Days 19, 20 and 21

Day 19, Syracuse – Natick

We woke up (not to our alarm but when mom knocked on our door) at 8.22 am ;) We went to have breakfast, then took an elevator back to the 4th floor, packed our bags and signed out from the hotel. We drove two hours to a gas station and then another two hours to Natick, our home city! We drove around, went to have lunch at Chuck E Cheese, the place which Aku and I used to LOVE when we were small kids. It’s a place full of different games, like an arcade, and you can eat salads, pizzas or different platters at there.

After lunch we took a drive to our home street. Our house was still there as the same as it was 14 years ago!! Feelings were mixed as we saw it and the other houses. Mom and dad remembered who used to live in which house and where we were playing with the other kids… Just when we were about to turn and continue our way to our motel dad saw our old neighbor going to his house! We went to say hi and even though he at first was about to send us off he then remembered ;D

We had a little chit chat with him and then we left to the motel. We got two rooms, and unfortunately we, as in me and my brothers, got a room for smokers… The smell is awful. Thank god we have air-conditioning so it helps a bit.

Well, then we got changed and headed to the mall. Aku bought two caps, mom a jacket thingy (I forgot what it’s called even in Finnish ;) not jakku but you know… or don’t :P) and I bought a bag, a ring and a Red Sox hoodie. I looove it :) We bought Pretzels and then went to do some laundry. While the clothes were at the machines we went to Stop & Shop to get some supper and breakfast for tomorrow. Then we went to get our clothes and drove back to the motel.

We ate some supper; yoghurt, bread and fruits and then we kids went back to our (smelly!) room. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Boston ;) Good night friends!

(The white house with a red front door is ours (; Just to let you know)

Day 20, Natick – Boston

We woke up at 9 am (an hour too early because my clock was at the wrong time…) and I went to mom & dad’s room to have some breakfast. After we all had had breakfast we packed our bags and drove to a park nearby. It was a park where I used to play with Aku 15-14 years ago ;) It hadn’t changed much.

We drove to a beach where we were throwing frisbee to each other. Aleksi and dad went to swim ‘cause they were the only ones that had changed on their swimming suits. After enjoying ourselves at the beach we drove to the same mall where we were yesterday. Too bad no one found anything nice to buy. We ate woks there and then went to Cheesecake Factory to taste the REAL cheesecakes. And hmm, were they delicious? OH, YES!

After that we drove about 20 miles to Boston. We went to get the keys for our suite, changed our clothes and went back downstairs. We asked the guy at the reception how we could get to University of Harvard and he told us the way. We got into a shuttle of the hotel which drove us to somewhere where we walked through the Boston Common park to a subway. The park btw is lovely! Just the kind of you see in the movies and wish you could be having a picnic at. One thing here in America that I love are just those parks, they’re like so perfect. And we have nothing like them in Finland :(

Well, we took a subway to Harvard, went to see the university where dad used to study at and took some pictures. It’s really a nice place, has red tiled buildings… I liked it.

We walked around before taking the subway and a train back to the center of the city. We tried to get in the top of Hancock Tower but we found out that they haven’t let anyone go up there in 10 years. Which is a shame, I think. We called to the shuttle driver to pick us up and walked to the same place where he had taken us earlier. We got in and he drove us back to the hotel.

We went to have some supper and then came back to the hotel. Nighty night! :)

Day 21, Raindrops in the city of Boston

After normal morning routines we left the hotel and took the same hotel shuttle near to Fenway Park (the home field of the Boston Red Sox). We walked round the park and took some pictures. Aleksi bought a baseball from a Red Sox shop. We had cokes at a restaurant and then we walked to Harvard Bridge and by Charles River, in Beacon Hill to Boston Common park.

