Summer Vacation 2026 from Illinois to Niagara Falls

Carol and Don enjoyed a trip to Niagara Falls, with some stops along the way and back.

The first day, driving toward Cincinnati, we stopped in Urbana, where Don graduated in 1977, 49 years ago. While there, we tried to find his old office on the second floor, but there were so many changes, he could only guess.

Carol attended STAMPAWAY in Sharonville, a suburb of Cincinnati. One evening had nice weather, so we attended an MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the attendance was only about half that of the crowds that go to the San Diego Padres games, there was still lots of traffic on the roads and along the stadium concourses. Actually, it was not that different than a Padres game in all respects.

After the STAMPAWAY conference, we headed to Canton on Sunday afternoon for a stop at the NFL Hall of Fame. It was fun to see some historical uniforms.

On Monday, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Tuesday, we drove to Jamestown, NY for the National Comedy Center. The special display was for “Saturday Night Live”, but there were lots of great exhibits throughout the building. Practically next door to this museum was the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

The next stop was Niagara Falls – first, the American side. We took a ride on the “Maid of the Mist”, of course, and had great weather. It was kind of hot and humid, but the long walks were well worthwhile.

One of Don’s long interests is Nikola Tesla. There were two large statues of him, one in the US side, and one on the Canadian side.

On the Canadian side, one of the highlights was the view from the top of the Skylon Tower. Afterward, we walked along a pedestrian trail to get closer views. I never expected to see so much mist, but we again had great weather.

On Thursday, we drove through Canada as a short-cut to Michigan, where our last stop on Saturday was the South Haven National Blueberry Festival. Lots of things to buy, but we had to fly back to San Diego on Sunday, so could not bring back as much as Carol would have liked! One of the more unusual items was the glitter-globe featuring the Last Supper. Not quite sure what to make of that. (Click on the photo for a short video.)