A Memorable Memorial Weekend

Since my office is always closed the Friday before Memorial Day, Ryan and I decided to take a little roadtrip. We didn't know what we were going to do until we decided on Tuesday morning to drive all over the East and into Canada. Luckily we have flexible enough families that they were cool with us dropping in at the last minute.

Friday morning we got up early and drove to Twinsville (right outside of Cleavland) to visit Ryan's Aunt Tracy (better known as Bubby) and Uncle Mike. We ate dinner in their lovely backyard and went to a single's adult conference (where Mike was presiding) to listen to John Bytheway speak.

The next morning we were also lucky enough to accompany the Bytheways on a personal tour of the Kirtland Temple. The tour guide took us to the upper rooms of the temple where Joseph Smith had had many visions and revelations.

(picture stolen from this website)

We said our goodbyes and drove another 90 minutes to one of the greatest amusement parks in the country: Cedar Point!

It was a beautiful day! And while there were lots of kids there (it was like the high school band day at the park), we still enjoyed ourselves while we played games in line, and especially when going on some of the greatest rides in the world.

You may think I'm exaggerating about Ohio having some of the greatest rides in the world, but before you do, let me say this. We went so high and so fast on some of these rides that when we finished two of the rides my shirt had unbuttoned.

Did you hear that? My shirt came unbuttoned. Not once, but twice.

Even Superman himself can't do that.
(Though I'm just assuming that he probably wouldn't because he's not a creep...but you see my point.)

When the rides shut down, we drove on to Northville (right outside of Detroit) and visited my brother Mark and his wife, Shannon and their six kids.

We had one of the funnest days playing hide-and-seek with the kids, running around their backyard, playing freeze tag in the basement, walking around the Detroit waterfront, and just catching up.

While Mark & Shannon came to our wedding last summer, it's been nearly a year since I've seen their kids and they are cuter than ever. Would you look at these faces? How could you resist them?

Monday morning we got up early and drove to Niagara Falls where we met up with some photards (i.e. strangers who are not good at taking pictures).

Here you can see that we are at Niagara Falls...

oh, you can't see the falls? It's the photard's fault.

Thanks...

After doing a lot of racial profiling we gave up trying to determine which ethnicity takes the best pictures, and just took some of our own.

We walked around the falls area, got our fortunes told, and then rode the Maid of the Mist (which was a highlight as you can see),

before jumping in the car and driving back to Manhattan where we arrived at about midnight on Monday night.

Phew. It was kind of a whirl wind, but I'd do it again.

I love road trips! Especially with Ryan.

And with our new travel companion, Gypsy (the GPS that we bought off of Craigslist before our trek).

Stats about our roadtrip:

Miles Traveled: 1406
Hours in the car: 26

Top MPH on a Roller Coaster: 120 MPH
Longest wait for a Roller Coaster: 1 1/2 hrs. (but it was the Maverick. It's the greatest ride in the world. We couldn't resist)

Car food consumed: Grapes (3 bunches), Yogurts (3),  Strawberries (2 pints), Wheat thins (2 boxes), Clementines (1 bag), Bananas (2), Orange Juice (2 liters), Nectarines (2), Apple (1), French bread (1), Ciabatta loaf (1), Cheese (more than I'm willing to admit).

Memorable things found in gas stations: An LDS book rack (in Pennsylvania), ketchup and fry flavored chips (in Ohio), and tour buses full of tourists from India (everywhere).