Last Day Living the Dream

Waking up for the final time on my trip to the northeast coast, I was finishing up where it all began - Philadelphia. I woke up early and trekked to northwest Philly to complete the transaction on my car rental, which couldn’t have gone better.

With that out of the way, I took an Uber to the airport. The staff at the airport were much nicer than what I experienced at Hertz at the front end of the trip. I was able to check my bags with no problems and I boarded the plane with just one more stop remaining - Washington, D.C.

Having only been to the nation’s capital once when I was 14, I was definitely excited to get a chance to see it during my layover en route to OKC. Initially I had not booked a flight with a five-hour layover in DC, but I received an alert weeks after booking my flights with alternative times and layovers. I was initially annoyed at the changes, but I decided to make the most of it and see as much as I could while I was waiting to head home.

I took the metro to the Mall, which is where most of the more memorable sites can be found. Among the sites I got to check out were the Einstein Statue, the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, MLK Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, and the White House.

At some point, I did have a slight sense of nervousness as I was saddled with an overly full backpack that definitely caused me to stick out like a sore thumb as I was walking around. As I neared the White House, I was conflicted with feelings of excitement and anxiety as I thought about the likelihood that I was on someone’s radar as I positioned myself to get a couple of pics and selfies.

I didn’t stick around for very long and once I had what I wanted in terms of views and pics, I was heading back to the metro to return to the airport. Everything went well and I was in my seat and ready to fly home on time.

The trip was amazing and one I will never forget. There were some highs and lows and some sites that will always stick with me. And once home, I was ready to get started planning the next one!

Chasing Dreams in the Iron Belt

Two of my favorite experiences in life have been my fandom of the Miami Dolphins and my enjoyment of watching “The Office.” My next to last day of the trip allowed me to reflect fondly on those memories.

I started off my morning in Buffalo by heading south to Orchard Park, where one of the Dolphins’ division rivals plays its home games. I didn’t do anything specific to break the Dolphins’ recent losing streak against the Bills, but I convinced myself that my presence alone would be enough. Little did I know, it would take until 2022 before I would see any evidence of that positivity.

Still surrounded in darkness in the early hours of the day, I turned my attention to my next scheduled stop - Scranton, the “home” of one of my favorite sitcoms. I had done my homework and picked out a few stops - the Steamtown National Historic Site, the Electric City Sign, Alfredo’s Pizza, Poor Richard’s Pub and Cooper’s Seafood. The last of the stops was a great place to grab lunch and also happened to be a prime spot for picking up souvenirs for the family.

After leaving Scranton, I needed to check out one more location from “The Office” - Lake Wallenpaupack. Normally, this would just seem like any other lake; however, for anyone who is a huge fan of the show, this lake was a famous site for a daytime activity outside of the office.

No trip to this part of the state would be complete without visiting the Promised Land - Promised Land State Park, to be more specific. An area that was once purchased by a religious group called the Shakers, it was eventually sold after it proved to be a poor place for farming. The name “Promised Land” was made sarcastically as they eventually sold it, but the name stuck and remains in place today.

My quick stop to gather a quick photo turned my attention to my brief trip to Delaware, which is just south of Philadelphia. I stopped for dinner in Wilmington, took a few photos around town, and then headed to my Philly hotel that would be hosting my final night of the trip.

Niagara, the Beautiful!

On a handful of occasions, I have had the opportunity to see some of nature’s most magnificent features. Those moments included treks to Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Yosemite National Park and one of the greatest memories of this trip - Niagara Falls.

Trying to describe Niagara Falls could never do it justice. On paper, it is an incredible series of waterfalls with white foamy water cascading over in a constant outpouring of glory. In person, it is so much more than that.

My first morning in Buffalo began with taking a bus up to Niagara and walking over to the Falls area. I started out hopping on to the Maid of the Mist and getting an extremely up close (and wet) view of the falls. As one of the first ones in line, I got a front row spot at the front of the ferry and took in all of the glory emanating from this historic waterfall area.

After exiting the boat, I headed over to Goat Island and stepped out near the Cave of the Winds - yet another location After exiting the boat, I headed over to Goat Island and stepped out near the Cave of the Winds - yet another location where ponchos and flip flops came in handy to avoid getting your clothes soaked. The remainder of my time at Niagara was spent walking around getting angled pics from various locations of the waterfalls, the waterways and the land on both sides of the area.

The downside of this day was that despite having purchased my first passport prior to the trip, I was unable to travel into Canada to see the falls from the north. Although I did get to spend a few minutes in a neutral zone outside of New York the day before when I checked out the Peace Bridge, my hopes of experiencing the land belonging to our neighbors to the north were delayed until another time (thanks a lot, COVID!).

I took the bus back to Buffalo, took in a little bit of the nightlife, and then grabbed some pizza before heading back to the hotel. With Niagara in my rear view and only one more night remaining for my trip, I was ready to kick off the next day getting back on the road and checking out as much as I could on my way back to Philadelphia.