So, I finally sit down to write about the second part of our holidays last month: We left New York City on the Sunday after a short walk in Central Park with our luggage… took the train from Penn Station to Newark to pick up our rental car and then we were off!
Sunset over Pennsylvania
Via Pennsylvania towards the Finger Lakes in NY – unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop for a coffee in Scranton where the Swedish blogger Anki lives since we didn’t know how the weather would be and didn’t want to stress to our destination – Ithaca. However, we didn’t even have a hotel booked so somewhere on the road we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and had some coffee and used O’s 3G-card to check for a place to sleep. We found an cosy looking B&B; The Inn on Columbia in Ithaca, called and reserved a room and got alternative driving instructions via Owego.
Dunkin Donuts for coffee and B&B reservations
It started getting dark very early compared to Puerto Rico, and soon we were driving through pretty little towns and snow covered fields. It felt very idyllic, and we even saw a deer at the side of the road (which made me very nervous, don’t want them on the road..). Once in Ithaca, the B&B turned out just as we had imagined it – it was cosy, the owners very friendly and helpful and our room very comfortable. After we had checked in, we walked down to the centre of the town – it was just wonderful to walk in the cold and snow, looking at all the beautiful old wooden houses in the neighbourhood.
Owego a dark November evening
To my delight we had yummy hamburgers for dinner and then headed back to the B&B where we borrowed a film from the dvd collection in the livingroom and snuggled up in bed watching it. What a cosy evening!
The cosy dining room at the Inn on Columbia
The next day, we were served a scrumptious breakfast with homemade bread, fresh fruits and coffee. The B&B is in a beautifully restored house and I completely fell in love with it. That is just the kind of place I dream of us having when we move to Spain!!
The Inn on Columbia
Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to enjoy Ithaca, but we walked around the Cornell campus for an hour or so, and then headed north towards Niagara between two of the [eleven] Finger Lakes. I would definitely like to come back in the warmer season as it is a beautiful area with wineyards, picturesque villages and towns and to explore the lakes of course.
A pretty white church in the Finger Lakes region, NY
The rest of the drive was not as scenic, once we got on the highway again towards Buffalo. And the weather turned bad – first grey and then it started to snow! It wasn’t very enjoyable to be driving in sleet but we arrived to Niagara in one piece. Just like the day before, we had stopped on the way, logged onto internet and found ourselves a B&B, very close to the falls.
If I ever get a tractor, it will definitely be pink!
However, we didn’t look at the falls in the evening as O was in search of something for the camera so we drove back to Buffalo and visited Best Buy and Target! I had never been to Target and O wanted to show me how they sell the most practical travel sized toiletries for only $1 / piece… we stocked up on loads of small bottles, shaving creams, tubes of tooth paste, boxes of cotton etc (great for refilling). Guess what we had for dinner – oh yes, Buffalo wings of course!! I didn’t know that the town was the origin of the name even though, unlike Jessica Simpson, I knew that they were not made from buffalo 
Buffalo wings in Buffalo, whatelse!?
In the morning we went for a short walk to the river to look at the falls from the American side – and say hello to the cutest little seals* outside the Aquarium before heading across the border to Canada.
A Niagara seal
PS When I am on holidays I always try to read books from the country / place where I am going – without thinking I chose a Joyce Carol Oates book during these holidays, and how fitting; The Gravedigger’s daughter takes place all over New York State!! And it is a great read!
*) Seals have always been one of my favourite animals and compared to the huge Elephant seals we saw in California in March, these seals were small!!
