Day 19 - Chicago to Niagara Falls

Up early to do a final bag check and weigh preceded by a hot self serve breakfast (choice of waffles, fruit salad, yoghurt, porridge, toast, bagels, scrambled eggs, bacon, muffins, meaty white gravy, cereals, donuts....).

After discovering the Bass Pro Outdoor shop close by last night we had to return 1st thing this morning for another look. The store is set up like a huge hunting/fishing lodge with stuffed animals climbing up steep slopes next to a waterfall. Under the water fall is a tank with all the local fish you can catch including bass and catfish. Another large marine aquarium by the fishing section was over 4 metres long! It was the end of a sale and Tony got himself some new hiking boots and Nikita a new jacket.

We headed away with heaps of spare time to Chicago Midway Airport to drop the rental car back to Alamo and check in for our flight to Buffalo later in the day. Powered down the car GPS navigator for the final time. Car rental details: 3021 miles traveled, 86 Hrs driving time. Total fuel used: 99.09 Imp galls. Avg. fuel consumption = 36 mpg Very credible fuel economy considering for the time we travelled on the freeways the speed was around 75-80 mph.

Sailed through security where Tony was picked to get his palms swabbed, Nikita and Suzanne had to go down that lane as well as we were travelling as a group.

Great views of Lake Michigan through to Detroit. Walked from our arrival gate to the next transfer flight departure gate in what seemed like an eternity. Googled the terminal specs. and found out that Detroit Airport main terminal is the 2nd longest in the world at just under a mile long! There are two transfer trains running the length of the terminal to rapidly move passengers from one end to the other. Boarded the plane which eventually took off a hour late - at our scheduled arrival time. Finally arrived in Buffalo at 9:50 pm. Caught a taxi to our pre-booked accommodation at Howard Johnson. Took a short (15min) walk to view the Niagara Falls. Strangely enough no one else was out and about at midnight gazing at the falls. No lighting on the falls, suspect switched off earlier.
Finally crashed to bed around 1:00am Looking forward to getting up closer to the falls tomorrow :)