Places visited: Shipshewana - Niagara - New York
Date: 13/5/2017 to 20/5/2017
Purpose: Picnic
Persons: Harshal, Juilee, Radhika.
13/5/2017
It was a bright sunny Saturday morning and we were all packed and ready for our longest journey in USA. It was a weeks vacation for me and Juilee was really excited for this tour. I was all set to drive for around 1500 miles over next 7 days. While checking out from Stay Bridge, we double checked each and every corner of the room for any left overs. We also packed some coffee and bananas. We kept all the luggage in the car at appropriate places. We also packed couple of water cans. And while starting the journey, Juilee said Bye Bye to Davenport.
Niagara Falls was our next destination which is approximately 8 hours away from Davenport by car. Based on our past experiences with Radhika, we knew that it will take 16 hours (instead of 8 hours) due to frequent breaks for coffee, food and pee. So we had decided to take a night break and split this journey in two days. I had thought a lot and a lot about where to take this break to make it a worthwhile. From some of my friends, I had heard about old villages in USA which preserved the historical sites. They call is Amish Counties. While looking for such things in google, I came across The Brethren Retreat Center. I shared this information with Juilee. We found this place to be affordable and worthy compared to other places like Amish County. So I mailed the owner of this place and got it booked.
Before pushing the accelerator, I SMSed the owner about our arrival.
And the journey began. We all were happy and enjoying this voyage. Putting Vidya Vox music was the favorite thing for three of us and we really enjoyed her song thorough out the 7 days of travel.
The ride was uneventful and with numerous breaks, we finally entered in Shipshewana at around 2:30 PM. Before entering, we thought to have lunch and go and at the same time, we saw an Indian Restaurant on road. Oh my god! please save Shipshewana, you guys are here as well? Hahahaha. But the restaurant was closed and would not open till 5 PM. So we decided to have some Mexican food in the nearby shop.
We reached at the cottages nearly at 4:00 PM. On the road to Shipshewana, there were many beautiful bungalows with nicely mowed lawns. There were horse carriages and bicycles everywhere. It was truly a village, like and Indian one, but more neat and clean.
Mr. Rick welcomes us and showed us the property and gave us a really really big cottage for $65 per night. He was very friendly and helpful. When we asked for a boat, he gave us the key to the warehouse where boats were kept. Unlucky us, we don't know how to boat! Mr. Rick explained us the concept of this village and he also got surprised to hear our plan of going to Niagara and then to New York by car. He thought we were courageous. We spent the evening at the lake front taking photos and
enjoying the nature. Later I cam to room and Juilee and Radhika enjoyed trampoline.
The cottage was equipped with a full kitchen and Mr. Rick already demonstrated us on how to use the cooking range. Juilee prepared Khichadi (another life saver in USA trip) and Radhika was so hungry that she slept immediately after dinner. Before that, we booked our hotel at Niagara Falls. Juilee was also tired so she also went to bed. Juilee and Radhika were occupying one bedroom. There was another bedroom as well. And there was a big Hall. The cottage also had a basement. As I watch many horror movies, I was not able to sleep in this cottage's bedroom as those were very small and dark. I chose to sleep in Hall on a sofa. The sofa was not long enough to fit me and I was not courageous enough to go to that dark bedroom at night. Hahahaha. Still I managed to take a nap till 3 AM on that sofa and then when my sleep over-powered my fear, I went to that bedroom and slept for few more hours.
We woke up in the morning and took good shower, refreshed ourselves, pampered Radhika till last drop of patience and then managed to leave the cottages at around 8:30 AM. Bill was already paid last night. We were about to start the car and Radhika told us that she did not want to wear the seat belts. And it was the final nail in the coffin of our patience. I came out of the front seat and slapped on her leg and had to forcefully make her wear the seat belts. She cried a lot but I was helpless as I did not want to take risk of driving without seat belts on her. Eventually she stopped crying while looking outside views. On the way, in Shipshewana, some homes had placed nice dolls (like the Annabelle ones :) ) outside. I did not get what was that?
As usual, we took lot of breaks on the way and reached to Niagara Falls somewhere around 4 PM.
It was cold weather and very windy and chilly. After smooth check-in in Holiday Inn, we took a dinner at 5 PM in a nearby Maharaja Indian Restaurant and then walked down to see Niagara Falls. It was about to get dark, when we reached to the falls, and then we forgot about time. The view was just beyond words and beyond the worlds. The falls was shining in bright vibrant red, green blue lights. It was a jaw dropping view. The water was roaring and we could barely hear each other. Watching that water falling from top + Bright lights + Roaring sound + expressions on the face of Juilee and Radhika - those were the most memorable and unforgettable moments of my life till now. Our legs were refraining to go back to hotel, but Radhika was hungry, so we went back and had some small dinner and slept.
