner and a show.

Thursday: NYC

Thursday morning, we got up early and headed to pick up our tickets for our double-decker bus tour. As part of the tour we also were able to pick three attractions to visit. We started the morning by heading over to the docks and hopping on a Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and then Ellis Island. Ellis Island was my favorite part of our sight seeing...it was gorgeous and I loved all the history!




We took the ferry back and hopped back on the bus. Our next stop on the tour was Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. It was an observation deck 70 stories up....GORGEOUS VIEW!



The third stop on our tour was the Empire State Building. The building was gorgeous...lots of little details that made a huge difference. The view was very similar to that of the Top of the Rock, but I didn't like it as much. TOTR had 12 foot glass panes, buckled together, for you to look out. The Empire State Building has metal diamonds that are open and large enough to stick your hands through...made me a little nervous....didn't help that the deck was packed so people pushed you right up onto the metal grate....



We finished our tour for the afternoon....saw sooooo much and were exhausted. We headed back to our room to rest up and clean up. That evening, we headed back to the pickup spot for our tour bus to go on a night tour. We saw Manhattan and headed over to see Brooklyn all lit up. It was so beautiful...one of the coolest parts of our trip.


We finished that tour at about 10:30pm or so and decided we wanted dessert. We found a super cute authentic Italian restaurant that had exactly what we were looking for. Diana ordered tiramisu and I order a raspberry New York style cheesecake...both of which went deliciously well with our bottle of Pinot Grigio. It was the perfect end to a very eventful day.