i heart mcdonalds

As we begin our exit from the great state of New York, where just over a week ago I proclaimed how much I heart it, I must both partially retract my statement and give a shout out to the McDonald's of Westfield, NY.

First, the retraction. I must admit, I was quite enamored of the great hills of the Adirondacks, until of course we had to climb them. But they were fantastic, and made me happy to be back in my home state. The people we've met on the way, including my family, have been incredibly welcoming and I thank them all so much for helping us get through this journey. But, after a less than stimulating day at Niagara Falls (mostly Ontario, but NY for fireworks) and an 85 mile ride to a town desperately wishing it was more than it actually is, I think i'll be more than happy once we cross two state lines tomorrow (woooo Ohio).

So Niagara on the 4th...beautiful weather...we had a quick 18 mile ride to the church, and another 6 miles to the falls, where we would have had to pay $3.25 to bike across the border into Canada. Instead, we locked our bikes to a fence at the border, and walked across the bridge. Surely, the Canadian side has a much better view of the falls, but they also have the most garish theme park of a town I have ever seen. A Frankenstein Burger King topped the list on what seemed like a never-ending midway. But the falls were great to see, despite all the tourists, which actually were more interesting to watch than I expected. More than half of them spoke a foreign language, which comforted me for some reason, and crowded the array of fabricated venues, leaving the grass and gardens wide open for our enjoyment. I ate at a Tim Horton's (so Canadian....and the healthiest thing I could find), walked around until the light mist from the falls made me cold, at which point I decided to buy ice cream and walk to a nice spot of grass that apparently nobody else knew what to do with. On the way back to America, we had to pay 50 cents. I guess freedom really isn't free.

We went back to the church for dinner, and later drove back to the falls for one of the worst fireworks displays I have ever seen. Seriously, Manlius, NY puts NIAGARA FALLS to shame. They started at 10:01 and lasted until exactly 10:08. Afterwards, I had to make the squandered sleep worthwhile, so I bought a hot fudge sunday from Twist of the Mist, a stand in the shape of a big ice cream cone. Because of traffic, it then took an hour to get back to the church...

Well now we're in Westfield, which (FUN FACT!) after being the site of the discovery of a pasteurization method for grape juice, became home to major Niagara Grape orchards of the Welch juice company for over a hundred years. Those orchards have since been sold and are now fledgling vineyards. To get here, we rode through the proverbial depressed neighborhoods of Buffalo, then the proverbial depressed suburbs of Buffalo, then along the overcompensating (not the lake, the people) coastline of Lake Erie for most of the rest of the trip. Regardless, it was a really really really insanely beautiful ride, a ride to really make you appreciate the wonder of the world's largest source of fresh water. The ride into Westfield was also beautiful, as we passed vineyard after vineyard under a cloudless sky.

And now for my shout out. This will be the first and last time I ever say this. McDonald's has some serious nightlife here. After all, it is the (complementary wi-fi) hot spot. I've never been so happy to be at a fast food chain in all my life. Seriously.

Alright, its almost 11 and we have another long, probably sunny ride tomorrow (80 miles again, to Ashtabula). Better hit the hay. One week to Chicago.