14/5/2017:
In the morning, we went back to Niagara Falls and had the views from observation desk and also took Maid in the Mist ride. This was another jaw dropping experience. From observation tower, we went
on to the boat called as Maid in the Mist. They gave us raincoats. There were all Indian and Chinese people all over Niagara Falls. Seems that Americans do not enjoy this place much :-D
The ride started and came close to the falls. The view was beautiful and me and Juilee could say nothing but just saw goosebumps on our body. I was also doing a video call to Aai and Baba, so that they could enjoy this while seating in Pune. I hope they liked it. The mist and tiny water drops coming from the falls - made us feel like we were in heaven. The ship stayed there for couple of minutes and then started returning. We never wanted to return, but that's the truth of life. All good things come to an end, so that better things can happen! We returned to the station and then went on a small hill, to take a much closer look of the falls. After some time Radhika became cranky and started saying "Why you guys are saying Falls Falls Falls all the time since yesterday. Let's stop this Falls and go back to hotel". We understood that she is hungry, so we went to a restaurant (this was better than the Maharaja). We enjoyed the buffet and went back to the room and relaxed for couple of hours.
While we were thinking of what to do during the evening, we could decide anything else but to watch the colorful Niagara again! Oh god, I loved this place. I wish I had a home here. I would have come daily to seat here and listen to the music of nature. Believe me - if you watch this falls, you will surrender yourself to the nature and for a moment you will feel inferior. My request to all of those people "who fight with each other for getting a small scratch on their car in Pune traffic" and for all of those people "who race against each other to get promoted in the corporate world" and for all those people "who strive to put their names on the land (7/12 cha utara)" and for all those people "who build all those nuclear weapons" ---- my appeal is to all these people - "Just come to Niagara and seat for a while and keep your eyes and ears wide open to see and to hear what nature is telling you, here. Nature will show you how inferior you are in front of her!
Anyway, in the evening, we walked down the road and reached to the falls again. Now from the point where we were, there were long staircases to go to the "Journey behind the falls" - which takes you behind the falls. So Juilee went by walk and I went with Radhika carrying her on shoulders. But till then the ticket window was closed. Sad! so we returned back to the previous point. While going, we had a thought struck our heads - how about bicycling here? So Juilee went back again and got a bicycle on rent. Till she returned back, Me and Radhika were enjoying the views. Juilee returned with a nice cycle - which had not breaks! yay, no breaks! to stop the cycle, you need to turn the paddles backwards. But it worked. Juilee came back to the view area. The staircases were too steep, to take a cycle on those. So Juilee alone went from the staircases and I carried Radhika on the cycle - and me walking. At this point, Radhika started becoming cranky again. And somehow, she fell from the cycle. There was no major injury, but she started crying. Eventually, I mate with Juilee at another view point and handed over Radhika to her. Finally all of us were out of our patience levels and we decided to return the bicycle. Juilee had given her driving license to the rental shop, so it was necessary to return the cycle before 6:30 PM. And it was already 6:20 PM. I drove the cycle till the shop and found that the shop owner was just closing it. I just ran and gave him the cycle and took Juilee's license back, otherwise, it would have been a severe head ache to do the new license in India. This cycling idea was a flop show. But we enjoyed the views of Niagara from the top of it.
We had nice dinner and then slept like hell. Niagara Falls was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life till now. This was truly most unforgettable trip for three of us!
15/5/2017:
Due to over eating of ice creams, chilled cold drinks and hectic cycling plus the moist and chilled weather, I was feeling little dizzy and unhealthy. We did ate some ready to eat snacks in the room in morning. I took combiflam. We once again observed the fog coming out from the falls from our room's window and packed our luggage, checked out and headed straight to New York at 8:30 AM. Google map shows this distance as 6 hr 30 minutes. But based on the experience till now, I calculated it as 8 hours - adding all the halts and stops and rest areas. The rest areas in USA are too good. I am jealous when I see them spending so much money on just the rest area. With that much money, I can build an entire residential complex in Dhayri Phata, Pune -- said Juilee and we laughed rolling on the floor in one of the rest area.
My calculation was correct, we reached to our hotel in NJ at 5:00 PM. Still it was bright and sunny due to summer days. The hotel is on a busy street - where I could not even take a left turn to enter the hotel. So I had to go straight and take couple of more right turns, to arrive again at the hotel. If I would have stopped at the signal to take that left turn, then the men behind me would have killed me by honking.
This hotel was a typical Desi hotel with all the India staff and all the India guests. The surrounding area was also Indian-like community. We were initially allocated a room on the first floor but later the manager gave us the room on the ground floor as I requested him to consider our luggage. The room was OK and not excellent. But it was OK to sleep for two nights. We found some bed bugs dead on the floor and those were really big bed bugs like size of a one cent coin. I was just frightened because I did not want those monsters to enter my home in Pune. We looked under the mattresses and fortunately there were no signs of bugs there. As I was feeling not quite well, I took rest and Juilee prepared Maggi for us. Radhika while enjoying the videos and TV ate it and then we called Uber to go to Times Square. Before going we also informed the hotel manager to fix the toilet - which was blocked and clogged (this was kind of a motel, rather than a hotel). We saw this concept on TV and movies, but first time experiencing it. (Remember the "No Vacancy" movie???)
