{"id":442,"date":"2010-07-20T04:08:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T04:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/07\/4000-miles-part-1.html"},"modified":"2012-05-20T19:34:55","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T00:34:55","slug":"4000-miles-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/07\/4000-miles-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"4000 Mile Road Trip: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sitting here watching Julie & Julia<\/em>. Again. Adorable movie. About a girl and her blog. And lots of decadent cooking. It inspired me to get onto my own blog and bring you guys a bit up to date on things.<\/p>\n

Our summer break is plodding along here. A slower pace than last month, which is a welcome change. It’s hard to believe my boys only have about a month left before Jacob starts 2nd grade, and Timmy starts KINDERGARTEN! I still can’t believe both my boys will be in school in a month!<\/p>\n

Anyway, this past month, from mid-June till mid-July, was full of travel! First Dave took the boys to Pennsylvania for the Vollmer family reunion, then I took a TDY with my reserve job, then hopped in our truck on July 3rd with Dave, Timmy and Howie (Jacob was in NY visiting Dave’s parents) and declared “EASTWARD HO!”<\/p>\n

First stop: My parents house in West Virginia. We spent a couple days visiting with my parents, my sister and her kids. We arrived on July 4th, and brought so many fireworks<\/a> with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 04 Vacation Day 1-2<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After 2 days with my parents, Dave and I headed up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. This would be Dave’s first visit to Canada, but I had been to Toronto in 1992. We stopped in Buffalo for lunch<\/a>, and met an old Air Force friend from Florida, Rich:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Niagara-on-the-Lake is simply enchanting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We really enjoyed the pubs in the town:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 06 Anchor Bar & Niagara on the Lake<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We hadn’t planned too much time in the town itself, which is regrettable. The Shaw Festival<\/a> was playing in full force, and one of my favorite plays was on the docket: An Ideal Husband<\/em> by Oscar Wilde. Unfortunately, the two days it played while we were there were both at 2pm. We had plans both days….<\/p>\n

The day after our arrival was spent at Niagara Falls. A campy thing to do when you have a few days without the kids, I know, but it wasn’t the Honeymoon Capital of the World<\/a> for nothing. We had a delightful, although HOT, afternoon at the falls. We bought this “Adventure Pass”<\/a> which covered 4 attractions on the Canada side, including the Maid of the Mist<\/a>. It was great to be on the Maid of the Mist on the hottest day of the year, that’s for sure! Some pictures from our day at Niagara:<\/p>\n

My Canada donut from Tim Horton’s<\/a>, our new favorite restaurant in the whole world! We ate there 3 times in 3 days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 07 Niagara Falls<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This doesn’t even look real, does it? Yes, I took this picture with our own camera!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 07 Niagara Falls<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Preparing to board the Maid of the Mist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 07 Niagara Falls<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This is at the White Water Walk, which is a walk alongside the Whirlpool Rapids, which my still pictures don’t do justice. Let’s see if this video will work, click the thumbnail below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 07 Niagara Falls<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Also, enjoy this gum-covered wall, which is some sort of tradition at this attraction (ew!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2010 07 07 Niagara Falls<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We took our time driving back up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, and even made it to a winery for a tasting before they closed! I didn’t get any pictures from it, sorry!<\/p>\n

I’ll stop now, and cover the rest of our trip on another post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sitting here watching Julie & Julia. Again. Adorable movie. About a girl and her blog. And lots of decadent cooking. It inspired me to get onto my own blog and bring you guys a bit up to date on things. Our summer break is plodding along here. A slower pace than last month, which … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[163,37,38],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-road-trip","tag-travel","tag-vacation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t