Pennsylvania
We drove through Pennsylvania on our Way to Niagara Falls. At this point I had accidentally fallen asleep.
New York
We had driven from California to New York state in seven days, and finally we had mad it back to the eastern seaboard. It was around eighteen hours of being in the car a day, but we did it.
New York was different than what I was used to of it. In the past when I was younger my family generally went to Brooklyn, and I hadn't truly realized that New York State was just as redneck as the rest of America. I even saw a couple Confederate flags on cars.
On Our way to Niagara Falls we drove through Buffalo. Driving through Buffalo at the beginning felt like what I would imagine driving into Gotham in the Batman movies feels like. We drove over a dilapidated industrial zone on several different inter-connected bridges. The whole zone looked like it had been abandoned for a while. Once we finally got through Buffalo we made it to our main destination, Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is beautiful, and like everything in the US it was immense. Niagara Falls is situated right on the border with Canada. There are three falls in all with the biggest waterfall shaped like a half circle.
We took a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist, so we could get a better look at the falls themselves. The boat ride is very wet, and once near the falls it is very loud. I was amazed by the amount of wind that the water falls produce. Once back on dry land we made the crazy decision to go to the enemy territory of Canada. We crossed the international bridge and entered Canada without any problems.
The difference between the Canadian Niagara Falls and the American Niagara Falls is monstrous in size. The American side of Niagara Falls resembles the Stalactite Caves in Bet Shemesh. There are a few tours and shops but not much more. The Canadian side however resembles Las Vegas. The second we crossed over we were amazed by the amount of casinos, bars, restaurants, and hotels. We toured around inside one of the casinos before deciding to head to the falls themselves. Even the view of the waterfalls is better on the Canadian side. We took the tour which took us inside of the falls themselves through underground tunnels. Seeing the water pass over us like that was amazing, not to mention very wet.
We spent roughly four or five hours on the Canadian side before deciding to head back. Coming back into the states was harder because the American border guard was not nearly as friendly as the Canadian one. He asked a hundred questions pertaining to our trip into Canada. He even asked if we sure that we were only there for five hours, as if we'd forgotten that we'd been there for days.
Once back at the car we decided to continue our trip. After we did a bit of math we figured out that we had five days left until Rosh Hashana which we were to spend at Tani's amazing grandparents, and five more states to see before we made it to NYC. As math showed us five days divided by five states equals one day per state, and so we did just that.
Vermont
This was definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Autumn was just setting in and the foliage was changing its color. We decided that with the amount of time we had left we shouldn't spend it on highways at all. So we took the scenic route and drove through the country roads. We saw rivers, wild life, small towns out of the movies, and even the birth home of Brigham Young. We thought that the birthplace of Brigham Young was interesting because we had just been in Salt Lake City a few days prior.
We spent the day just cruising around, and at night we drove towards New Hampshire to sleep once again in the car.
New Hampshire
We also realized that this far north the second language isn't Spanish it's French be cause of French speaking Canada to the north.
Maine
We spent an extremely boring and very uneventful Sabbath in Portland, Maine by an elderly Jewish couple. (They're not reading this don't worry).
We drove north after the Sabbath in order to see the Acadia National Park. Obviously not wanting to drive to far into the night we stopped at a rest area alongside I-95. Down south everyone is used to I-95 being a main interstate, but up here it was practically a one lane road.
We decided to stop at a random rest area and make some dinner and get some shut eye. While Tani was cooking dinner I had to go to the bathroom. The rest area was built in a way that upon entering to the left is the gift shop and to the right is the bathroom. After finishing my business in the bathroom I was walking towards the exit to leave the building. I looked up and saw a sign that said closed. I assumed that it said closed because to the outside on the other side it said open.