As our taxi dropped us at Times Square, our eyeballs came out. The view was astonishing. Every where bright lights, animated LEDs, well lit buildings and colorful youthful crowd. I was lost in this busy square. I did not like New York as much as I liked Niagara. Niagara was close to nature, and New York was away from humans. There were so many people, but no one was noticing anyone. Everyone was indulged in themselves enjoying the views. We walked across the street a little bit and gave Radhika an ice cream to let her enjoy her own way. She was not of the age to enjoy these materialistic things. She can enjoy anywhere if she gets to eat ice cream and gets to watch cartoon videos.
This ice cream thing in USA sucks. I never liked ice creams here. The real ice creams are like from Sujata Mastani or ShreeJee in Pune India - so many flavours - Fresh Mango, Keshar, Pista, Badam, Tender Coconut, Sitafal, Anjeer, etc. But in USA - all those berry and banana flavors - I never liked those. I do not know why Indian people liked USA ice creams - or is it just a blind follower-ship?
We started taking photos of this colorful environment. I was little tired by the driving from last 3 days and feeling temperature. While we were enjoying the scene, we came across a salesman who was selling open bus tickets which we actually were looking for. So I did some negotiation with him to get the $120 tickets in $90. He finally agreed. While this was being done, Juilee got a very very big (really big) pretzel from a Desi stall. At the same time open bus came. This bus takes you to all different parts of New York city and downtown. It is a hop on hop off bus. We hopped on to the bus. I had purchased the 24 hour pass. We went on to top of the bus which was open and we were able to see excellent views of New York. The bus also took us on Manhattan bridge, and many more locations, but as I was not feeling well, I was not paying attention to the names which the announcer on the bus was telling. It had headphones and the announcer was telling some stories on it. I dialed my mom on whatsapp video as it was her birthday the next day (Due to timezone difference I initially thought that it was on the same day), and gave her and my Daddy a view of New York city. The weather was very comfortable. Views from Brooklyn bridge were artistic and decorative. Soon the bus came to its final stop for the day and the driver announced the end of the trip. We then hopped off and started looking for Uber. There were no taxis available. Couple of taxis refused to take us to NJ. Yet, a car stopped by and the window rolled down and I saw an Indian person driving the car. I thought its an Taxi and asked him if he can drop me to the RodeWay Inn in NJ. He knew the place very well. As usual I did not ask him about how much he would charge and 10 minutes after seating in his car, I asked him about the price. He said "$80" and we agreed. We had no option. I think this was fair deal and the Uber also charged us around $75 when it dropped us to New York in the evening. His AC was not working that was only drawback. He nicely dropped us at the hotel by taking the shortest route. Radhika was asleep in the journey. We also went into the room and fell asleep in no time.
16/5/2017:
We woke up early did some ready to eat breakfast like MTR pohe and used UBER to go again to the time square. Then we hopped on to the open bus and started going towards the statue of liberty. Due to traffic the bus was moving very slowly. On the way we saw NY post office, library, some tall buildings. I soon got tired as it was bright sunny day and temperature was like summer in India. We were dehydrating. We used Gatorade to keep us hydrated. We also saw Bull's statue on the D street, but we did not get down here as we wanted to catch the ferry to the liberty island. When we reached to the ferry station (this price was included in the open bus ticket), we got the time slot of 3:30 PM. So we decided to go the "Fine Dinning" restaurant. I was initially very reluctant to order food over
there as there were no vegetarian options on the menu card. The ambiance was nice and cozy. Juilee
helped us with her fine tuned Americanized accent to customized a menu item to suit vegetarian demands. She ordered a dish of Humus with some fried rice and really tested so good that we repeated it again. The waitress there was helpful and polite. It was memorable lunch in a candle light yet it was afternoon. After the lunch, we enjoyed the photo session on the
bank of Hudson River and in the background of NY skyline.
After the photo session, we went to ferry station and boarded the boat. This boat takes you just till the Liberty Island and then comes back. You are not allowed to hop on the island. To hop on the island, you need to buy separate tickets, which are usually booked in advance and typically sold out 2-3 months in advance. So we were not lucky ones to get on the island. It was hot and humid and I was anyway not in good mood due to my fever, so we could not enjoy this trip much. Also Statue's photos were not coming out good as sun was on the opposite side of the statue. Also Radhika started demanding and crying for chocolates which added to our irritation. We bought her M&M from the deck and then she gave smile for the photos, otherwise all of her photos were coming in "Frown" moods. There were some public displays of affection on the boat, which we do not see in India.
