harrisburg, pa

 Our first stop in Pennsylvania was the state capital, Harrisburg.

It is a very grand and old city

and has this amazing bridge that I took way too many pictures of!

It didn't help that the light was constantly changing and a paddlewheel

was coming up the river.

It was a pretty special moment.

 We wandered around downtown for awhile.

It was almost completely deserted.

niagara falls

 At the end of August

David and Katy had a reception in Pennsylvania.

We were able to travel down there and actually surprise them.

And we enjoyed a few surprises of our own along the way!

The first one was Niagara Falls which I had last visited when I was 10.

I have to say that the falls looked pretty much the same, but there were far too

many people and too much stuff.

 We saw the sights, took lots of pictures...

 ...and had a nice German young man take a picture of us 

(which happens to be on Howard's phone which is with him in Brazil right now)...

 ...and then we went across to the American side which was much less

commercialized and much more enjoyable.

 The Canadian "Maid of the Mist" is now called "Hornblower" 

but the Americans somehow kept "our" name.

That was kinda strange.

Of course it's still incredibly magnificent and beautiful

but our overall "take away" from our visit there

wasn't highly positive.

On to a slower pace in Pennsylvania!