There are many places to start a story, and the hardest part is just choosing the beginning. For example, I could have chosen the beginning of this story when I decided to change careers from an Emergency Department staff nurse to an ED traveling nurse. However, that would mean going back to Thanksgiving Eve 2012 to a conversation with a (now fellow) travel nurse named Dawn, that had me wondering about a more exciting life, and the opportunity to see all of the wonderful places in my country. At this point, that conversation took place about 9 months ago, and while the broad strokes of that conversation and the events thereafter are remembered, the details have fallen into the endless pool of time.
I could have started this story at the beginning of my travel nurse days at the end of March- which seems logical as this is the story of my adventures- but between gathering all of my documentation, packing an apartment in Virginia, moving home, and repacking a MUCH smaller load into my trusty Toyota Camry (lovingly known as Camie), things just became a little hectic. I'm giving myself a break on that one. I was starting a new career and had some anxiety about whether or not I was starting the journey of a lifetime or one I'd be regretting.
So, here I am about to start my second assignment, and after having spent about a month off between this assignment and my last I am finally ready to start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and sharing some of my expeditions.
This journey begins on a bright, sunny Friday morning. I woke up at 7am after 3 hours of sleep and started packing my car and throwing last minute things into my suitcases. I am a procrastinator to the nth degree and I now realize loading the car is something that should really be done the night before. As I am the self proclaimed "Queen of Cram," the trunk of my car had no breathing room and closed only by sheer force of will. I had planned to bring a set of plastic drawers (used for my unmentionables) and as I was loading that into my car it decided to break, spilling underwear and socks all over my mom's driveway. Slightly embarrassing considering rush hour traffic is pretty heavy on our little street. Ditching that effort, I crammed everything into a trash bag and kicked that idea to the curb.
As previously stated, I am a procrastinator and therefore am perpetually late to everything. It's not one of my many good qualities. And as a result of this unfortunate piece of my personality, I was late getting to my Aunt Anita's House. Pickup was originally scheduled for 8am, and I didn't get there until about 10am. There may have been a trip to the bank, the gas station, and most importantly a Dunkin' Donuts run for iced coffee thrown in the trip that delay my actual departure- but I got there in the end.
After chatting with my Aunt Anita, Uncle Jamie, and cousin Jake about a recent trip to Curacao (island in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela and near Aruba), I was finally able to leave the Philadelphia area for lands previously unexplored (at least by me).
Aunt Anita decision to accompany me on this trip occurred about 3 weeks prior to our departure date, and one of these weeks I was out of the country. I am someone who decides to go on a road trip with ideas of where I want to visit but no set timetable in mind, no hotels booked prior to departure. It's a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of trip. So leaving Uncle Jamie to take the reins of their household for a week, she jumped in my car and into my crazy plan.
The first destination in the journey west was Niagara Falls. Stopping along the way in Binghamton, NY for lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe. (http://www.lostdogcafe.net/) A really cute little cafe that according to the history printed on the menu was founded by two women who spent sometime in NYC falling in love with cafe style eating while rocking out in an all-girl band. I had the brie and berry chicken melt with the upgrade to sweet potato fries. The waitress thought it was funny when I called it an upgrade but I figured I had to pay an extra 75 cents and therefore it was definitely an upgrade. (Sorry if this is too much information, but I want to remember every detail of this trip.)
I was talking to the hostess while Aunt Anita fed the meter and mentioned that we were on our way to Niagara (about 3.5 hours away) to which the girl replied that she had never been. As someone who is guilty of not enjoying the many opportunities available in the community in which I live, I could definitely relate to the girl's comment. For the majority of my life I lived about 30minutes away from downtown Philadelphia, and can say that I haven't been to all of the museums or done the many tours that as a tourist you explore and enjoy. I then lived in the Washington, DC area and once again barely scratched the surface of all of the activities available to me. I was more interested in the places I wasn't living in, then where I was. So, as a nomad, getting to explore different communities, I have to make a point in exploring the place where I live.
After lunch, we continued our journey north and made it to the Buffalo, NY area. The first stop on our tour was to see the Erie Canal, which I had read was 30 minutes from the falls. Well, this is where we encountered problem #1. Where is the canal? After google maps, Iphone maps, checking the guidebooks, and consulting Garmin- my sometimes confusing, Australian accented GPS (AKA Ian- named by Aunt Anita on this trip)- we decided to give up on this endeavor, and reworked our extremely flexible plans.
So, now instead of seeing the canal, we were off to see a Frank Lloyd Wright design called the Martin House Complex. (http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org/) As Aunt Anita has a degree in architecture, I got the expert's tour. The house was closed to the public/for tours by this point so, we were only able to explore the outside, and after taking in the house and the grounds, it seems to me that the FLW house was the odd duck- the prairie style home in a neighborhood of victorians.
The light was now dimming and it was time to make our way to the falls. The plan was to cross into Canada to see them- because EVERYONE says that the views of the falls are MUCH better from the Canadian side. Well, we experienced just a small problem in that Aunt Anita did not bring her passport- and therefore was not able to leave the country. (We told the rest of the family that she was detained in America after the Canadian government found out about her Italian arrest for not paying for a bus ticket in 2002.) So, not being able to spend the night in Toronto- we rearranged our plans and stayed on the American side.
We decided to hike the park and also do a tour called the Cave of Winds that basically led you on a boardwalk with multiple levels that are situated at the base of the falls. According to the tour guide, these sets of stairs and platforms are built and broken down every year and the building process takes about 6 weeks. At one point you get so close to the falls you can't help but getting drenched. this point is called hurricane alley and the wind is so strong that it's hard to breathe.
We shed our awesome shoes (required for the tour due to the nonslip nature of foam- she says sarcastically) and fashionable yellow poncho, and headed back into the park to watch the fireworks over the falls.
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| My really cool Niagara Falls shoes! |
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| Soaked even with a poncho! |
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| Fireworks at the falls! |
After navigating our way out of the woods- not so easy in the dark with sunglasses on (I forgot my regular glasses in the car), we jumped in Camie and decided to drive for a while to get closer to our next destination. We ended the night at a Best Western Erie, PA, to the sounds of really loud and drunk karaoke in the bar (drunk and tone-deaf really don't mix). According to the lady at the check-in desk we were lucky to get one of the last three rooms she had. Apparently, Erie really is a popular tourist destination.
Camie got parked for the night and Aunt Anita and I fell right to sleep.
Today's Destinations:
1. Cherry Hill, New Jersey
2. Philadelphia, PA
3. Binghamton, NY
4. Niagara Falls, NY
5. Erie, PA
As a LaSalle University graduate I can officially appreciate "Never Stop Exploring"...
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