We started out the day with our nice, strong coffee from the hotel and got on the road early again. It’s a total of 15 hours of driving from Michigan City, Indiana to Boston, Massachusetts, so even with two days to get there we’re still spending 7-1/2 hours in the car each day. If we get lazy around the hotel in the morning it makes for a very late evening. We usually like to make sure we roll into our destination by dinner time at the latest.
LAKE ONTARIO
We headed for Braddock Bay State Park outside Rochester, NY with the intention of sticking a toe in Lake Ontario. Turns out, there really wasn’t anywhere to actually access the lake in the park location. The park is for Braddock Bay, which is off of the lake. Well, I wasn’t going to get so close and fail, so we drove down a residential street along the lake shore until we found a nice man who gave us brief access to Lake Ontario through a private residential lot. We didn’t overstay our welcome, so our entire leg stretch lasted only about 5 minutes. We did get an opportunity to touch the lake, so now we’ve touched all the Great Lakes… a bucket list item finished!
MONTEZUMA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
There was nothing more here at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge than an observation tower with a telescope (free) on top. It turned out to be a really fun stop though. We climbed the tower with binoculars in hand and between them and the telescope got to watch bald eagles, herons and a variety of other birds in their natural habitat. We lingered a bit longer than scheduled here just because it was such a cool spot, but eventually we got back on the road.
DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS HOLYOKE
I have to admit that when I was planning, I thought this roadside attraction in Holyoke, MA would be a cheesy tourist trap designed to sell us plastic dinosaurs. I couldn’t have been farther off base. There is no gift shop in sight. There is barely even a sign alongside the road though, so be careful not to miss it! Instead, a short hike off the road takes you to a location where you can walk amongst fossilized dinosaur footprints. It’s a 5 minute walk down a modestly steep hill and would be a fairly easy trek for anyone without significant mobility issues.
Finally, we arrived at our hotel, centrally located in Danvers, MA to allow us easy access to all our planned activities in the Boston area. The Best Western was lovely, clean and a great place to spend a few nights. Our hotel recommended a great local seafood restaurant (because when you’re on the east coast seafood is mandatory) and we enjoyed a lovely, relaxing seafood dinner at Sylvan Street Grille before heading back to the hotel and falling asleep almost immediately.