We returned back to the ferry station till 5 PM and took the open bus back to NY city. This time the weather was started cooling and my fever was also gone, so I started enjoying this journey. At 6:00 PM, the driver announced the end of evening loop so we got down somewhere near the Time Square. We went to a fast food shop and had coffee. We were all tired but wanted to utilize all the time that we have, so we decided to visit Empire State Building before we end our day. We took UBER to go there and then found a long queue for tickets. But we were firm and somehow managed to withstand that queue along with Radhika and then took the lifts to the top of the building. The views were not new, as we already visited tall building in Chicago, only difference was not it was night. It has two observation points. Main Deck is on 86th floor and Top deck is on 102nd floor. We visited 86th floor deck and enjoyed the night lights of NY. We hurriedly rushed to the lifts for 102nd floor as Radhika was feeling hungry. We quickly browsed through the open gallery. It was not closed by glass like on 86th floor, so cool breezes were coming in. One of the police warned me to keep Radhika down on the floor, as I was holding her right near the railings, and he felt it as unsafe.
As Juilee wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge, she ask me in Marathi "Are Brooklyn Bridge kuthe ahe?" (Translation: "Hey, where is the Brooklyn Bridge ?") And we heard a young boy replying in Marathi "To kay tikde" (Translation: "There it it."). Juilee was surprised to hear Marathi on top of 102nd floor in USA. World is small, that is true. We spent another couple minutes to take some photos (in which we all are looking really tired and exhausted), and then while coming down we also bought some gifts for Ishaan and Satej. There was a Chipotle on the road, which was our life saver for food and wash rooms. While ordering my food over here, by mistake, my hand was hovering over the food counter, when the polite salesman asked me to keep my hand behind the glass. This proves that USA people care about hygiene and safety of food items. Here the washrooms have passwords to prohibit usage by people other than customers. The passwords are printed on the bill and changed almost every couple of hours. Amazing!
After the dinner, we took the uber to NJ and slept like hell.
18/5/2017:
We did our breakfast in the morning and did whatsapp video call to Aai for cutting the cake. Then we began our return journey. In the journey, we took a stop at Subway, where I booked a hotel in
Cleveland for our night stay. We also paused for few minutes on a "Scenic View" as quoted by a roadside sign board. It was just a mountain and valley view. The interesting things is there was special sign for this. One good point I observed that on the route to NY, there were few scenic drives where the views of the sea were purposefully blocked using big sheets of metal to prevent tourists from stopping in between to take photos which causes accidents. Its good that USA government is taking so much care of the vehicle drivers.
Due to uncountable halts, it took us 7 pm to reach to the hotel. Radhika was frightened as there was lightening hitting the ground. As we reached the hotel, I did checked-in but there were no rooms on the ground floor, so we had to take the room on 1st floor. But before putting the luggage in the room, we thought of having food at one of the hotels which we spotted on the road. Radhika behaved as a very grown up kid and told us that she will hold her hunger till we reach the restaurant. Unfortunately, that hotel got closed. We also visited other hotels in the area, but all were closed as it was already 8 PM. On the maps, I saw that Domino's Pizza is open till 3 AM and we drove to the shop. It was a life saver. We ordered a Veg pizza and it was baked fresh. We were so hungry that we ate all that pizza in the car. It was yummy Pizza. We will never forget this dinner in the car. It was as romantic as a candle light dinner in a fine dinning restaurant. We then returned to the hotel and did the Herculean task of getting all the heavy bags from the car into the room. The room was decent, motel-type room with good toilet and bath. I feel this motel was a 1 star above motel-type hotels.
19/5/2017:
We woke up early and started our journey to Chicago. It was an uneventful journey with some tears
in the eyes because, soon it was going to be end of our USA trip. But as we entered Chicago, we were hit by a heavy rain shower and followed by a heavy traffic. The showers were so heavy that the visibility was like 300 meters. And the traffic was so heavy that it took us almost 2 hours to go 10 kilometers. We checked into the hotel and then I returned the car to the O'Hare airport Hertz office, where I realized that the gas tank was all empty and they were going to charge me extra for that. But, I had no choice. I had no energy to go back to gas station to refill it. So I returned the car with empty tank and returned to hotel. We had dinner. After Radhika slept, we packed our bags well and then went to bed.
20/5/2017:
In the morning, we took the hotel bus to go the airport. At airport we met few more John Deere friends. Flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we spent time on the air port. Return Flight was good and boring, too. We were drowned in all the memories of our unforgettable USA trip. Those moments at Niagara, those colors of Times Square, those times in the rides of Six Flags, those dinners in Stay Bridge Suits, those nice and helpful American people, those homestays with warm and welcoming hosts from airbnb, .... we could not forget a single moment from these.