We went to City Place to have some lunch and after burritos, Chinese food and quesadilla we went to play at the park. In a while it started to rain so we walked to the metro station. We decided to go and see some movie in a cinema. Well, we had some trouble finding it but eventually we did, bought tickets and went to see Toy Story 3, in 3D. It was alright and had a few really funny parts ;)

It still rained when we got out from the cinema, and it was a little cold too so we went to Starbucks to buy hot chocolates to warm us. We also bought donuts from Dunkin Donuts. Then we went by a metro, train and bus back to our hotel. Now it’s TV and then sweet dreams! :)

Days 17 and 18

Day 17, We’re having fun!

This morning we slept late, I don’t know when the others woke up and went to swim at the pool ‘cause I was still sleeping ;) When I woke up I took a shower and soon we left out for a brunch. We went to eat at Mary’s Kitchen, dad and Aleksi took cheeseburgers and me, mom and Aku took chicken Caesar salads. The food was alright and when we were finished we drove to Adventure Zone. There we played baseball and mini golf and drove go-karts and bumper boats. It was fun!

After spending few hours at the Zone we drove back to our motel, changed on our swimming suits and headed to the beach. We drove around for a while trying to find a non-private beach and eventually we found one, thanks to Aku! We had so much fun at the lake. The waves were very big! The lake didn’t have a sandy bottom so the rocks weren’t exactly the most comfortable thing to hit yourself at... That didn’t bother us though, we swam and threw frisbee to each other. It was so enjoyable, the water was really warm and swimming and letting the waves carry you around the waterline; pretty fun ;)

We drove back to the motel, took showers and then walked to a restaurant nearby. We ate wraps and listened to this old guy playing guitar and other instruments. We recognized a couple of the songs, for example Hey there Delilah ;D It started to get dark, it was almost 10 o’clock. Aleksi and I went to Ferris wheel, which was great! :D

Then we walked back to the motel and on the way stopped by an arcade. We got back “home” and soon went to sleep :) Tomorrow: Niagara Falls!


Day 18, Geneva on the Lake – Syracuse

At 9 am we woke up, then packed our bags and got in the car. We drove about an hour to a mall where we had some breakfast. Then we drove a couple of hours, went through two or three tolls and got to Buffalo. We parked our car and walked to see the world famous Niagara Falls! They were, indeed, pretty spectacular even though we would’ve had a better view from Canada’s side. We could just see Canada at the other side, just about 50-100 feet (and thousands gallons of water) away! ;)

We took pictures and were fascinated about the falls, then we decided to go have a better look at them at the bridge. After seeing them from there we walked to another place to see the other part of the Falls. It started to get very sunny and hot so we bought ice creams for freshness. We bought some postcards and then walked back to the car.

We drove for some time until we arrived to a place where we found KFC. We ate and then drove to Syracuse. We found a Comfort Inn hotel where we got two rooms from. We’re watching Everybody hates Chris! Tomorrow: home sweet home! <3 And NO, not Finland. Instead I mean Natick in Boston ;)

Days 13, 14, 15 and 16

Day 13, New Castle – Colby

So, today was pretty much all about driving. We woke up at 8 am, ate breakfast, packed our bags and got in the car. Nothing new ;) We drove for a long time until we got to Genesee where we went to see Buffalo Bill’s grave. We also ate some snack.

We drove for a long time and arrived to Kansas which is 6th state so far; California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and now Kansas. Still many more to come… We had to change the time one hour ahead since it’s a new time zone. We arrived to Colby and went to grab coffees from Starbucks. There’s a free Wi-Fi so dad looked for motels. We drove around the city and then got to Quality Inn motel where we got a room from.

We went to eat at Burger King and then got back to the motel where Aleksi, Aku and dad went swimming. Now we’re watching TV! And again, no idea of tomorrow ;)


Day 14, Colby – Junction City

We woke up at 8 am, ate breakfast and got in the car. We drove a couple of hours until we arrived to Hays. There we went to see some buffalos, they’re BIG! We also found a place, Frontier City, which has houses from the time of civil war. Kansas was the first state to set the slaves free back in the 19th century. There was a church, block house, guard house and officers quarters.

