Monday, July 2:  Seneca Falls NY to Mentor OH, by way of Niagara Falls.

Another hot day,  but clear and dry. After a rather primitive breakfast at the motel and a side trip to try to get some pictures of the decaying tourist cabins (couldn't; the sun was in our faces and we couldn't easily break in past a rather forbidding fence), we set off at 8, headed for Niagara Falls. I managed to make a wrong turn trying to get back on I-90, and as a consequence we were treated to an unexpected detour of some 20 miles of Blue Highway driving. Very satisfying, being able to see farms and vineyards at a slightly more leisurely pace, without having to share the road with an endless procession of roaring, farting semitrailer rigs that tend to dominate the interstates.

We got to Niagara Falls at about 11, spent an hour strolling around Goat Island taking in the splendid scene (but didn't indulge ourselves in the exploration of the Cave of the Winds under the Bridal Veil Falls or on a ride on the Maid of the Mists).  Had quite a good tourist sandwich (artichoke hearts, basil, goat cheese, tomato and lettuce) bought at the gift shoppe and devoured on a park bench overlooking Horseshoe Falls, which drenched us from time to time with curtains of mist.

Then it was back to the car and a rather tiring 3 1/2 hour drive (Joy at the wheel for most of it) down I-90 to Mentor, Ohio, just outside Cleveland. There was lots of construction on the road, but it didn't slow us down much. Lake Erie was somewhere off to the right but usually out of sight. We arrived  at a rather fancy Holiday Inn Express at 3:30, and crashed. We will learn to drive for longer distances soon, but today that was enough.