Friday 27th September

We had a fantastic breakfast at the Stone Gables Guest House this morning - our best so far ! Also met some other guests and had stimulating conversations with them, not leaving until around 10.00 am which was a late start for us with what we had planned for the day.

This morning we headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which turned out to be really good, with great vibes, a variety of music streaming and interactive type displays. We put in coins for 2 hours in the parking meter and had to go out and put more money to extend our stay for another 1 1/2hours. At one stage there was a random "pop-up quiz" asking music related questions, and knowing some of the answers, we received 3 guitar picks, a sticker and magnet in prizes ! Worthwhile visit !

Left about 2.00pm for our 3.5 hour drive to Niagara Falls but experienced a delay on the Interstate-90 due to roadworks...we covered about 3.5km in an hour crawling along...but often it just looked like a 3 lane parking lot !! Whilst stationary and having time up our sleeves, we decided to ring our rental car company and ask whether we should worry about the "Maintenance Required" message that was showing up on the dashboard display for the last couple of days ! We had done nearly 5,000 miles in the car since we picked it up in Washington DC 4 weeks ago and it now had 33,547 miles on the clock. Apparently it was due a service at 30,000 miles and the girl was a little concerned so she suggested we should get the car serviced at our cost and get re-imbursed...not our option ! The alternative was to bring it in immediately and have it changed over !! Luckily, we were passing Buffalo International Airport on our way to Niagara Falls, so we reluctantly diverted there to swap the car over. Reluctant, because we had gear spread out all over the car and in the boot, so it meant a major pack up to be able to transfer to another car.

Goodbye white Toyota Corolla and hello black Toyota Corolla !! Half the mileage on the clock and more difficult now to find in the car park. After the delays, we arrived at our motel at 7.10 pm - could have been a lot worse !

The motel owner suggested we might head to the Falls as each evening they illuminate the falls and fireworks are let off at 10.00 pm .. so off we went !

The falls looked awesone and we couldn't wait to explore them further in the daylight tomorrow !