We continued driving to Junction City. We had a reservation so we got a room. Unfortunately we had accidentally booked a smoking room so when we got in the smell was horrible! We went downstairs to the reception to ask if we could get a non-smoking room. Luckily they had some rooms left so we got a room which didn’t smell.

We went to eat at KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken and after eating drove to Wal-Mart where we bought some food for the evening, water and Vitamin Waters. We got back to the motel, mom and dad went to do some laundry and at 7 pm we went to a rodeo. It was a very cool experience! There was horse and bull riding, roping and some other cool things, like a bull poker ;D That’s a thing where some men were playing poker as they let a bull run around the area. The man who stayed the longest without moving from the chair was the winner ;)

When the rodeo was over they shoot some fireworks and after that we went back to the motel. It was 11 pm so we went to sleep!


Day 15, Junction City – Effingham

So, today was again a day full of driving ;) We woke up at 8 am, went to eat breakfast and then packed our things. We got in the car and drove for a couple of hours until we arrived to a city which is just by the Missouri River. We ate lunch at a restaurant and then continued driving.

We arrived to St. Louis around 5 pm. We walked by the Mississippi River and around the park where the Arch is, btw it's designed by a Finn, Eero Saarinen ;) We took some pictures but it was so hot out there so we soon went back in the car and continued driving. We stopped at a gas station to buy ice creams and hot dogs for the boys.

We arrived to Effingham, Illinois, about at 8 pm. We had booked two rooms from there so that's just fine for us! ;) Good nighty!


Day 16, Effingham – Geneva on the Lake

Today we woke up at 9 am, ate breakfast, packed our stuff and started driving. We drove three-four ours and then went to grab some lunch from Taco Bell. After eating we went to a store to buy some fruits, me and Aleksi tried to look for a nice DVD which we could’ve watched at the car. We didn’t find any, so we just continued driving.

At some part of driving on a highway when listening to music on my iPod I suddenly heard mom yelling: "DECEL DECEL DECEL!" (JARRUTA JARRUTA JARRUTA in Finnish, I'm not sure if that's the right word for it in English ;) ) I looked from the front window and saw a car and some kind of smoke coming from it, it was loosing its speed and dad realllly quickly turned the wheel to right so we didn't crash with the car in front of us! I have no idea what happened but it was seriously about 2 seconds and we would've hitted the car! So scary. The car behind us had to do the same as we did, and I don't know if the car hitted someone or something or not. I don't know what happened to it, everything just happened so fast...

Well, around 7 pm we bought coffees from Starbucks ;) Then we continued driving through a few beautiful towns; Painsville, Perry… Mom said the area reminded her of Natick, the place where we used to live at Boston. The houses were just really, really pretty and the backyards were so big that you could play football at them…

We drove to Geneva which is a city just by the Erie Lake, in Ohio. What a lovely place to live at! We went to have a competition at the lake: Who throws a rock the farest away? I think Aku won. Dad went to get us a room from Pera’s Motel. We have two rooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a small living room over here ;) Mom thinks it’s a “murju” ;D

We went to the beach, mom and dad went to have drinks as me, Aku and Aleksi went to play miniature golf. I won! ;D A car passed us by and a man shouted from the window: “A tornado is coming! Get cover!!” Aleksi got really scared ‘cause it started to rain and we saw a LOT of lightnings. It got very windy and as we were almost done with playing, mom and dad came and we went quickly to grab Fries for supper. They were closing because of the coming storm and we waited for the Fries under cover in the hard rain. We got the Fries but it rained still a lot so we decided to stay there to eat them, waiting for the storm to pass by. I thought the whole situation was a bit funny: “Yeah, a storm and a tornado’s coming and we’re here, standing outside at the rain eating French Fries. Let’s not go back to our room, let’s stay here and eat when the Fries are still hot!” ;D

After finishing eating me and Aleksi jogged back to our room as the others walked. It still rained. We got inside and put the TV on. Now we’re watching Shrek 2. What a day! :)