Great Lakes Tour

Niagara-on-the-Lake (see more)

On the road for three thousand, three hundred miles in eight days! No two nights in the same place. That was summer vacation for the Stegers in 2007.

The first day's drive was Dallas to Nashville, a long drive with no time for any sightseeing for Mark, Ellen and Scott.

The next day's leg led to Erie, Pennsylvania and time for sightseeing at Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie, the first of four Great Lakes visited this trip.

Then, it was on to Ithaca, New York, where Scott dropped off at Cornell University for his summer internship in nanotechnology. Cornell has a beautiful campus, with hills and a gorge and waterfalls that would be a state park anywhere else.

The next day, Ellen and Mark went on alone to Niagara Falls and a tour of the falls, getting soaked by boat (Maid of the Mist) and on foot (Cave of the Winds). Night was spent in the Marriott Fallsview in Canada, with the most spectacular view from a hotel room we've ever experienced.

The next day, it was on to Ontario, Canada, with stops in Niagara on the Lake and Toronto. Stunning views of Toronto and Lake Ontario, our second Great Lake, were had from the 114th story of the CN Tower. In Toronto, we stayed in the Renaissance Hotel attached to the Toronto Blue Jays stadium. It offers a great view of batting practice from the hotel restaurant and a convenient walk to the game itself.

A day later, it was on to Chicago, via Port Huron and a view of Lake Huron, our third Great Lake of the trip. Before entering Chicago, we stopped at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore where we viewed some of the houses from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair that are undergoing restoration on the shore of Lake Michigan, our fourth of the five Great Lakes (only Lake Superior escaped our travel plans).

Finally, it was time to pick up John, who was finishing his freshman year at Northwestern University, and the long, two-day drive back to Dallas.