New York
The next morning we took a ferry from Grand Isle over to New York. I've found that any time there is a ferry, no matter the weather, Brian loves to stand outside and take in the sites. It was pretty cold so us girls mostly enjoyed the views from inside the car. Brian's grandpa used to drive the Staten Island Ferry for a living, so I think it must be in Brian's blood.
Once we got to the other side, we were excited to drive through the Adirondack Mountains and stop for some hikes. We took back roads mostly, and sadly, the rains came in and there weren't many great hiking spots, so it just kinda turned into a really long, rainy drive. Mix that with New York state's weird toll highways and weird rest stops and exits and it was kinda a long day of driving without much fun. Oh well.
Eventually, we reached Palmyra, and visited Joseph Smith's boyhood home and saw the church sites. 
The tour of the printing press was actually quite fascinating. I had been before, but seemed to learn so much more this time. Man, printing in the 1800's was long, tedious work! I am so grateful for computers.
Here is an original edition Book of Mormon.
A stop in Palmyra is not complete without going to the Grill and Chill. Their ice cream is super yummy and I can't imagine anyone ever ordering anything larger than the small...because the small is huge! Pretty sure the 4 of us could have eaten off of one cone. Two was too much and we had to throw some out. Gasp!
Our original plan was to camp in Palmyra on the Erie Canal, but we finished up the church sites faster than we thought and the idea of sitting in a cold, rainy campground for the rest of the night wasn't fun, so we made a family decision to power through and headed to Niagara Falls.
We got there around 7 pm, right as the sky walk was closing so they let us run out for free really quick. Lucky us! It it the only way to see the back falls without going to Canada. It was so pretty!
Next, we walked down the river over to the island.
We saw what we call a Canadian squirrel. We saw these black squirrels in Vancouver too, but I have never seen one in the US. He must have somehow run over from the bridge from Canada.
The island is my favorite part. To watch the force of the water falling over the edge is just so mesmerizing.
It's also very wet from all the mist!
We all agreed that the actual Niagara Falls are worth seeing...but the town Niagara Falls...not so much. It is just a little weird, sad town. The Canadian side is much nicer and more fun, but we didn't have time or papers for all that. Of all the times Brian and I have gone to Niagara Falls - the place is packed with people from India. It is baffling to us. I'm not sure why people from India love coming here so much or why Japanese people love southern Utah so much. They are both cool destinations, just interesting how different cultures tend to travel to different places. Some things we will never know.
By this time, we were all pretty beat. For whatever reason, the day seemed to wear us down. We decided to travel south of Buffalo to beat traffic in the morning and found a sad Hampton Inn with adults having a drinking party in the lobby watching some game. So odd. Who hangs out in a Hampton Inn lobby with cases and cases of beer? I guess these people do. I guess we've been to so many Hampton Inn's we are Hampton Inn snobs by now. I could seriously list of our favorite top 5...and this one would make the bottom 5 list. Oh well. We didn't feel like driving any farther!
We had a weak moment and actually went to a fast food place (Brian is all about random and local) and as luck would have it, the Wendy's had lost power and they were closed temporarily so we had to go to the only other option, a weird Mexican fast food place. We didn't even swim in the pool that night. We just took our showers, watched American Ninja Warrior and went to bed.
Funny how some days just have a weird vibe. This was one of them. It was memorable in it's own way, I suppose. Thank goodness there is always a new day tomorrow!
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