cincydolans

[cincydolans]

And, we bring this adventure to a close. 3,175 miles driven through 2 countries, 9 states with stops in 10 cities.

Our final stop was Niagara Falls. It’s been about 40 years since I visited the area and about the same for Chris. All the recommendations suggest seeing the falls from the Canadian side, so that’s what we did.

The drive from Montreal through Toronto to the Falls was looong. The travel was made even longer by the absolute gridlock around Toronto. We approached the city around 1:30 PM and the traffic was as if it was rush hour NYC and there was a hurricane evacuation order. Every road, on ramp and bridge was a wall of cars. Toronto won’t show up on our future bucket list.

Back to Niagara. It was as awesome as I remembered. Looking over the falls, I was overwhelmed by the power and force of the water. Ryan and Reilly were equally awe struck. Reilly spent some time researching where all the water comes from and flows to. It is safe to say that we were all impressed by this stop.

We had dinner at a cool little restaurant with views to the falls before crossing the border to stay at our final hotel. We opted to stay on the US side so that it was an easier start to our drive home.

We took an evening walk to the Falls now on the US side. People who suggested seeing it first from the Canadian side were spot on. It’s not as impressive on the US side but there are neat views of the skyline and the park surrounding the area is well done. The colorful lights that shine on the falls in the evening was unexpected and made for good photography.

Our final good night of the trip. We hit the road very early the next day so Ryan could make it to wrestling practice. We made a stop through Columbus to pick up the missing member of our family, Mayzie. She had a vacation with her Yaya and Papa.

All in all, it was a terrific trip together. We fell in love with an unexpected city, Quebec. We experienced some things that made us uncomfortable like NYC and climbing next to a waterfall. We gained an appreciation for what it means to take pride in your craft (preparing a meal, being a host, etc.). We experienced nature in new ways. We proved that you can successfully travel with a puppy and enjoy it. And most of all, we enjoyed being together as a family for perhaps one last road trip.

[cincydolans]

Our trip to Montreal was defined by nature. As a place to visit, it is a nice city but too big to consider it a favorite. It does have bugs, so that equals success in Reilly’s book.

Montreal has the only Insectarium in North America which brings together a broad mix of species from all over the world for research and cataloging. Reilly has always had an interest in bugs and so this place was a must see. Next to the Insectarium is the Montreal Botanical Garden. That was a must see for me.

Our AirBB happened to be an old bank of some sort. It came with two different safes that functioned as closets. It also sported a pool table that we all enjoyed after a day of sightseeing. The location was perfect just outside of the Old Town that had many historic buildings, restaurants and cafes.

And our place was just around the corner from the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. While the exterior was under construction, the interior was stunning. We enjoyed a quick tour.

Our favorite meal in Montreal was in China Town. We had dumplings from a local place that makes them by hand. They were delicious! And then breakfast at a local cafe.

It was quick stay but a good stop on our journey. Next up, we wrap up our trip through Niagra Falls and then home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

And for those reading just to get Holli updates…her favorite place is, well, with us. In our lap, in our bed, in a chair next to or under us. And 3 out of 4 Dolan’s agree that our trip has been enhanced by her presence with 1 Dolan “neutral” on the subject and we will be happy with that result.

[cincydolans]

It was another thrilling day in Quebec. We reserved an advance spot to do a zip line and Via Ferrata at Parc de la Chute-Montmorency. We got an early start to first visit Sainte Anne de Beaupré Church.

The original church was first built by sailors, seeking protection against shipwrecks off Ile-Oeuf on their way upriver to Quebec City. Saint Anne is the patron saint of sailors. She is also the grandmother of Jesus which is what makes this place a pilgrimage designation for Christians. One of the most fascinating things about our visit was the tower of crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. that depicted the many miracles of healing that have occurred within the walls. It was an incredible place to see.

Next up, Via Ferrata and Zip Line at the Montmorency Falls where I was hoping not to require any miracles of the nearby church. I have to admit that I was nervous about the zip line and less concerned about the climb. The rest of our crew, no worries there. In fact, Reilly was our groups first volunteer to zipline across.

Our guide spent a good amount of time giving us instructions for our time together. We headed to the platform where we were instructed to launch from a seated position so that we didn’t bounce and break our ass. I listened intently as did the rest of our group. Reilly was the first to cross then Ryan, me, Chris and then the rest of the group. I really tried to be present in the moment because how many times will I zipline next to a waterfall taller than Niagra Falls?

It was thrilling and we all made it across no problem. Now it was time for the Via Ferrata part which is the climb. We are all harnessed and then clipped into a cable. Your feet move across metal rungs in the rock face. There was never a time that I felt unsafe and only one time when I felt some fear of the height. That was fleeting though. The rest of the time was exhilarating.

