We decided to travel down to Syracuse from Ontario to see what was being promoted as the largest car show on the east USA. We had no idea what to expect, but decided to spend two days there and stay overnight in a hotel.
We arrived mid day on Friday 15th July 2011 and parked pretty close to the fairground – parking was free. We had to walk over a walkway which crossed over the main road to get the the fairground area where the event was taking place.
The entrance fee was $17 and I was a little frustrated that they did not offer multi-day tickets. We had to purchase tickets for this day then come back the next and buy them again. We purchased a program too which was $5 but every hour a number was drawn to win $100. Our program number was 10041 and 10033 got drawn – so close yet so far!
We decided to use this afternoon to wander round and get to know where everything was and the come back the next day to take photos etc. The heat was almost unbearable – well into the 90′s, so we drank plenty of water and had several ice creams. The prices for food, beverages etc was very good and did not seem to be inflated for the show.
Anyway, this is a car show and boy did they have cars. Apparently there were over 6,000 there and I can well believe it. I have never seen so many custom cars, hot rods, classics etc. They came in every style and every colour.
I was hoping we would win the lottery whilst we were there so we could buy a few, but it was not to be. A good proportion of the cars on show were for sale, so if you are in this market it was definitely the place to be.
In addition to the cars were hundreds of vendors selling everything a car enthusiast could want from engine parts, to t-shirts. There were some odd vendors there too selling baths and windows – but they didn’t look busy!
We did not get around the whole site during the first afternoon as it got too hot and we decided to go to our hotel and come back the following morning.
The Saturday was busier as we had expected as more people were off work, but because we got there early the heat was almost bearable. We went row by row through the cars and I think we saw pretty much all of them. It was an amazing couple of days and we cannot wait to go back again next year.
There was a also some special guests from Happy Days, signing autographs etc. Joanie was there as was Henry Winkler aka Fonz. He was definitely the most popular and people were lining up for ages to see him. I didn’t other but managed to get a very good photo of him anyway.
Henry Winkler - Fonz at Syracuse Nationals
A brilliant show for car fans, even if like us you know nothing about the actual vehicles, you just admire their beauty.
More photos can be seen in my photo gallery:
Last Week was our wedding anniversary and to celebrate we decided to visit Boston for a few days. When I initially began searching for a hotel to stay in I was horrified by the prices. Not only were the rooms expensive, but you also had to pay in the region of $30 a day for parking and hardly any hotels included internet access breakfast etc. However after searching and looking at reviews I found a Hampton Inn located at the airport which was more reasonably priced, offered free parking, breakfast and internet. They also had free shuttle buses to take you to the subway station to get to the city, so I booked this.
We set off on Wednesday 29th at around 8:30am and took a steady drive to Boston. We stopped off a few times en route and had dinner before entering the Boston area. We reached our hotel at about 7pm and checked into our king room which was very nice.
The following day was our anniversary so we set off in the morning for Boston. As promised the hotel provided a shuttle bus to the local T station which is the subway into Boston. It took ten mins to reach the station, then we waited five minutes for the train and then another 15 mins into Boston. Very easy journey.
We had decided to try to get a ticket for the Duck Tours to get an overview of the city before trying to get around ourselves. The Duck tours are amphibious vehicles that drive you around the city then enter the water and become a boat. We had to get tickets from the Museum of Science and got there at 9:50 am and managed to get tickets for a Duck tour at 10:30.
We waited outside for the tour where several ducks were waiting. When the time came we had our photos taken and boarded the duck. There are about 30 different ducks and we were on one called Arbourway Alex a white flowery one. Every duck is captained by men and women who act our different personalities and themes. We had Jason the Argonaut who dressed in a short white toga.
Jason was a very funny and entertaining guy who narrated throughout the tour pointing out all the sights. Every so often someone on the street would quack at us and we quaked back. The tour took us all around the city from the commercial district, financial district, Copely Square, USS Constitution, Prudential Centre, Boston Common and then into the Charles River.
Once we got into the water Jason let some of the children on board drive the duck and took pictures of them driving. The tour lasted 80 minutes in total and was fun and entertaining.
When we got back to the museum we decided to go back to the Copley Square area as it looked nice from the duck, we also wanted to go up the Prudential Building to get a view from the top. As it was so hot we decided to get the T to Copley. Once we got there we wandered around, took photos and then strolled round to the Prudential Building.
The Prudential has a shopping area on the ground floor, but on the 50th floor there is the Skywalk where you can see magnificent views of the city and many miles surrounding it. Take a look at my photo album to see the views.
We spent the rest of the day wandering round Boston and trying not to get too fried by the sun. We had dinner at the Beantown Pub which was awful and definitely to be avoided.
On Friday we decided to minimize our walking as our feet still ached from the day before. We got in the car and drove down to Providence in Rhode Island. We did not know the city so took pot luck in where we parked which ended up being in a shopping mall. We had a coffee there and then took a stroll along the river which was lovely. After a hour or so just wandering we decide to go back to the mall for lunch and then we left and drove down to the coast. We intended to drive into Cape Cod, but at one intersection the traffic going onto the only road which goes into the Cape was absolutely at a stand still, so we decided to change our plans and turned round and went up the Atlantic coast towards Plymouth instead. We forgot it was July 4th weekend and everyone in the area seemed to be travelling to Cape Cod!
We drove without too much traffic to Plymouth, found somewhere to park and wandered down to the beach. Here they have a replica of the Mayflower called the Mayflower II which you can tour. We had done this in 2004, so didn’t do it again but we still got some pics of the ship.
Once again the weather was stunning but very hot, so we wandered along the coast then went into town to see the shops. After awhile we got hungary so went into a restaurant called the Lobster Pot. It was not what we had expected but instead more like a fast food restaurant for fish. However we ordered our food and it was very nice – haddock & chips for Chris and fried shrimp and chips for me.
Afte wandering the town some more and having some very nice ice cream from a local vendor we decided it was time to make our way back to the hotel. By this time our feet were really killing us from all the walking we had done over the two days.
On Saturday we decided to have a driving day to save our feet a little, so we headed north this time. We went into New Hampshire and drove round a large lake they have there called Lake Winnipesaukee. The views were lovely, lakes on side and mountains the other. We stopped off at a place called Wolfboro which is a quaint little town.We had lunch at the Wolfboro Diner and it was very nice. We then strolled round the town and had ice cream whilst looking out across the lake.
Once we finished in Wolfboro we decided to travel across to Maine and drove down the coast. We then entered New Hampshire again then Massachusetts and drove to Gloucester, then after stopping for dinner here we drove back to the hotel.
Unfortunately Saturday night was our last night and in Sunday we had to drive home. Overall we had a great few days in and around Boston. Now back to reality….
More photos can be viewed in my photo album.