We arrived at Delhi airport and started feeling reverse cultural shocks of those undisciplined queues, crowded places, dhakka bukki and all. As we arrived at Pune airport, we were all on the ground and in reality - far from USA physically, but mind was still lost in the colors and mist of Niagara. See you soon USA.
This was the amazing trip for me, Juilee and Radhika. Radhika still remembers Kelly, Denise, Tammra, Niagara Falls, New York, Ice creams, Six Flags. We will miss many good things in USA. The good thing about USA people is that they maintain and respect privacy of others. They are always ready to help. But they won't help unless you ask for it. They keep their surroundings clean. They follow discipline. They follow most of the rules.
Disclaimer: The views about USA and India mentioned by me in this blog are from my point of view. This blog tells you how I saw USA from my eyes and how I compared my USA experiences with my beliefs. It is not intended to hurt any one's emotions. You might have different views about USA and India. and I respect your views. Please respect my views as those are based on my senses and beliefs.
Distance traveled: 1500 Miles.
Details of Hotels:
The Brethren Retreat Center
http://www.brethrenretreat.org/
Holiday-Inn, Niagara Falls
114 Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14303
Rodeway Inn, 459 Tonnelle Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07307.
Red Roof Inn Cleveland - Independence
6020 Quarry Lane, Independence (Ohio), OH 44131
Crowne Plaza Chicago Ohare Hotel & Conf Ctr,
5440 N River Rd, Rosemont, IL 60018
Expenses:
Too much to be counted.
Around $ 3000
Date: 13/5/2017 to 20/5/2017
Purpose: Picnic
Persons: Harshal, Juilee, Radhika.
13/5/2017
It was a bright sunny Saturday morning and we were all packed and ready for our longest journey in USA. It was a weeks vacation for me and Juilee was really excited for this tour. I was all set to drive for around 1500 miles over next 7 days. While checking out from Stay Bridge, we double checked each and every corner of the room for any left overs. We also packed some coffee and bananas. We kept all the luggage in the car at appropriate places. We also packed couple of water cans. And while starting the journey, Juilee said Bye Bye to Davenport.
Niagara Falls was our next destination which is approximately 8 hours away from Davenport by car. Based on our past experiences with Radhika, we knew that it will take 16 hours (instead of 8 hours) due to frequent breaks for coffee, food and pee. So we had decided to take a night break and split this journey in two days. I had thought a lot and a lot about where to take this break to make it a worthwhile. From some of my friends, I had heard about old villages in USA which preserved the historical sites. They call is Amish Counties. While looking for such things in google, I came across The Brethren Retreat Center. I shared this information with Juilee. We found this place to be affordable and worthy compared to other places like Amish County. So I mailed the owner of this place and got it booked.
Before pushing the accelerator, I SMSed the owner about our arrival.
And the journey began. We all were happy and enjoying this voyage. Putting Vidya Vox music was the favorite thing for three of us and we really enjoyed her song thorough out the 7 days of travel.
The ride was uneventful and with numerous breaks, we finally entered in Shipshewana at around 2:30 PM. Before entering, we thought to have lunch and go and at the same time, we saw an Indian Restaurant on road. Oh my god! please save Shipshewana, you guys are here as well? Hahahaha. But the restaurant was closed and would not open till 5 PM. So we decided to have some Mexican food in the nearby shop.
We reached at the cottages nearly at 4:00 PM. On the road to Shipshewana, there were many beautiful bungalows with nicely mowed lawns. There were horse carriages and bicycles everywhere. It was truly a village, like and Indian one, but more neat and clean.
We woke up in the morning and took good shower, refreshed ourselves, pampered Radhika till last drop of patience and then managed to leave the cottages at around 8:30 AM. Bill was already paid last night. We were about to start the car and Radhika told us that she did not want to wear the seat belts. And it was the final nail in the coffin of our patience. I came out of the front seat and slapped on her leg and had to forcefully make her wear the seat belts. She cried a lot but I was helpless as I did not want to take risk of driving without seat belts on her. Eventually she stopped crying while looking outside views. On the way, in Shipshewana, some homes had placed nice dolls (like the Annabelle ones :) ) outside. I did not get what was that?
As usual, we took lot of breaks on the way and reached to Niagara Falls somewhere around 4 PM.