All in all this adventure took about two hours to get to the top. We were all so glad we did it.

Our last evening in Quebec. Another lovely dinner out. On to Montreal in the morning.

[cincydolans]

We can all agree that Quebec is our favorite stop of the trip. It’s easy to navigate. The people are friendly and welcoming. It’s clean and comfortable. And most of all it’s a beautiful city with so much to do.

Today was the best day. When you look up things to do in Quebec, this one doesn’t appear that often and I have no idea why. There is an island which is a short drive across the St. Lawrence River that is made up of farms, shops, eateries, wineries and even a brewery. It was ground zero for the French in North America. When they arrived, each family was given a plot of land to farm and develop back in the 1600’s. Many of the town buildings and home remain. It gets five stars as a place to visit by us! ESPECIALLY, when you travel around the 50 mile island by scooter! Best day yet!

The pictures really don’t do the scenery justice, but this island is hilly with plenty of vistas overlooking the massive river, farms, and villas. Reilly and I have never driven a scooter so it was a little getting used to but we managed fine. Ryan, unfortunately, wasn’t old enough to get his own so he rode on Chris’ double.

After an awesome afternoon, we headed back to the apartment to rescue Holli from her boredom and enjoyed some dinner out.

[cincydolans]

On our way to Canada, eh, we stayed overnight in the Greenville, Maine area known for Moosehead Lake. It’s a very small town that has kept its charm as many of the towns throughout Maine have done so nicely. We happened to stay in a new building in town, with a view of the lake, and the city tavern below. The night we arrived happened to be 80’s trivia night. And wouldn’t you know, the Dolan Duck Heads won! It was some unexpected fun and $25 bucks off of our meal. Our final question sealed our win: how many US Presidents have been assassinated?

We woke up the next morning to such a pretty view and we’re mesmerized by the water plane taking its first passengers of the day. We packed up our things and headed north.

There were many miles of nothing but forest. While rather remote, it was pure beauty. We kept a lookout for moose. Did you know that moose out number people 3-1 in this area? Well, obviously they don’t out number Dolans because we didn’t see a single one.

Crossing the border was fairly simple except that we hadn’t completed the entry form so that took some time to complete. We were worried about concerns related to Holli but they really seemed to care less. Maybe it’s because they were more distracted searching the car next to us as they found a joint in her car, idiot eh?

Quebec is only about 45 minutes from the border crossing. Our stay for the next three nights with be in the Old City. As we made our way to our AirBB, I had a strong sense that we were really going to like this place. The St. Lawrence River is enormous. The land is made up of bright green fields, mountains, cobbled streets and old buildings some from the 1600-1700s. If we hadn’t driven here, I would have thought we landed in Europe. So excited to explore!

The first evening to walked around the area and visited the Château Frontenac. A historic hotel and the most photographed hotel in person in the world. So we had to take one too. Battles against the British were fought on these hillsides and the area is the only fortified city outside of Europe. Settled by the French, it is obvious the French culture remains.

Simply beautiful!

[cincydolans]

As we wrap up our time in MDI area, we are left with one more sunny, warm day. The day was spent visiting Bass Island Lighthouse in the southwest part of Acadia. It has spectacular views of the water and shoreline.

It always brings me joy to see Reilly and Ryan exploring together like when they were little kids. They seem just as interested in doing so today as they did ten years ago. There were some cool tide pools that offered an entire ecosystem of life.

After the Bass Island area, we had lunch at a local restaurant on a harbor. The food and views were great.

We made it back to the house just in time for the rain to begin and it pretty much didn’t let up throughout the next day, evening and the morning we left. The joy wasn’t lost though. Chris and Reilly tackled another puzzle. I appreciated the downtime because I had caught a cold along the way. Ryan was able to spend some quality time on FaceTime with his lady.

We made our way to a pub in Ellsworth which we hadn’t explored before. The place took Chris back to his time in London.

The morning we woke up to leave a special guest came onto the scene. A snapping turtle spent a couple of hours in the drive looking, supposedly, for a place to lay eggs. I blamed it on all of our gawking, but she finally gave up and went elsewhere. She gave us some excitement for a while though.

It was time to leave MDI after making some great memories. Next stop was to Greenville, Maine for an overnight on our way to Quebec.

On the way, we stopped through Bangor where we were able to place another check on our bucket list- getting a picture next to the 31 ft. Tall Paul Bunyan statue! (Ryan would not participate) And as a bonus, we drove past Stephen Kings home. Check out the details of his home decor that includes many of the images and characters of his thriller novels.

Holli has the signals down pat of when we will be making a car trip. She patiently waits by the door and at the first chance the door opens, she jumps into the car. She’ll wait there for as long as it takes for us to pack up. Her favorite spot is shotgun.