When I opened the door a skinny drug addict blocked the door, and told me to stop. I did not take my hand of the door and continued pushing, and told him that I just want to leave. He did not move from my path, and said stop again. I took a few stops back, and started to feel my adrenaline pump. I began to scan his body for any type of weapon because I was unarmed and did not feel like getting stabbed or shot that day. Once I was sure that he was unarmed I explained to him that he needs to let me leave right away. The drug addict lifted his arm and pointed to a door to my left and said that that is the exit and that I am not allowed into the gift shop. Apparently he was the custodian. At that moment I was suffering from severe embarrassment, and an extreme adrenaline rush. I left the building and told Tani about how much of a fool I am.
Later on we saw the custodian again, and feeling bad about what I did offered him some of our food. He refused to eat, but sat with us instead. He told us that his name was Marc with a c, and told us a bunch of stories about daily life at the rest area. He then pulled out a crack pipe, and started smoking weed right in front of us. He was slightly insulted when I assumed tht there was more than just weed in his pipe. He claimed it was just resin, and then I asked him if resin was meth. He answered that it resin is weed.
Marc told us about how people come to the rest area just to walk into the woods to find a "special partner" for a bit. This kinda disgusted me, and I asked him what kinda people go to this. Marc said that mostly guys came. Tani didn't understand why I had such a hard time processing this fact. Marc said that he'd gone into the woods a couple of times, and rather enjoyed it. Once he saw the disgust on my face he changed his story, and said that he was just joking. Tani believed him, but I didn't. After that Marc when to check on the rest area on the other side of the highway, so basically he drove high to the other rest area.
after around two hours Marc came back and once again we sat with him. He then began to talk about the woods, again, which kinda creeped me out. He then began to tell us a story about the time his boyfriend and him flew to Russia. At this point my red alert alarm was going off inside my brain, and I walked to the bathroom and left Tani there alone. I sent Tani a text telling him that Marc wanted us to go to the woods with him. I came back and Marc that I was tired and had to go to sleep, and Tani followed suit. Marc told us that if we wanted anything he would be in his office and he would love a midnight surprise. When Tani and I entered the car we realized Marc was at the edge of the woods staring at us as if waiting for us to come. That's when Tani said the quote of the century, "What do you expect him to think? We're two guys out on the road. Just living our lives in the most Brokeback romantic way possible. He just wants to be a part of it." I vomited slightly in my mouth.
The next morning we continued to Acadia National Park. It was very beautiful and it was on an island in the Atlantic. The second we saw the beach I ran out and touched the water, so I could say that I had touched both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans without flying between them.
After several hours we continued on our way to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts
We drove into Massachusetts and there was only one thing that I had to see and that was Salem, home of the witch trials. We watched two plays about the trials, but only the first one was rich with history and the second one was just weird. They tried to portray the witch trials as racism against the Wickens. We learned about how they jailed and killed people because of stupid charades that a group of little girls were playing. The trials only came to an end when the governor of Massachusetts' wife was accused of witch craft, so he ended it claiming that it was nonsense.
We walked around the small town, and then left to go to Boston. In Boston we saw Harvard which just looks like a bunch of brick buildings. We also switched our car at the rental car service at the airport. This time I didn't get upset with any car rental workers, luckily. On the way out of the airport we constantly made the same wrong turn which cost us thirteen dollars in tolls.
We spent that night in a motel. At the motel as Tani's barber I gave him a hair cut in the parking lot while being constantly scared that the motel manager would come out and see then kick us out.
Connecticut
In Connecticut we saw some lighthouses that Tani really wanted to see. They were old abandoned US naval posts. In the Evening we went to spend the night with my cousin in New Haven. The University of Yale looks like Hogwarts. It has very archaic looking structures. My cousin, Alexander Dubovoy, took us to the kosher cafeteria on campus, and we ate and shmoozed. We "didn't" go out for a beer because Alexander was underage at the time, and we "didn't" enjoy this beer that we "never" drank. We talked about family things and tried to keep Tani in on the conversation. We met Alexander's roommates Justin, Jack, and Jack's girlfriend. They were pretty cool, and I think we all got along pretty well. Jack told us about a couple of good bars, that he wouldn't know about being underage and all, to go to while Alexander had to study.
The next morning we woke up and continued our journey to NYC.
