Pennsylvania to Niagara Falls

I can see my travel posts becoming increasingly 'behind', so to speak, as we visit more places and eat more food and take more photos. Fortunately, my travel blogging is driven by a desire to document our experiences (and share them!) rather than any timeline around when that happens. Thus, today I am posting about our travels from a week ago, when we left Washington D.C. to drive north through Pennsylvania. Lest you think a week isn't very behind at all...it will only extend out from here!

Pennsylvania driving. 'Twas a sloping road, not a mis-angled photo.

Our Pennsylvania visit was, in our plan, just a means of getting from Washington D.C. to Canada. We stayed the night in Altoona, a small town that was roughly the right distance between D.C. and the Niagara Falls border crossing. What I hadn't expected was how beautiful the state would be, especially with leaves starting to turn red and yellow. It was a gorgeous drive and Altoona itself was a surprisingly scenic spot.

Altoona, Pennsylvania

That drive was also my first taste of 'small town' America - and it was a lovely one. The roads were wide, the people friendly, and the scenery unfailing. We even survived driving on what is, to us, very much the wrong side of the road.

When we reached Canada, we managed an easy border crossing before arriving in the tourist chaos that is Niagara Falls. I had visited once before, on my previous North America trip, but the gaudiness of the casinos and tourist attractions still grated when set against the wonder of the falls themselves.

So much water!

The truth is, though, that the man-made part of Niagara Falls can get away with gaudiness because the natural part of the area is so awe inspiring.

Spot the boat...

The sheer volume of water is just incredible.

We met some of my Canadian family at the falls, in the form of the aunt that is my Mum's sister, her husband (my uncle), and one of my three Canadian cousins, along with her fiance. They live about 20 minutes north of the falls and kindly hosted us for the night, giving us what Mr Bite joked was his authentic Canadian family experience. My other two (boy) cousins joined us for dinner too, along with their wives and the first baby born to a cousin on that side of my family. You may recall that my Mum's family is incredibly scattered, with her parents and two siblings in the U.K., one sibling in Hawaii, and then this sister in Canada. It was nice to see them again after what had been many years for me - and to make an initial introduction to Mr Bite.

After our night with them, we continued up the road to Toronto, which was the northern most point of our travels and the turning point for our time in Canada. That shall come in another post, but because this summary is lacking in food, I shall leave you with my vegan apple-cranberry muffin from Urban Herbivore in Toronto.

Pretty it isn't, but tasty it was.

Have you been to Niagara Falls? Or spent much time in smaller US areas (or live in them!)?

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