[cincydolans]

Another early morning start as we had our reserved time to make the drive up to Cadillac Mountain. The pond was so pretty in the morning that I wish we had time for a morning kayak.

It was a clear, warm, sunny morning so the views of Cadillac Mountain were spectacular! Reilly and Ryan enjoyed exploring the rock terrain and I enjoyed taking photographs. It was tough to get a bad picture of this place.

After the drive, we went back into Bar Harbor to have some pizza at Blaze Woodfire Pizza. Next door we noticed a cool little spot with adirondack chairs where you could order a drink and sit. We did exactly that while the kids went shopping in town.

Back at the house for more fire pit time. Reilly and Ryan did some kayaking. Chris and Reilly have spent hours putting together three different puzzles provided at the house. The one pictured is there first completed 1,000 piece project. While they work the puzzle, Ryan and I have been playing Rummy. Reilly has also continued her search for bugs. There are plenty to discover here. The one pictured was on our screen door one morning. It’s called a maple moth. They are an unusual pink and yellow color.

Good family times and I’m so grateful that they are enjoying being here with us.

[cincydolans]

Mount Dessert Island is where we will spend the next five days. It’s about a 50 minute drive to Bar Harbor and the Acadia National Park area. The house is on a large pond although it seems more like a lake. We spent the first evening by the fire pit and the next morning, Ryan and I made good use of the kayaks at the house. The water is so clear you can see deep beneath.

It was time to see the much anticipated Acadia. We had a beautiful sunny day for our first hike around Jordan Pond. It’s an easy 3.1 mile hike that wraps around the pond. People warned us about the crowds but we really didn’t experience it. There were obviously other visitors but it never seemed crowded. I bet if we came even a week later it would be a different story.

Maine beavers are relentless in their pursuit of chewing! Every few feet we would notice downed trees that were clearly the result of beavers. They were not using the trees to build dams. It seemed just for sport!

After our hike, we drove into Bar Harbor. As expected it is filled with cafes, restaurants and shopping. Speaking of shopping, we did a little and ordered crepes that we then ate in Agamont Park.

Back to the house for some s’mores around the fire and kayaking for Reilly and Ryan. Cadillac Mountain tomorrow at 9:30 am sharp!

[cincydolans]

On our way from NYC to our longer stop in Bar Harbor, we crossed through CT to RI to have lunch in Newport. I could have spent much more time there. It has the quintessential harbor area and then many historical mansions that I would have loved to tour. Vanderbilts had one of their summer “cottages” here. It looks very similar to our cottage in MI:).

After a delicious lunch at the Smoke House, we were on our way to Portland, Maine for the night.

Side note: There was much anticipation about traveling with a puppy, but she has been a welcomed traveler. Each place we visit, she gets a lot of attention from other travelers and restaurants are super accommodating usually bringing her a water bowl for some refreshment. She has found all sorts of random places to rest in the car. Sometimes on a lap and sometimes in the luggage.

We only spent half the next day visiting Portland because we were anxious to get to Bar Harbor. Even though we had limited time, we did enjoy a stop off to see downtown Portland and the Portland Headlight Lighthouse. While downtown we tried the infamous potato cake donuts at Holy Donut. It sounds strange but the are delicious! Chris and I some locally distilled Gin Bourbon. We bought a bottle of the Gin but the bourbon didn’t meet Chris’ standards.

The Lighthouse is surrounded by a beautiful park. Some of the photos captured here will certainly be some of our favorites. There is an old mansion with just the shell remaining that was near to walk around.

And now on our way to Bah-habah!

[cincydolans]

One more day in the city and we are all thinking that we will be glad to be on our way to Maine tomorrow. Chris and I have been to NYC before but our experience this time is not as enjoyable. Some of it is that we are feeling the kids stress. Neither of them enjoy a big city with the noise, congestion, homelessness, and at times super strange people. But, we are going to make the most of our stay. I told them both that the best thing about traveling is that it opens your eyes to the good, bad and ugly of our world. It also gives you a chance to see what you like and don’t like; what you can try to fix and what you can’t.

First stop a short walk to a truly yummy French breakfast place and french toast of course!

Our ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island will take up most of our afternoon. It’s a short ride to our first stop, the Statue of Liberty. It’s a peaceful ride away from the organized chaos of the city. Off in the distance you can begin to see her.

It was an emotional experience for me to see her off in the distance. Can you imagine what the people arriving to America on immigration ships would have felt to see this emblem of freedom and hope? My ancestors’ bravery and desire for a better life are the reasons I was born into freedom and a land of opportunity. I don’t take for granted that I was born here and it wasn’t a choice I got to make.

