State parks vs Big cities
So for the 13th time we packed our small car (which has started to feel like a second home to us) and headed to Chicago. As usually we had a one stop between there which was now Mathiessen state park. It proably would have been a beautiful spot just if there would have been some water left ;) It is a dry season so the park wasn't on it's best, but it was still interesting to walk where the river would usually flow.
Didin't spend too much time there and continued to our final destination for the day. We had three whole nights in Chicago which was a longest we had stayed in one place since Miami. We stayed again through couchsurfing and got to stay with this great guy Danny. He had a great apartment (with a bar inside), cool neighbour and his dog. Danny has a very cool company called Save-A-Vet, which is to help ex military dogs (as he calls: forgotten soldiers) after they retire.
In the city centre parking was hugely expensive (I mean the most expensive one we found was 65$ for the day), so we decided to leave the car and use metro's and trains.
On our time in Chicago we got to visit Willis tower and stand in 103 floor on a glass balcony,
Walk around in grand park, navy pier and city streets
Go to our first baseball game
And of course listen some blues
After 3 great days, we left Chicago in very good terms and would love to come again someday.
About 5 hours after Chicago we found ourselves from Detroit. We had one thing we definitely wanted to see there and that was the heidelberg project. A very cool art project made mostly with waste material to a middle of a neighbourhood in Detroit.
We were both really surprised how big of a city it actually was so for the rest of the evening we drove around the city and had some good Chinese food!
Rest of our trip had so many plans that we had to leave Detroit first thing in the morning. First stop was the most popular one; Niagara falls! Everyone said that the Canada side of the falls is the most beautiful, so we then got drive in Canada as well (and get confused with their dollars).
You can visit Niagara falls itself for free, but we took this pass that included boat drive under the falls, walk behind the falls and some other walks as well! Have to say though that the best view was definitely from the free parts and if I would do it now I woudn't necessarily take the pass for it. It was though a beautiful place and the falls were huge.
After that we had another state park to go which was Letchworth state park. There was some kind of party going on in there and when we saw the place we noticed how ideal it was for it. There was some walks (which we didin't have time to do), falls and pure nature. And even tough the falls weren't as "famous", huge and touristic as niagara falls I have to say I liked them much more. It was a calm place, surrounded by nature (not tourist shops) and I could have stayed there forever (if it wouldn't have started to rain of course).
From there we had about 1 hour drive to our motel, which in the end took us about 2 hours because of the rain. It was a terrible whether to drive and unfortunately got to see many car accidents on the way. It is a shame that people have to be in such a big hurry even when they couldn't see almost anything!
So we got to our motel safe, slept a good night sleep and headed again early to the next state park which was Watkins Glen state park. It was one of my favourite one! It was like a hidden paradise in a middle of cliffs.
Again a place where I could have stayed longer and just sit and admire the view, but we had to head to our next and last state park of this trip which was Taughannock falls
We were supposed to return our car to Manhattan by 16.30. We assumed there would be a lot traffic driving to Manhattan, but for our surprise there was not and we were there to return our car around 16.15!
New York was going to be our last stop and we had 4 nights there! In there we couldn't get a couchsurfing place so we stayed through airbnb in Staten Island. There's a free ferry going there from Manhattan every half an hour and the same ferry goes next to statue of liberty as well + you get a nice view from the boat to Manhattan.
I've been in New York once before so I got to act like a tourist guide. On the first day we covered a big part of downtown, Little Italy, SoHo and Greenwich village. Which was a lot of walking for the first day! Greenwich village still seemed to be my favourite part with all of those cute little restaurants and shops in there. That's also the place where they have filmed friends house from that tv show and as a huge fan of it, that might have something to do with it as well.
On the next day we bought some food to take with us to the central park. It was a bit cold day, but we still managed to sit outside and eat our breakfast there. It was nice to notice how there was so many things I hadn't seen on the last time.
We also went to see a Broadway musical; Chicago and as of my first musical it was amazing! It's interesting to watch so talented people who not only can sing, but also dance and act! We got our tickets from this tkts office at south street seaport where they sell tickets for same day on a discount (we noticed though that it's not necessarily the cheapest ones they would actually put half price).
Next and our last full day we walked on Brooklyn bridge and just around the city. Just before the sunset we went to the Empire State building to watch the sunset and city lights turning on. It was fun watch Manhattan turning from light to dark, but still I would always choose sunset in some quiet place over it, where I could actually sit down and just enjoy!
