Trip Pictures are up

Outside of a couple sad casualties (all the Canadian Niagara Falls videos are gone because I got click happy), all my trip pictures are posted: https://photobucket.com/share/f09feeb0-5ee0-4081-9379-3c8fff40c375

Just as a reminder, click info to see annotations.  

This was the itinerary:

4/24 - Thursday - Drive to KY.  Work half day

4/25 - Friday - Finish drive to KY.  Work half day

4/26 - 4/27 - Saturday and Sunday - in KY.

4/28 - Monday - Drive to Niagara Falls.

4/29 - Tuesday - Niagara Falls (NY).  Visit Yancey’s Cheese Store. 

4/30 - Wednesday - Niagara Falls (CA).

5/1   - Thursday - Visit Letchworth State Park, Chimney Bluffs state park and "The bluffs on Mcintyre road".

5/2   - Friday - Visit Green Lakes and Wegmans.  Visit Chittenango Falls. 

5/3  - Saturday - Visit Taughannock Falls State Park. Visit Fort Stanwix NM on route east.  Stay with Aunt and Uncle

5/4   - Sunday - Go to Dog Shack, Hicks, Argyle.  Stay at Mike Kelley.  

5/5   - Monday - Work remotely, visit Mike Kelley, drive home when I have a break.

In summary, the trip was 2343 miles, and the CR-V averaged around 29mpg for the whole trip.  It was north of 30 until I started doing city driving in Niagara Falls, and especially around Rochester.

 

The car had a few minor hiccups; the TPMS light started coming on at one point, though the tires were fine, and the backup camera seemingly died.  I also had an oops type failure and smashed my 12V splitter because I thought it would clear the tailgate, and I was wrong.  My attempt to tape it back together failed.

Here are some of the favorite pictures from the trip (all pictures are at https://photobucket.com/share/f09feeb0-5ee0-4081-9379-3c8fff40c375

Niagara

Chimney Bluffs

Chittenango Falls

Green Lakes

Fort Stanwix

 

For more blog-like details, see below.

 

The car was rather full at the start of the trip, but was manageable once I got to KY and took the cabinets out.

The CR-V did better than expected on the way down.  I was expecting between 26-28mpg, and at one point was pushing well north of 30.  Even fully loaded.

I did get to watch a nice sunset on the drive.

 

At the first overnight in the car, it became clear that while the CR-V is actually nicer than the truck to drive for long periods of time, It is much worse for sleeping, especially when you can't put the seat down.  Despite the incoming rain though, it was nice to be able to leave the windows down a bit.  

 

The fog and mist was pretty neat the following morning.  

The big project in KY this time was cabinets.  I had originally pulled these from the tiny home to install in the laundry room of the new place, but I got tired of waiting for good enough to weather to finish painting them, and just put up shelves instead.  So they ended up being installed in my sister's place so they had more storage.

I was worried when I realized that these cabinets were much larger than the ones already installed, but the freezer lid cleared.  They still have enough room to put a light under the cabinet as well.

 

For our birthday, Dad and Natalie took Jess and I to Jungle Jims.  They had a huge cheese section, and also some random weird exotic stuff, like I bought a pound of Kangaroo meat.

 

After that, the itinerary above took effect, and I went to Niagara falls.  The NY side isn't the dump I had been led to believe, but the Canadian side is definitely nicer.  It is better taken care of, cleaner, and the views are frankly better.  I ended up walking across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada instead of driving because of the food in the car which could have caused problems at customs.  The main thing that surprised me though is that the park doesn't really open (on either side) until around 10AM, which seems awfully late.  I was still getting up at my normal work time, around 6AM, and was often there a little after 7AM, and had the whole place to myself (though of course nothing was open).  I spent a day on each side, but to be honest, I overplanned the time needed here.  Someone with a faster walk could easily see both sides in a day.  Personally though, given the poor shape I am in, I was grateful to split it to 2 days and ease my feet, which by lunch both days were really tired.

 

From there I went to Chimney bluffs.  I realized that Letchworth state park was literally hours out of the way, and while I technically had the time, I just axed it.  It is down by Watkins Glen, and the main feature was on Lake Ontario.  I was getting tired of driving at this point, I wasn't sleeping terribly well.  I was never able to get a hold of my former Carrier coworkers, but had no problem filling the time.  After that I visited Fort Stanwix on the way to Aunt and Uncle's, and fortunately they didn't notice that my park pass expired two days prior, and from there I was just visiting, and warming chairs for Pippin.  

In all, the itinerary was actually pretty light, which worked out well.  I didn't realize that I would have as much problem sleeping as I did (the bed's at the Comfort Inn were really soft, which I don't like).  I didn't eat hardly any of the food I brought, but I didn't plan it like I did the previous trip; I just kind of went through my pantry and put together meal kits based on what I had on hand, and just ended up with a lot more than needed.  I could have removed an entire tote from the back of the car though, so perhaps I should have meal planned a bit better.  Plus I would have had more cooler space, which was a problem throughout the whole trip.

 

The only other thing I would note is that it was actually really neat the way the timing worked out.  Buds were swelling and stuff when I left, and then I got to see the whole progression of blooming as I drove to KY.  And on the rest of the trip, I got see the whole process play out again.  Niagara Falls only the early stuff had opened up, but by the time I got home, my yard was fully green and I could see it if I mowed.  And since it was before Memorial day, I didn't have to fight any crowds.