O' Canada! - Day One - On Our Way!

We took our first international trip as a family to wrap up our summer. Final Destination was Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Day One:
-Leave home & drive to Ithaca, NY.
-Swimming &  Lunch at Robert H. Treman State Park
-If time allows visits to Cornell etc.
-Drive to hotel in Niagara Falls.



We left about 10 minutes after our planned departure time. I was surprised as I was expecting us to leave at least an hour later as per usual. I had the car all packed up the night before. The kids were set up in their car seats ready to go. I hoped we'd get at least 3 hours of driving before needing to stop. Still we planned for 2 hours because we learned on past road trips there is no way to tell when the kids need to stretch their legs. We lucked out though, the boys fell asleep shortly after starting. Leah hung out and then slept too.

We made our first stop at a little over 3 hours into our drive. Bathroom, snack and run around for a bit. Then back in the car for the rest of the ride.

We arrived at Robert H. Treman State Park and found out our swimming plans would need to change because the bacteria levels at the swimming spot were too high. Treman has the best swimming area by the waterfalls so I was bummed but we drove to another nearby state park that was open for swimming. Taughannock Falls State Park is beautiful and has a great playground. We had a great time.

We changed into our swimwear and headed off to the swimming area at Cayuga Lake. 

Leah, Louis and Matt went right to their beach combing.

Leah didn't hesitate on checking out this caterpillar and getting up close and personal with it. 
  

After swimming and lunch we headed to the playground. 

 

We headed on one of the trails and walked on the bedrock towards the Upper Falls. This was a great opportunity for the kids to learn all about how the gorges are formed and the way it changes throughout the seasons.

More critters were found along our walk.

We had plans to stop at Cornell but the kids were looking tired so we decided to take advantage of the chance they may rest on the ride to Niagara Falls.

We made it to our hotel and checked in. Leah made herself right at home.

The first leg of our trip went well, the kids enjoyed the ride and we were sound asleep not long after eating dinner and hitting the beds.