While the Statue was open for visitors to climb to the platform, we decided to check it out from the ground. There is a museum that shares the history and up close look at the components making up the Lady of Liberty. I did not realize that the torch was swapped out in the 80’s due to damage. It was actually replaced with the original design the architect intended which was a solid piece of copper and gold leaf rather than stained glass panels where a light would be lit from within. Fun fact.

Next stop is Ellis Island. This is a beautiful piece of history. Again I got a bit choked up thinking that I was walking across the same floor as my family did decades ago. There is a feature inside where you can search for the ship records of your family members. I searched Anna and Mato Malkoc who are my maternal great grandparents and arrived in 1907 from Croatia. And there they were.

It makes our stress from being on vacation in New York’s chaotic city seem terribly silly. My great grandparents disembarked from a ship into a entirely new world where they had little: no job, no common language, perhaps no place to live, no family, no familiarity, nothing but hope. They would enter a city in massive chaos, where hate of certain nationalities was real, where poverty was a certainty for a time.

And it had me thinking are things much different today for immigrants?

It’s time for a Manhattan to finish out the day and this trip to NYC. Maine tomorrow. Cheers.

[cincydolans]

Leaving Pittsburgh, we decided to take a detour to Oakmont. This is the town Yaya (grandma Nikki) was born and lived until the age of five. It was easy to find her old home and snap a picture of Chris out front.

We made our way to the infamous Oakmont Bakery and it was a-ma-zing! Think about any bakery you frequent and then multiply the square footage and inventory by 5.

Hitting the road after gobbling up our sweet treats, we were on our way to the Big Apple.

Driving into the city was easier than expected. Finding the parking garage was not. Chris at least had the foresight to drop some of our bags off with the kids at the hotel because we had a 20 minute walk back to the hotel with the rest of our crap on our backs. And then it began to rain. So needless to say after a long day of travel, we needed a drink.

Our plan was to order a pizza and then walk to Central Park to have our dinner before the expected storm. The first part of our mission was accomplished, the pizza and park was great. But, about 15 blocks from our hotel the skies opened up. We had a couple of umbrellas but we also have 4 people and a dog. Reilly’s umbrella wouldn’t open all the way, so it was a partially opened umbrella protecting..well nothing. Ryan, Holli and I stayed partially dry. Chris was the odd man out. It was time for another drink and a towel.

For those keeping track, Holli earned at A today. It was a long drive and NYC is just a tad bit different than walking around Hyde Park. We had to carry her some but otherwise she did great.

[cincydolans]

The trip to the East Coast began with a rolling start. We rolled out of town to head to Marysville to stay with Papa and Yaya for the night. We dropped Mayzie off for her vacation of walks with Yaya. Holli would share in our adventure which seemed like a really bad idea to a lot of naysayers. Maybe I’ll be in agreement at the end of the three weeks, only time will tell. We hung out with the “other” Dolan’s that evening and enjoyed some bourbon.

The next morning we started early for our drive to Youngstown to visit Mimi. We had lunch with her on the Wickshire patio and visited awhile until getting back on the road to head to Pittsburgh for the night. Ryan was flying to meet us after a week with the Hage’s in Atlantic Beach and Raleigh. We looked forward to hearing his stories.

While in Pittsburgh we crossed off our list a visit up the Duquesne Incline. It has spectacular city views. There wasn’t a whole lot to do up top but we found a local bar and had a drink and snack.

After making our way back down, we drove into downtown to visit what may end up being the best place Reilly sees the entire trip, Randyland! As Reilly described it, “this is what it looks like inside my head!”. Randy began creating a place to put smiles on even the grumpiest of people’s faces by assembling the most random, colorful, odd collection of stuff. Chris and I had smiles on our faces as we tried taking it all in and watching Reilly find her happy place among the delightful clutter.

We stopped for a bite to eat at a local Brewery, Southern Tier. Of course it was dog friendly and Holli enjoyed watching her kind wondering about. After dinner, it was a short walk to the river where we took in the Mr. Rogers sculpture which included the famous song “…it’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood”…blasting from nearly speakers.

[Side bar] Seeing Mr. Rogers and listening to the words of the song made me wonder if we were more neighborly then versus now. I guess it would depend on ones perspective based on the type of neighborhood a person grew up in. For me, it feels about the same as it did when I would sit in front of the tube watching this show.)

Our day of adventure was coming to an end as we drove back to our hotel and wait for Ryan’s flight to come in. Holli and I climbed back into the car to reunite with our boy. He had a terrific trip and had many stories to share.

Lights off as we hope to get an early start tomorrow to make our way to the Big Apple. Holli climbed into bed with me and Reilly taking her spot in the layers of blankets.