Day Two: Mile 936

Day 2:

Miles:  364

States/Provinces:  Michigan, Ontario

Kid harmony level:  7

Memories:

Gordon:  Breakfast at the D&L Cafe

Therese: Switching Campsites after the tent was already up

Danny:  Bouncy Pillow at the KOA

Grace:  Watching Fireworks over Niagara Falls

Life is good when the thing a person complains about most bitterly has absolutely no impact on the overall satisfaction of the journey.  And so it went with Hotel Hell.  In hindsight, the haunted house across the street should have served as an omen.

Even a howling, digging dog above us and lumpy mattresses below us and a very unresponsive front desk couldn't ruin our day.  They kept trying, though.  The next morning we were distressed to see that the complimentary "breakfast" consisted of half a dozen gooey hostess "blueberry"  cupcakes.  I asked about the rest of the breakfast and was told that this was all they had been putting out for the last several days.  I'm pretty sure the very cupcakes we were looking at had made an appearance every day.

We left with the kids protesting that the muffins looked just fine: mother knows best.

A quick call to my own mother who did an an internet search landed us at the D&L Heart &Soul Cafe in Lansing.  Totally worth all the previous disappointment.   The food was so good we had to photograph it.  We hardly noticed the old guys at the next table blaming President Obama for everything that was wrong with the world.  We were in Michigan after all.

                                           Girls' food

                                         Boys' food

Another pleasant surprise was that he navigator had included the time change in the travel calculation. What was listed as a 7.5 hour drive took us just 6.5 hours.  So after a very quick stop at customs we found ourselves at our campground around 4:00 pm.   Aahhh...a fire-pit and communal showers never looked so inviting!

I know it's not roughing it, but the wonder of the KOA is that the kids can wander safely and explore the bouncy pillow and playground on their own.  They even have wrist bands so they can be delivered to us just like our firewood if they happen to get lost.

Those who know me will not be surprised that we relocated our tent to a more desirable site about 100 yards from the original spot.  I mean, the tent was already set up, but our current spot is so much nicer and the front desk was cool about it and Gordon can put up the tent in his sleep so...

There was a brief surprising moment when the kids actually deliberated about whether they wanted to visit Niagara Falls at night to see the Illuminated Falls and fireworks or have S'mores and a camp fire but the 'rents finally prevailed.  I think this is a sign that after three annual visits, this seventh wonder of the world has been fully absorbed.

We celebrated Danny's B-Day minus 2 hours, by giving in to an overpriced light-up thingy and Danny's joy was worth every penny of the ten-dollars-that-would-cost-a-dollar-anywhere-else!

Gorgeous fireworks, peaceful campsite, bed: grimy but very happy.