It was cold weather and very windy and chilly. After smooth check-in in Holiday Inn, we took a dinner at 5 PM in a nearby Maharaja Indian Restaurant and then walked down to see Niagara Falls. It was about to get dark, when we reached to the falls, and then we forgot about time. The view was just beyond words and beyond the worlds. The falls was shining in bright vibrant red, green blue lights. It was a jaw dropping view. The water was roaring and we could barely hear each other. Watching that water falling from top + Bright lights + Roaring sound + expressions on the face of Juilee and Radhika - those were the most memorable and unforgettable moments of my life till now. Our legs were refraining to go back to hotel, but Radhika was hungry, so we went back and had some small dinner and slept.14/5/2017:
In the morning, we went back to Niagara Falls and had the views from observation desk and also took Maid in the Mist ride. This was another jaw dropping experience. From observation tower, we went
The ride started and came close to the falls. The view was beautiful and me and Juilee could say nothing but just saw goosebumps on our body. I was also doing a video call to Aai and Baba, so that they could enjoy this while seating in Pune. I hope they liked it. The mist and tiny water drops coming from the falls - made us feel like we were in heaven. The ship stayed there for couple of minutes and then started returning. We never wanted to return, but that's the truth of life. All good things come to an end, so that better things can happen! We returned to the station and then went on a small hill, to take a much closer look of the falls. After some time Radhika became cranky and started saying "Why you guys are saying Falls Falls Falls all the time since yesterday. Let's stop this Falls and go back to hotel". We understood that she is hungry, so we went to a restaurant (this was better than the Maharaja). We enjoyed the buffet and went back to the room and relaxed for couple of hours.
While we were thinking of what to do during the evening, we could decide anything else but to watch the colorful Niagara again! Oh god, I loved this place. I wish I had a home here. I would have come daily to seat here and listen to the music of nature. Believe me - if you watch this falls, you will surrender yourself to the nature and for a moment you will feel inferior. My request to all of those people "who fight with each other for getting a small scratch on their car in Pune traffic" and for all of those people "who race against each other to get promoted in the corporate world" and for all those people "who strive to put their names on the land (7/12 cha utara)" and for all those people "who build all those nuclear weapons" ---- my appeal is to all these people - "Just come to Niagara and seat for a while and keep your eyes and ears wide open to see and to hear what nature is telling you, here. Nature will show you how inferior you are in front of her!
Anyway, in the evening, we walked down the road and reached to the falls again. Now from the point where we were, there were long staircases to go to the "Journey behind the falls" - which takes you behind the falls. So Juilee went by walk and I went with Radhika carrying her on shoulders. But till then the ticket window was closed. Sad! so we returned back to the previous point. While going, we had a thought struck our heads - how about bicycling here? So Juilee went back again and got a bicycle on rent. Till she returned back, Me and Radhika were enjoying the views. Juilee returned with a nice cycle - which had not breaks! yay, no breaks! to stop the cycle, you need to turn the paddles backwards. But it worked. Juilee came back to the view area. The staircases were too steep, to take a cycle on those. So Juilee alone went from the staircases and I carried Radhika on the cycle - and me walking. At this point, Radhika started becoming cranky again. And somehow, she fell from the cycle. There was no major injury, but she started crying. Eventually, I mate with Juilee at another view point and handed over Radhika to her. Finally all of us were out of our patience levels and we decided to return the bicycle. Juilee had given her driving license to the rental shop, so it was necessary to return the cycle before 6:30 PM. And it was already 6:20 PM. I drove the cycle till the shop and found that the shop owner was just closing it. I just ran and gave him the cycle and took Juilee's license back, otherwise, it would have been a severe head ache to do the new license in India. This cycling idea was a flop show. But we enjoyed the views of Niagara from the top of it.
We had nice dinner and then slept like hell. Niagara Falls was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life till now. This was truly most unforgettable trip for three of us!
15/5/2017:
Due to over eating of ice creams, chilled cold drinks and hectic cycling plus the moist and chilled weather, I was feeling little dizzy and unhealthy. We did ate some ready to eat snacks in the room in morning. I took combiflam. We once again observed the fog coming out from the falls from our room's window and packed our luggage, checked out and headed straight to New York at 8:30 AM. Google map shows this distance as 6 hr 30 minutes. But based on the experience till now, I calculated it as 8 hours - adding all the halts and stops and rest areas. The rest areas in USA are too good. I am jealous when I see them spending so much money on just the rest area. With that much money, I can build an entire residential complex in Dhayri Phata, Pune -- said Juilee and we laughed rolling on the floor in one of the rest area.
My calculation was correct, we reached to our hotel in NJ at 5:00 PM. Still it was bright and sunny due to summer days. The hotel is on a busy street - where I could not even take a left turn to enter the hotel. So I had to go straight and take couple of more right turns, to arrive again at the hotel. If I would have stopped at the signal to take that left turn, then the men behind me would have killed me by honking.
This hotel was a typical Desi hotel with all the India staff and all the India guests. The surrounding area was also Indian-like community. We were initially allocated a room on the first floor but later the manager gave us the room on the ground floor as I requested him to consider our luggage. The room was OK and not excellent. But it was OK to sleep for two nights. We found some bed bugs dead on the floor and those were really big bed bugs like size of a one cent coin. I was just frightened because I did not want those monsters to enter my home in Pune. We looked under the mattresses and fortunately there were no signs of bugs there. As I was feeling not quite well, I took rest and Juilee prepared Maggi for us. Radhika while enjoying the videos and TV ate it and then we called Uber to go to Times Square. Before going we also informed the hotel manager to fix the toilet - which was blocked and clogged (this was kind of a motel, rather than a hotel). We saw this concept on TV and movies, but first time experiencing it. (Remember the "No Vacancy" movie???)
