Friday we went to the museum. We were a bit disappointed. The Biblical story of Genesis 1-9 is told, but we were expecting more science to be presented. It was still fun, and we'd go again if we have a chance.

Saturday we drove to Wisconsin, where Grandma and Grandpa live. We don't see them very often since they're so far away. We spent nearly a week with them, including Christmas. We haven't been with them for Christmas since 2002, so that was fun. We left there Friday and got to Gram and Pap's in Pennsylvania Saturday. We stayed there two nights and got home Monday.

Since we were in the area, we decided to go to Niagara Falls; none of us had been there before. We stayed on the Canada side of the falls, at the Oaks Hotel, which had an incredible view of Niagara Falls. If you go there, make sure you get a Falls View room, which means you can see the falls from the room; a Falls Side room may be on the side of the hotel with the falls, but there may be something blocking the view. We got one of the entertainment packages from the hotel, but most of the attractions weren't worth the money. If you go there, spend time looking at the falls, not doing the entertainment in the area.

We arrived Monday and we went to the Niagara IMAX Theater, which was unimpressive and not worth the cost. The Daredevil Exhibit in the same building also wasn't worth the cost. We had dinner at Remington's of Niagara Steak & Seafood, which was part of the hotel package, and the food was pretty good.

Tuesday we got our bus passes for WeGo, which was part of the hotel package. Having 2-day bus passes was very nice to get around town. We went on Journey Behind the Falls, which was disappointing. We also went on Niagara Fury, billed as a 4D Universal Studios-style attraction; it was also disappointing. A little bit of Geocaching and a lot of relaxing and we were done for the day.

Wednesday was a much more interesting day. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride to the bottom of Niagara Falls. It was very wet, but fun. This ride was definitely worth the time and money. Later in the day we tried to go to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Trading Post, but it was closed for the season. Both Uncle Scott and Aunt Cheryl (not related, except through Tammie and Paul's marriage) collect police patches. The fact that there is a Hershey store next door was an acceptable compromise. For dinner we went to Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse; it's an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. We really like Brazilian Steakhouses, but they're expensive so we only go on special occasions.

Thursday we left Niagara. We first stopped at Niagara Falls State Park, on the United States side of the river. The views from the Canadian side are much better. If you go in that direction, make sure to take your passports. We drove to Gram and Pap's house and stayed there for two nights, and got home Saturday. On the way to Gram and Pap's we stopped at the Zippo (lighter) and Case (knife) Museum, since we were driving right by it anway, and there's no admission fee (and they have bathrooms).

On the way home, we happened to see a sign for Neuchatel Swiss Chocolates, and Mr. Bear wanted to stop. The owner is from Switzerland, so he knows how to make Swiss chocolate, although the chocolate was actually made in Pennsylvania, not Switzerland, using Swiss methods. It was worth the detour! Since Mr. Bear got chocolate, Bobo wanted to stop at Keyes Creamery in Aberdeen, MD. Keyes Creamery is part of the Maryland Ice Cream Trail. Then Anna, who had recently gotten her drivers permit, drove the rest of the way home. Part of it was on a narrow, winding road, and the bushes, trees and fences flew by inches from the side of the car. Once we got on the Interstate she didn't have a problem.

Anna and Tammie did a bunch of stuff together (Paul mostly stayed at work). They went back to McFadden Art Glass again this year.

May 8, 2013
We were in Virginia to see cousin Seth play a soccer game, and cousins Anna and Rebekah had a dance recital. We didn't get a picture of Seth; sorry.

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On the way home from the vacation, our GPS routed us a strange way home, but it took us through a great detour! We passed The Shoppes of Premise Maid, where they make chocolate and ice cream!

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