We traveled with six suitcases, two tote bags and two briefcases.
What we packed and did not use...
Beach towels 
Bike helmets
Picnic blanket
Scrabble
Camp chairs – just once and not really needed then
Checkbook
 

​We saw 14 family members and 10 friends...
and met 6 new dogs.
 
We stayed at hotels, motels, cabins, inns, B&Bs, an Airbnb, and friends’ guest rooms. 
 
The only meals we prepared were sandwiches for lunch on the trail.
We drank more beer than wine and almost completely eliminated our daily consumption of seltzer.
Best meals: New Orleans 
Worst meals: some of the free hotel breakfasts
We get on the scale tomorrow! And Ed gets his hair cut.

We acquired one new work of art in Marfa, seven T shirts and five spoon rests.

​We kept up our puzzle habits (Laura may have even spent more time in the quest for Queen Bee) but consumed far less news. Libby and Hoopla kept us supplied with ebooks and audio books. Netflix filled several evenings, but fewer than we’d have guessed.

We began our day in Seneca Falls at the Women's Rights National Historical Park, where we had mixed emotions about progress and backsliding.

Some advice about a road trip. Support your favorite museum with a membership at a high enough level to get NARM reciprocal privileges. Ditto an American Horticultural Society member garden if that's your thing. Get a National Park pass when you turn 62. It’s so easy to make the decision to explore new places when you don't have to think about the cost!

One thing struck us over and over the last two days – the incredible racial, linguistic, and cultural diversity of the tourists. Yes, this is a major international destination and yet this is unlike anything we have found in any another park or attraction in any country.
 
We did some of the drive towards home and are in Waterloo, NY, where Memorial Day was first observed on May 5, 1866. Two years later it was made a national holiday on May 30, but Waterloo still celebrates on the original date. Dinner in Geneva, home to Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a charming town on the lake.

Somewhere along the way we finished Why Fish Don't Exist and listened to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, which we enjoyed a lot. Now we are on to Taste, Stanley Tucci's memoir, which is perfect for driving - no plot to follow and more or less freestanding chapters. But we are going to need some Wait Wait Don't Tell Me downloads for tomorrow. And at night, The Diplomat!

Luckily, the walk along the Niagara Gorge, with its Class 6 white water, and the aerial tram over the whirlpool were both impressive and fun.

​All in all, though, the best parts of the day were the unvarnished views of the Falls and the Gorge - nature really doesn’t need the assistance of modern technology to awe us.

We spent some time in the weaving exhibit learning about the manually-operated Jacquard loom (with hand punched control cards) and a cool dobby loom. ​

​One surprise was a quite good art glass collection.

​Then it was over the Ambassador Bridge to Canada and onto Niagara Falls, which is our penultimate destination and one of the primary landmarks of our trip planning. We are on the 19th floor of our hotel, with a view of American Falls.

We are back in the Eastern time zone, definitely a marker that we are on the home stretch. We just made our final hotel reservation.
 
This was our third four-state-day as we drove 370+ miles and six hours through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. As with Minneapolis/ St Paul, we skipped Chicago, prioritizing new destinations. (Our record drive is still the first day, 435 miles across six states.)

​We began our visit with their excellent temporary exhibition, Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980. It would have been so easy to just fill the gallery with beautiful recognizable work, and yes, there was a lot of Marimekko and Dansk (an American, not a Danish company!). But the exhibit was much more interesting. It included new scholarship on the crucial impact the Scandinavian countries and America had on one another’s material culture. And it looked at the contributions of immigrants to Nordic countries and to the U.S., including faculty at Cranbrook and other art schools. The final section was about designs for sustainability and accessibility, including a Volvo that pioneered three point seat belts. Below, just two of the great woven textiles...

​We stopped to watch the roof fold and unfold at noon with Laura’s friend and former student Amy and ate lunch at the historic Pfister Hotel. We later learned that visiting  sports teams are told that it is haunted. 
 
Back to the museum for the excellent collections of 20th century art, American furniture, and modern design. Much of the German expressionist and American abstract art is the gift of a single donor, Peg Bradley, who had a wonderful eye, great advisors, or both.

Milwaukee has a great program of temporary outdoor sculpture and many of the pieces are acquired by local businesses and installed permanently. Add the sculpture in and around the museum and the lake front is a treat to walk around. The great architecture of downtown helps a lot too.

​We had dinner with Laura’s colleague Julie and her husband Mike, who had provided lots of great advice about traveling in South Dakota and Wisconsin.

​The truss work of the large drafting studio in the school was particularly interesting.

Then, a relaxing time at the Balancing Rock Winery for tasting and snacks. The wines were good enough that we bought a few bottles to bring home. Wisconsin wines, indeed.

​Then we stopped at Standing Rock, the location of H. H. Bennett’s famous first stop-action photo of his son making the 5’8” leap. It took his son 17 tries before he got the perfect image. Visitors are not allowed to the top of the rocks, but the tour company trains dogs to make the leap. And there’s a safety net.

​We tried to do a short hike but the trail no longer matched the description. So we returned to the lakeside and spent time in the pool, hot tub, and sauna.