We started taking photos of this colorful environment. I was little tired by the driving from last 3 days and feeling temperature. While we were enjoying the scene, we came across a salesman who was selling open bus tickets which we actually were looking for. So I did some negotiation with him to get the $120 tickets in $90. He finally agreed. While this was being done, Juilee got a very very big (really big) pretzel from a Desi stall. At the same time open bus came. This bus takes you to all different parts of New York city and downtown. It is a hop on hop off bus. We hopped on to the bus. I had purchased the 24 hour pass. We went on to top of the bus which was open and we were able to see excellent views of New York. The bus also took us on Manhattan bridge, and many more locations, but as I was not feeling well, I was not paying attention to the names which the announcer on the bus was telling. It had headphones and the announcer was telling some stories on it. I dialed my mom on whatsapp video as it was her birthday the next day (Due to timezone difference I initially thought that it was on the same day), and gave her and my Daddy a view of New York city. The weather was very comfortable. Views from Brooklyn bridge were artistic and decorative. Soon the bus came to its final stop for the day and the driver announced the end of the trip. We then hopped off and started looking for Uber. There were no taxis available. Couple of taxis refused to take us to NJ. Yet, a car stopped by and the window rolled down and I saw an Indian person driving the car. I thought its an Taxi and asked him if he can drop me to the RodeWay Inn in NJ. He knew the place very well. As usual I did not ask him about how much he would charge and 10 minutes after seating in his car, I asked him about the price. He said "$80" and we agreed. We had no option. I think this was fair deal and the Uber also charged us around $75 when it dropped us to New York in the evening. His AC was not working that was only drawback. He nicely dropped us at the hotel by taking the shortest route. Radhika was asleep in the journey. We also went into the room and fell asleep in no time.
16/5/2017:
We woke up early did some ready to eat breakfast like MTR pohe and used UBER to go again to the time square. Then we hopped on to the open bus and started going towards the statue of liberty. Due to traffic the bus was moving very slowly. On the way we saw NY post office, library, some tall buildings. I soon got tired as it was bright sunny day and temperature was like summer in India. We were dehydrating. We used Gatorade to keep us hydrated. We also saw Bull's statue on the D street, but we did not get down here as we wanted to catch the ferry to the liberty island. When we reached to the ferry station (this price was included in the open bus ticket), we got the time slot of 3:30 PM. So we decided to go the "Fine Dinning" restaurant. I was initially very reluctant to order food over 
there as there were no vegetarian options on the menu card. The ambiance was nice and cozy. Juileehelped us with her fine tuned Americanized accent to customized a menu item to suit vegetarian demands. She ordered a dish of Humus with some fried rice and really tested so good that we repeated it again. The waitress there was helpful and polite. It was memorable lunch in a candle light yet it was afternoon. After the lunch, we enjoyed the photo session on the
bank of Hudson River and in the background of NY skyline.
After the photo session, we went to ferry station and boarded the boat. This boat takes you just till the Liberty Island and then comes back. You are not allowed to hop on the island. To hop on the island, you need to buy separate tickets, which are usually booked in advance and typically sold out 2-3 months in advance. So we were not lucky ones to get on the island. It was hot and humid and I was anyway not in good mood due to my fever, so we could not enjoy this trip much. Also Statue's photos were not coming out good as sun was on the opposite side of the statue. Also Radhika started demanding and crying for chocolates which added to our irritation. We bought her M&M from the deck and then she gave smile for the photos, otherwise all of her photos were coming in "Frown" moods. There were some public displays of affection on the boat, which we do not see in India.We returned back to the ferry station till 5 PM and took the open bus back to NY city. This time the weather was started cooling and my fever was also gone, so I started enjoying this journey. At 6:00 PM, the driver announced the end of evening loop so we got down somewhere near the Time Square. We went to a fast food shop and had coffee. We were all tired but wanted to utilize all the time that we have, so we decided to visit Empire State Building before we end our day. We took UBER to go there and then found a long queue for tickets. But we were firm and somehow managed to withstand that queue along with Radhika and then took the lifts to the top of the building. The views were not new, as we already visited tall building in Chicago, only difference was not it was night. It has two observation points. Main Deck is on 86th floor and Top deck is on 102nd floor. We visited 86th floor deck and enjoyed the night lights of NY. We hurriedly rushed to the lifts for 102nd floor as Radhika was feeling hungry. We quickly browsed through the open gallery. It was not closed by glass like on 86th floor, so cool breezes were coming in. One of the police warned me to keep Radhika down on the floor, as I was holding her right near the railings, and he felt it as unsafe.
