Today is the day we crossed West of the Mississippi River as we traveled from Madison, WI to Minneapolis, MN.  We covered another 316 miles, so now we are 1,515 miles from home.

As we were traveling along we were surprised to find Hammond, WI, just before the Minnesota border.  Of course we had to stop, take a look around, and take a few pictures.

This afternoon we walked for close to a mile by walking around the Mall of America.  The girls enjoyed shopping, but Karen and I were in agreement that we were not as impressed as we thought we would be.  The Mall of America is large; it is a half mile to walk around one level of the Mall and has a fairly large amusement park with a log flume and several roller coasters in the middle, however, most of the stores are all of the same ones we can find at various malls in Connecticut.  We would recommend skipping the Mall of America if you ever travel to Minneapolis.

This evening we are visiting a good family friend, Kate.  Several years ago she worked as the Youth Director at our church before moving back to Minnesota.  We have enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with her and her parents during our trip.

Today was mostly a travel day.  We left Avon, OH this morning and drove to Chicago, IL where we visited and had lunch with Kevin, one of my best friends from high school, his wife Christina and one of the cutest two-year old we know, Amanuel.  We had a very enjoyable visit with them, complete with deep dish pizza for lunch!  One nice surprise in getting to Chicago is that we picked up an hour, so we ended up arriving earlier than we originally thought.  Unfortunately the traffic around Chicago devoured most of the hour we gained.

Along the way to Chicago we did make one stop.  How could we pass by Hammond, IN?

From Chicago we travelled to Madison, WI, completing our 505 miles for the day.  This evening we walked along State Street in Madison and enjoyed a taste of Wisconsin at The Old Fashioned.

Over the last three days we have learned a few things about traveling with electronics:

1. it is important for everyone to make sure everyone packs their recharging cord after using each day (we left one in our hotel room in Niagara Falls).
2. If you lose a charging cord, ask for one at the front desk of the next hotel.  They usually have a collection of cords to offer you.
3. We are big fans of Verizon’s MiFi.  This little wireless device allows up to 5 wireless devices to connect to the internet using this wireless hotspot.  The MiFi plus my laptop computer has allowed us to work on our blog and search for restaurants and destinations while traveling in the minivan.
4. Pack a power strip when traveling with multiple family members who all need to charge their cellphones and other electronics.  Hotel rooms are not filled with easily available outlets.  By having all of the charging items in one location it also prevents charge cords from being left behind.

Today we started our day by enjoying the small water park at the hotel we were staying at, the Americana.  Karen and I found the room to be relative small and dated, but the girls had a tremendous amount of fun at the water park.  We spent a little over an hour enjoying the two body slides and the two tube slides before we needed to check out.

After leaving the hotel we returned to the main tourist area, Clifton Hill, in Niagara Falls to see the Falls in the daylight and to take a trip on the Maid of the Mist.  The sun was quite warm, especially after we put on our blue ponchos, so we really enjoyed the temporary cooling of the mist from the Falls.

After our misty experience we took a break for lunch at a restaurant called Kelsey’s before heading back to the U.S.A.  Our next stop was Avon, OH (just west of Cleveland) to visit our good friends the Goliks.  Today we covered another 245 miles.

Sorry for the delay in this post.  Our hotel in Niagara Falls had very limited wifi available.

Day 1 – 7/13/2012

Today we started off on our cross-country trip.  We managed to keep our packing to a very reasonable amount in the back of our minivan.  We will see if our “system” works over the next few weeks.

We covered 442 miles in our first day with our first stop in West Seneca, NY (just outside of Buffalo) to visit my grandfather who will be 90 next month.  We had a nice visit and dinner with him before heading to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  Our girls were excited to make the trip into another country and use their new passports.  I am not sure what the girls had originally envisioned, but they were surprised that Canada, at least the region by Niagara Falls, looked a lot like the U.S. and the weather did not turn dramatically cooler when we crossed the border.

One of the funny things that happened today was as I was driving today Karen decided to take a little nap since she was up late last night with the last of the packing and house cleaning.  She brought along a face mask to be able to shut out the sunshine.  After she had dozed off I heard Lindsey yell, “Mom, Mom, Are you asleep?”  Really Lindsey?

This evening we enjoyed fireworks over the Falls.  It is amazing how the Canadian side has developed into a kiddie version of Las Vegas with all of the lights and attractions with mostly arcades instead of casinos, although there are casinos as well.   Kelsey and Lindsey enjoyed seeing the Falls at night.  After looking at the Falls Kelsey said, “I could watch the Falls forever.”

We had a very enjoyable start to our trip.

Greg