usa part two: road trip!

monday morning, on the road again. We stopped first at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor to get some crusty bread and other goodies for the road. They hand out all kinds of free samples in there! I tried a really interesting taste of salty chocolate, and the best thing we tried was this Agrodolce white balsamic vinegar. Then we headed out to meet Mike's Bubi Goldie for brunch at a classic greek Coney Island diner (serving the Detroit specialty: Coney Dog, a hot dog smothered with meaty chili, diced onions and mustard). Judy tried the Coney Dog but I opted for a huge greek salad and a strawberry milkshake. yum.
and then back in the car, headed for Canada. I was excited to visit Canada but it was pretty featureless, really. I fell asleep and woke up at Niagara Falls! We stopped to eat our sandwiches and check it out.

I had never seen it before and it was absolutely lovely but kind of an anti-climax after seeing Argentina's way-more-exciting Iguazu Falls. We stayed that night at a cute bed & breakfast in upstate New York, the Adams Basin Inn, an early-1800's tavern which sits right on the banks of the Erie Canal. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm evening and after a long day in the car, we were psyched to head out to the gazebo on the riverbank with a cooler full of fancy cheeses and a bottle of Argentine malbec to watch the sun setting over the canal.

day two, we headed east towards Troy, New York, where we stopped to visit dear friends Andrew and Vickie. We rolled in around 5pm and picked up some groceries to cook a big tasty dinner together! It was exciting to check out the progress on Andrew and Vickie's house, they are continually renovating/improving it in a totally DIY manner with lots of scavenged materials. Since last year they'd built a whole new bathroom and a greenhouse and some beautiful new vegetable beds in the Yarden. Best of all, they adopted Shae, this amazingly relaxed and benevolent little black pup, a lab mix who just lives to hang out and be cute and agreeable. The night flew by and we had such a nice time catching up with old friends, we forgot to take any pictures.

day three: more driving, headed East along the scenic route through the mountains, Vermont and then New Hampshire and then finally to Maine!