Day 2 - Niagara Falls, Witches, Ohio

Today started at a more reasonable 10am, when we left Graziano's (World Famous) Inn and drove into the center of Canastota for some breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe. Here I ordered Corned Beef Hash and Eggs, and Lisa got pancakes. The Hash was the best I've ever had. I should mention, however, that I've only ever had it at two other places. Zoe's, in Cambridge, and Johnny D's, in Somerville. The Sunrise Cafe's version was crispy, and as Lisa put it, "It just seems like all the flavors fit together perfect." They really nailed the spices, and we appreciate the effort. Also, I experienced what it might be like to have a drug pusher doing his thing to you, as the waitress kept asking me if I wanted coffee, about every 3-5 minutes. I felt like I wasn't keeping up to her standards, so everytime she asked I felt compelled to take a huge gulp of coffee, and usually ended up burning myself.

We left town and continued West, the destination: Niagara Falls. As we drove, I noticed a sign for Buffalo which said, "Buffalo: An All American City." This contrasted with the sign I had seen earlier in Albany, which read "An All-America City." Any thoughts on what the difference might be? I really had no clue.

As we drove we listened to some CCR. I always forget how incredible this band is. John Fogherty is most likely my favorite guitarist of all time, and if you don't believe he's got the chops, check out some of his crazy slide sounds in the third act of Suzie Q. That sound makes me fall in love with this band all over again, every time. We also started the audiobook for Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live: 85% Of A True Story. I have heard it before, but it's been a while, and Lisa had never heard it. It's a perfect book to be listening to on our trip, as it's basically about a cross-country road trip to visit all the sites of major rock stars' deaths. Listening to it again made me realize I probably take a lot of my writing style cues from him, so if you like this blog you would probably do well to check him out.

Arriving in Niagara Falls I remembered all the things I don't like about these typical tourist attractions. The parking garages, the gross pavilions, and, normally, the crowds. Today, however, there were absolutely no people anywhere to be found. I guess after Labor Day people stop wanting to stand outside in the cold and watch water fall off a cliff. It was great for us though, because we got to wander around unhindered by people, and we got to go to the Observation Tower without paying.

While we were eating lunch inside the pavilion, one of the workers came in with a dead bird, and asked us if we were still hungry. I asked him if he could throw it on the grill first, and he said yes (before throwing it in the trash). He came back and told us he only made that joke because we, "Looked like we could handle it." Yay! I can handle dead bird jokes! Although I was able to joke back and forth with him, a dead bird always makes me sad. I always think that if we just hadn't built these stupid windows, that bird would have just been flying through clear skies and wouldn't be casually tossed into a trash can. Oh well, circle of life and all that.

The falls themselves were breathtaking. I hadn't seen them as a kid, and I forgot just how powerful they seem. The water is really moving along, and the spray from the splashing is intense. We took a bunch of pictures, as you can see I posted one. We also saw a rainbow at the "Bridal Veil Falls," which was cool (and apparently rare nowadays). The larger Horseshoe Falls were difficult to see, and I recall that they're better viewed from the Canadian side. Lisa didn't have her passport though, and also this is an American road trip, so after checking out the American Falls and the Bridal Veil, we decided to get back on the road.

Passing through Buffalo, we finally hit new territory for Lisa. She used to live in Upstate NY so most of those stops were at least vaguely familiar to her. I had been in uncharted waters since avoiding the exit for Montreal, that being the furthest out I had driven on I-90. Except of course for when I went to the Falls as a kid, but I can barely remember that so I guess it doesn't count.

After about an hour and a half of driving we found ourselves nearing the small town of Lily Dale, NY. According to Evan, this town is supposedly full of Psychics. Driving around, however, we realized the place was basically closed down for the night. The town is a closed community (with a gate and everything) and we drove in without paying (there's an admission fee during the days, except on Sunday mornings where they open up the town for church-goers. All the houses seemed closed, but we definitly got a distinct creepy feeling from the place. There were weird lights and chimes on a lot of the houses, and the small streets and closed community just seemed strange. We left town without getting a reading, and went to find some food.

We stopped in the town next to Lily Dale, called Cassadaga. We went to a bar called May's Place, where we recieved a warm, small town welcome from a bunch of drunken locals. They advised us to sit down, join them, and get ready for some "craziness" which I never really saw. Since the kitchen was closed, they told us to buy sandwiches from nearby Norty's, and bring them back to the bar, which we did. They were delicious, and the beer was cold. We said goodbye to our local friends, who were impressed with our cross country drive. One of them, a country John Goodman lookalike, said, "That's so fucking cool." As we left. Lisa and are fucking cool! Yay!

After dinner, I decided to make some tracks, and after another 3 or 4 hours of driving I finally gave up near Fremont, Ohio. We pulled off into one of these gross, strip mall laden truck stop areas, found a cheap inn which name I can't recall, and settled in for the night. No matter how much fun I have with the driving and the sights to see, nothing makes me feel more relaxed or at ease like finally getting home with Lisa, and laying with her watching some TV. I could never have done this trip without her, and I know you all probably weren't expecting much sap, but I love her totally. We are having a great time and it's mainly because of her upbeat outlook and penchant for finding the strangest part of anything.

For those of you readers out there who want to say something back, I've opened up the comments for anonymous users. Just be aware that my parents and many family members are reading this, so please feel free to be a vulgar and inappropriate as possible.

Tomorrow (which I'll hopefully write later today): Indiana, Chicago, The Road To St. Louis.