Day 22. New York Downtown Managed to get up in time (after a late night) to catch the subway to Times Square for our 9 hour City Tour starting at 8.30am. First stop was the Empire State Building where we had tickets that helped us jump most of the queue. First lift takes you up to the 80th floor, then another to the 86th floor where you can walk outside around the building. The sky was clear so great views to be had. Grand Central Station next was a big surpr...

Day 21 A little bit of a sleep in today as we are scheduled to arrive in New York by train at 9:45pm. Enjoyed the hotels' complimenty continental breakfast and procured some supplementary supples for the Amtrak "Maple Leaf" train service through to New York at 12:30pm. Hailed a cab to the station about 7kms away. Bumped in to a few Aussies in the waiting rooms as they heard our accents and they too had been touring Route 66 taking around 4 weeks through to Nia...

Day 20 - Niagara Falls After breakfast we made a bee line to the Falls Visitor Centre nearby, just a 10 min walk and bought a $36 Discovery Pass covering 5 New York State Park attractions including the iconic Maid of the Mist. We were given blue ponchos before boarding; a real challenge to put on in the windy conditions. Boarded the boat along with several hundred others and sailed off to view the falls. Received a good drenching from the falls spray when we got...

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 ...

Day 18 - Portage - Indiana Dunes - Chicago Day Trip Bit of a sleep in this morning before heading off on a day trip to Indiana Dunes Lake Front and Chicago City. Out on the Lake at Indiana Dunes Western Beach we waded out into the cold waters of Lake Michigan (just because we could) with the sky scrapers of Chicago peeking well above the horizon on the lake 30 odd miles to the west. We took the more sedate, slower route into the city eventually driving along ...