As Juilee wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge, she ask me in Marathi "Are Brooklyn Bridge kuthe ahe?" (Translation: "Hey, where is the Brooklyn Bridge ?") And we heard a young boy replying in Marathi "To kay tikde" (Translation: "There it it."). Juilee was surprised to hear Marathi on top of 102nd floor in USA. World is small, that is true. We spent another couple minutes to take some photos (in which we all are looking really tired and exhausted), and then while coming down we also bought some gifts for Ishaan and Satej. There was a Chipotle on the road, which was our life saver for food and wash rooms. While ordering my food over here, by mistake, my hand was hovering over the food counter, when the polite salesman asked me to keep my hand behind the glass. This proves that USA people care about hygiene and safety of food items. Here the washrooms have passwords to prohibit usage by people other than customers. The passwords are printed on the bill and changed almost every couple of hours. Amazing!
After the dinner, we took the uber to NJ and slept like hell.
18/5/2017:
We did our breakfast in the morning and did whatsapp video call to Aai for cutting the cake. Then we began our return journey. In the journey, we took a stop at Subway, where I booked a hotel in
Due to uncountable halts, it took us 7 pm to reach to the hotel. Radhika was frightened as there was lightening hitting the ground. As we reached the hotel, I did checked-in but there were no rooms on the ground floor, so we had to take the room on 1st floor. But before putting the luggage in the room, we thought of having food at one of the hotels which we spotted on the road. Radhika behaved as a very grown up kid and told us that she will hold her hunger till we reach the restaurant. Unfortunately, that hotel got closed. We also visited other hotels in the area, but all were closed as it was already 8 PM. On the maps, I saw that Domino's Pizza is open till 3 AM and we drove to the shop. It was a life saver. We ordered a Veg pizza and it was baked fresh. We were so hungry that we ate all that pizza in the car. It was yummy Pizza. We will never forget this dinner in the car. It was as romantic as a candle light dinner in a fine dinning restaurant. We then returned to the hotel and did the Herculean task of getting all the heavy bags from the car into the room. The room was decent, motel-type room with good toilet and bath. I feel this motel was a 1 star above motel-type hotels.
19/5/2017:
We woke up early and started our journey to Chicago. It was an uneventful journey with some tears
in the eyes because, soon it was going to be end of our USA trip. But as we entered Chicago, we were hit by a heavy rain shower and followed by a heavy traffic. The showers were so heavy that the visibility was like 300 meters. And the traffic was so heavy that it took us almost 2 hours to go 10 kilometers. We checked into the hotel and then I returned the car to the O'Hare airport Hertz office, where I realized that the gas tank was all empty and they were going to charge me extra for that. But, I had no choice. I had no energy to go back to gas station to refill it. So I returned the car with empty tank and returned to hotel. We had dinner. After Radhika slept, we packed our bags well and then went to bed.
20/5/2017:
In the morning, we took the hotel bus to go the airport. At airport we met few more John Deere friends. Flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we spent time on the air port. Return Flight was good and boring, too. We were drowned in all the memories of our unforgettable USA trip. Those moments at Niagara, those colors of Times Square, those times in the rides of Six Flags, those dinners in Stay Bridge Suits, those nice and helpful American people, those homestays with warm and welcoming hosts from airbnb, .... we could not forget a single moment from these.
We arrived at Delhi airport and started feeling reverse cultural shocks of those undisciplined queues, crowded places, dhakka bukki and all. As we arrived at Pune airport, we were all on the ground and in reality - far from USA physically, but mind was still lost in the colors and mist of Niagara. See you soon USA.This was the amazing trip for me, Juilee and Radhika. Radhika still remembers Kelly, Denise, Tammra, Niagara Falls, New York, Ice creams, Six Flags. We will miss many good things in USA. The good thing about USA people is that they maintain and respect privacy of others. They are always ready to help. But they won't help unless you ask for it. They keep their surroundings clean. They follow discipline. They follow most of the rules.
Disclaimer: The views about USA and India mentioned by me in this blog are from my point of view. This blog tells you how I saw USA from my eyes and how I compared my USA experiences with my beliefs. It is not intended to hurt any one's emotions. You might have different views about USA and India. and I respect your views. Please respect my views as those are based on my senses and beliefs.
Distance traveled: 1500 Miles.
Details of Hotels:
The Brethren Retreat Center
http://www.brethrenretreat.org/
Holiday-Inn, Niagara Falls
114 Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14303
Rodeway Inn, 459 Tonnelle Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07307.
Red Roof Inn Cleveland - Independence
6020 Quarry Lane, Independence (Ohio), OH 44131
Crowne Plaza Chicago Ohare Hotel & Conf Ctr,
5440 N River Rd, Rosemont, IL 60018
Expenses:
Too much to be counted.
Around $ 3000
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