Ashtabula Bridges

By day two I could already tell we were getting a handle on things. After learning our lesson, we avoided toll roads in favor of a more scenic route. This small change saved us money and headaches. The highways also provided us with beautiful scenery. It was very different from the flat terrain we are used to in South Dakota. The roads twist and turn, going up and down. The first part of our day took us from Toledo, Ohio to Ashtabula County, Ohio. 

Ashtabula is famous for its beautiful covered bridges and award-winning wineries. There were plenty of beautiful sights to be seen. We spent some time exploring the area before moving on, including the longest covered bridge in the United States (Smolen-Gulf Bridge)

Smolen-Gulf Bridge

I can't remember the name of this bridge, maybe Center Street Bridge?

us, hanging out by the big bridge! :)

From Ashtabula, we began our journey to Niagara Falls, New York. The drive was much shorter than the previous day. In the late afternoon we arrived in Niagara Falls. Our original plan was to explore the park for a few hours and then head to our camp group. We were scared off by the $10 parking fees and heavy traffic. We left Niagara Falls and headed for our camp site. 

The only problem was we weren't exactly sure where our campsite was. After driving around for quite some time, we finally settled on a spot. Even now we are unsure if the spot was our destination, but it worked out. We rushed to assemble the tent as storm clouds accumulated overhead. Practicing setting up the tent came in handy. After a busy two days, we settled down for a good night’s sleep, anxious to return to Niagara Falls in the morning. 

Bonus photo

-Marc

Driving, Deep-Dish Pizza, and Lessons Learned

First off: Ah!! It’s actually happening! We are ON a road trip!!:D

So. Since we shortened our trip, yesterday became a huge driving day for us. It also significantly shortened our time in Chicago, which is a bummer, but we figured we can visit Chicago more easily than most of our other stops. Yesterday was also  what we hope to be the beginning of a huge learning curve..!
Yesterday we ended up beginning our drive at 5.30am arriving at our hotel at 11pm. Granted, we did make some stops, but we also made a lot of mistakes that added unnecessary time to our schedule (more about those later… J). We took I-90 east, passing through Minnesota and Illinois, hitting Chicago, passing through Indiana, and ending near Toledo, Ohio.

Our view of downtown Chicago 

While we didn’t get to stop in downtown Chicago, we did stop in a suburb for Lou Malnati’s Chicago-style pizza, which was deeelicious! We also gave ourselves the opportunity to hit the bulk of Chicago rush-hour traffic… haha. The thing about the traffic though, was that it really did give us a chance to see some Chicago highlights, at a nice, slow pace. So it wasn’t all bad! 

The dreaded toll bridge

As for our learning curve… this is where our trip turned from what should have taken 13 hours, plus stops to 18 hours. We realized too late that we had taken too much time at the beginning of the day and would be hitting Chicago during rush-hour. We also dropped about $20 on tolls. Even though I knew there were some tolls in and around Chicago, I was too niave to take them seriously. I also didn’t realize that our GPS had an option to avoid toll roads. I figured a dollar here, a dollar there, we would be just fine! Then, we got to Indiana, and by the time we left 2 hours later, owed $7.70, just for driving on their roads, which was our last straw. We looked at the GPS, found the “Avoid Tolls” button, and upon entering Ohio, switched to the side roads. Mistake! By that time, it was dark, it was rainy, and the roads were very small and seemed secluded. We only lasted a few minutes before getting back on the Ohio turnpike and shelling out another $2.25. This morning, we learned our lesson and started early with “Avoid Tolls” button checked, so it’s been smooth sailing. J 

Indiana was a bit dreary, full of fog.

-Allie