Six States and a detour to Canada....crazier than we thought!

Early on the 5th, we headed out of Massachusetts. Our goal for the day was to get as far west as possible, and to first detour north to see Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. So we did!

Maine was SO BEAUTIFUL! We went to the beach. 

The water was FREEZING. But it was worth it to put my feet in the Atlantic in the northernmost state. I gathered a few beautiful shells, and then we snaked back through the adorable town of Kittery, 

and on back south to New Hampshire. 

In order to travel west, we had to switch to state roads all through New Hampshire and Vermont. I'm so glad we did - the drive was stunning. I can't even imagine what it looks like when the leaves change.

We found Vermont cheese and maple syrup along our way - Yummy!

 - and soon we were already to New York.

We stopped for lunch and scheduled maintenance, and then headed west across the state. We found coupons for hotels, and called to reserve a room in the Niagara Falls area.
When we finally arrived, they said they were out of the rooms at the rate I was quoted on the phone, so we started scrambling.
It did not go well, and we finally decided to just drive to see the falls, and then drive on to find lodging.
And then things got crazy.
We were told parking was cheaper on the Canadian side of the falls....so we decided to drive over. We didn't think through all of the restrictions, and the immigration officer as we entered didn't help to put us at ease.
We couldn't use our phones, so no: GPS, calling people, etc. And the speed limit is in Kilometers per hour, as well as there being potentially unfamiliar traffic laws. It was getting late, there were huge crowds dispersing from fireworks (which we did get to see, yay!), and we could not find the cheap parking that supposedly existed. So we literally drove in circles for at least 20-30 minutes.
We finally found a place that looked like we could at least park for a few minutes, Vickie jumped out and went to get pictures and see the falls (I've seen them before, and wasn't driving, so I could see them from the car). And then we got out of dodge!
Thankfully, coming home was so much less stressful. Our agent was really nice, which was a relief after our stressful adventure.
Then came the rough part of our trip - we drove on west. We stopped about thirty minutes later, and we were quoted $120 for a night!
So we kept driving. 

We finally found a more reasonably priced hotel room in Pennsylvania.
So there you have it, six states and Canada, and then a soft bed, hot breakfast, and good sleep!