So on this trip the best parts has definitely been all those amazing people we have met and all the beautiful state parks. Big cities are just a bit too hectic and money focused for me. It's nice to visit those from time to time as well, but I couldn't imagine myself living there.
After amazing 28 days trip it was time to go back with all these great memories.
Heading back home to Kuopio for a while until I find a place to work for next!
In the city centre parking was hugely expensive (I mean the most expensive one we found was 65$ for the day), so we decided to leave the car and use metro's and trains.
On our time in Chicago we got to visit Willis tower and stand in 103 floor on a glass balcony,
Walk around in grand park, navy pier and city streets
And of course listen some blues
After 3 great days, we left Chicago in very good terms and would love to come again someday.
About 5 hours after Chicago we found ourselves from Detroit. We had one thing we definitely wanted to see there and that was the heidelberg project. A very cool art project made mostly with waste material to a middle of a neighbourhood in Detroit.
We were both really surprised how big of a city it actually was so for the rest of the evening we drove around the city and had some good Chinese food!
Rest of our trip had so many plans that we had to leave Detroit first thing in the morning. First stop was the most popular one; Niagara falls! Everyone said that the Canada side of the falls is the most beautiful, so we then got drive in Canada as well (and get confused with their dollars).
You can visit Niagara falls itself for free, but we took this pass that included boat drive under the falls, walk behind the falls and some other walks as well! Have to say though that the best view was definitely from the free parts and if I would do it now I woudn't necessarily take the pass for it. It was though a beautiful place and the falls were huge.
After that we had another state park to go which was Letchworth state park. There was some kind of party going on in there and when we saw the place we noticed how ideal it was for it. There was some walks (which we didin't have time to do), falls and pure nature. And even tough the falls weren't as "famous", huge and touristic as niagara falls I have to say I liked them much more. It was a calm place, surrounded by nature (not tourist shops) and I could have stayed there forever (if it wouldn't have started to rain of course).
From there we had about 1 hour drive to our motel, which in the end took us about 2 hours because of the rain. It was a terrible whether to drive and unfortunately got to see many car accidents on the way. It is a shame that people have to be in such a big hurry even when they couldn't see almost anything!
So we got to our motel safe, slept a good night sleep and headed again early to the next state park which was Watkins Glen state park. It was one of my favourite one! It was like a hidden paradise in a middle of cliffs.
Again a place where I could have stayed longer and just sit and admire the view, but we had to head to our next and last state park of this trip which was Taughannock falls
We were supposed to return our car to Manhattan by 16.30. We assumed there would be a lot traffic driving to Manhattan, but for our surprise there was not and we were there to return our car around 16.15!
New York was going to be our last stop and we had 4 nights there! In there we couldn't get a couchsurfing place so we stayed through airbnb in Staten Island. There's a free ferry going there from Manhattan every half an hour and the same ferry goes next to statue of liberty as well + you get a nice view from the boat to Manhattan.
I've been in New York once before so I got to act like a tourist guide. On the first day we covered a big part of downtown, Little Italy, SoHo and Greenwich village. Which was a lot of walking for the first day! Greenwich village still seemed to be my favourite part with all of those cute little restaurants and shops in there. That's also the place where they have filmed friends house from that tv show and as a huge fan of it, that might have something to do with it as well.
On the next day we bought some food to take with us to the central park. It was a bit cold day, but we still managed to sit outside and eat our breakfast there. It was nice to notice how there was so many things I hadn't seen on the last time.
We also went to see a Broadway musical; Chicago and as of my first musical it was amazing! It's interesting to watch so talented people who not only can sing, but also dance and act! We got our tickets from this tkts office at south street seaport where they sell tickets for same day on a discount (we noticed though that it's not necessarily the cheapest ones they would actually put half price).
Next and our last full day we walked on Brooklyn bridge and just around the city. Just before the sunset we went to the Empire State building to watch the sunset and city lights turning on. It was fun watch Manhattan turning from light to dark, but still I would always choose sunset in some quiet place over it, where I could actually sit down and just enjoy!
So on this trip the best parts has definitely been all those amazing people we have met and all the beautiful state parks. Big cities are just a bit too hectic and money focused for me. It's nice to visit those from time to time as well, but I couldn't imagine myself living there.
After amazing 28 days trip it was time to go back with all these great memories.
Heading back home to Kuopio for a while until I find a place to work for next!
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