We started the morning EARLY. Leaving the hotel before 6:00. We swung by McDonalds since the hotel was not serving breakfast yet. We went back to the subway for the long ride in to downtown.

At Union station we boarded a Via train (think Canada’s version of Amtrak) for a two hour ride to Niagara Falls. Some sleeping was done on the train.

When we arrived we went straight to do Niagara’s Fury. It was an interesting indoor presentation on how the falls were formed. It requires ponchos!

Then we went to the behind the falls tour. Pictures were difficult because of lighting, but we went through tunnels behind the falls.

We grabbed lunch and then went to the Hornblower Cruise to the base of the falls.

We chose to not get soaked.

Then back to the train station for the two hour ride back to Toronto and back to the hotel to get some rest.

And now, some misc pictures from today…

We had a slow start today. Took it slow cause we were not in a hurry.

We checked out of hotel number two and hit the road towards Toronto. We went through a tunnel under the river.

Then went through 20 questions with Canada officials and we were officially out of the country.

The drive to Toronto was actually quite boring. And slow! Max speed is 100kph wich is like 60mph. Making that adjustment has been interesting.

We ate lunch in London at some Canadian place called Wendy’s.

we got to our hotel around 4. Then left soon after to get on the Subway to go downtown.

There we went to Roger’s Centre to see the Astros! They ended up killing the local team.

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Subway back to car and then back to hotel. Have. Early start tomorrow. Good night.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we drove to The Henry Ford museum. We first went and took the Ford Rouge factory tour where they build F150’s. 

Then back to the museum.?

For my good friends…

The car Kennedy was asassinated in…

The bus Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Michael is in her seat. 

Weinermobile!

And finally, Stephen playing the role of the hot dog…

This museum is HUGE. We are pretty tired of all the walking. We left around three and headed back to the hotel to relax. 

We ran to Boston Market for dinner and then back to the hotel for the night. 

Our train got in to Dearborn at 11:50pm. We walked next door to our hotel and went to bed. We took the morning slow to catch up on sleep, but I did go at 8:30 to get our rental car. 

We checked out of that hotel at 11:30, got some lunch and then headed to the Motown Museum. No pics allowed inside but it was a fascinating tour. 

We then drove over to the Ford Piquette Avenue plant. This is the first place Ford built the model T. Interesting stuff. The best was us running into one of the board members who showed us a bunch of cool historical stuff and even some behind the scenes stuff. I think he could tell I was a history buff. 

So then we headed back to Dearborn and checked into our second hotel. The first was  a nessesity because of the late arrival, not one I would have normally picked. Not bad, but not great either. Anyway, our second hotel is much better and much more room. 

After a dinner at Panera, off to Comerica Park to watch the Tigers play the Giants. 

We did not stay to then end but it was 5-4 Giants after seven. 

Back to the hotel and to bed to rest up for tomorrow. 

We got up at 6:30 and went to breakfast. We all had the Railroad French Toast which was good. 

Shortly after breakfast, we made a long stop in St. Louis. 

Arch outside my window…

After St. Louis, we all went back to bed!

We then woke up and went back to the dining car for a quick lunch and then back to the room to wait on our arrival into Chicago. 

Chicago

Chicago has an awesome new sleeper car lounge that we hung in.

Around 4 Stephen and I headed outside to Giardano’s to pick up a pizza for Vicky and I. 

Then boys ate something from the food court.

We boarded our next train around 5:30 and it pulled out right at 6:00pm. No sleepers on this train but we are in business class. 

We are scheduled to arrive late in to Dearborn where we will walk to our hotel next door to the station.

Our good friend Caroline dropped us off at the Fort Worth station around 12:45.

Our train was right on time arriving at 1:50. We boarded and settled in to our rooms across the hall from each other. We enjoyed the views and the boys and I played cards until dinner at 6:00.

We had steak and shrimp which was VERY good. Cheesecake for dessert, not so much. Okay, not great.

After dinner, we went back to our rooms to hang.

We made a short stop in Texarkana…

After the stop we put our beds down and turned in. Early breakfast in the morning at 6:30.

Once again the Mashburn family is making a trek across this country and even into another country. This year will not be as fast paced as in the past. This year will have plenty of things to see and do, but also time to relax and rest.

As always, we are taking a train. Here is the basic schedule…

• July 2nd – Drive from Amarillo to Fort Worth and spend the night with our friend Caroline
• July 3rd – Depart Fort Worth on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle
• July 4th – Arrive in Chicago and switch trains to Amtrak’s Wolverine. We will arrive late into Dearborn, Michigan
• July 5-6 – We will be in Dearborn/Detroit area
• July 7 – Travel to Toronto
• July 8 – Travel to Niagara Falls for the day
• July 9 – Explore a little of Toronto
• July 10 – Return to Detroit area
• July 11-12 – We will be in Dearborn/Detroit area (again)
• July 13 – Early morning we will board the Wolverine back to Chicago, change trains to Amtrak’s Texas Eagle
• July 14 – Arrive back in Fort Worth and spend the night again with our friend Caroline
• July 15 – Drive back to Amarillo

It is a bit longer than most of our trips, but that will be nice.

We would like to again thank our friend James for house sitting for us, the Moore family for taking care of Baxter, and those who will be checking in on Vicky’s dad.

We hope you enjoy following along with us.

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