The Canada Adventure

It was August's last week and I was traveling again.
It was the first super long road trip for the family, everybody was going to Canada to attend my childhood girlfriend's wedding. I was excited for the trip, and for seeing her as a bride. The journey was broken down into two parts to include a night stay in Elmira, New York. The route was scenic, Sis and I had our Nikon DSLR at the ready, the snacks/food hoarding was complete, and we had a horror movie for the road. Niagara Falls was on our must-see list, and we were visiting after 12 years!
The trip began in the evening and night fell on the way when we entered Pennsylvania. I could tell that there were high-rise mountains and hills, lush green fields, and villages on the way. But the details were absorbed in the blackness of the night. Sis and I were cramped up in the backseat because we couldn't figure out how to tilt them a bit backwards for more space and comfort. It was a Nissan Quest van which meant ample space for everybody and the hoarding. But alas, we suffered.
Night rides are pretty boring, unless you are travelling through Las Vegas on the way! To spark up the entertainment, Sis began having Punjabi song seizures. I have no clue how on earth she can sing all those. Cracked me up! We planned to watch The Woman in Black after a McDonald's stopover. I was disappointed at 11:20 pm at night when they told me their latte machine was down for cleaning and I couldn't get my caffeine.

It was the night of The Mortal Instruments City of Bones premiere and I was on my way to Elmira, traveling through Steam Valley, Pennsylvania at the midnight hour. We had gotten the movie going and Daniel Radcliffe was being haunted by a zombie lady and zombie children. It is a unique experience when you watch a horror flick in a car's backseat. Despite being a claustrophobic enclave, you can still imagine a grotesque woman monster jumping at you from the trunk, or showing up in the window of your side through the pitch black night. There was a full moon overhead but the mountains towered high enough to shield it from view. It was pretty misty on route to Elmira because wet clouds were passing the roads at the height and the car was passing through them. The windshield kept getting wet.
Our stay in Elmira was at the Holiday Inn, Elmira Riverview. Elmira is also called the Mark Twain Country because it is where the great author has been laid to rest. Had I been driving with my own sweetheart, I would have taken a stroll through the very cemetery he was buried in. Instead, on the front seats were my brother and S.I.L. the newly wed honeymooners who were in no mood for death and macabre, but the riverside stroll.

The view from our room's window was green and the river flew by. Under the full moon, the tide was high and waves rippled. The only thing missing was Luke Garroway in wolf form, howling at the lunar beauty up in the sky. The room was nice! There was a coffee/tea maker which we could not enjoy because we did not wish to open the packs of our Chai supplies. We were scheduled to cross the American-Canadian border and had heard of canine security checks and doggies barking at opened foods. So my caffeine deprivation was making me as mad as a werewolf, and the moon was full! Also, in my packing rush and food hoarding for the family I forgot to pack my glasses! AAH! Migraine triggered off! Crap! Anyway, there was a fridge and I stocked it with the seasoned rice pulaao (pilaf) that I had prepared, and the Halal Fried Chicken pieces that we had gotten for the trip. The chicken was for breakfasts by the way. None of the hotels that we had booked offered free breakfast and there was no need to spend hundreds on butter and toast at fancy breakfast cafes featured in the hotel's dining.
The next day the road trip continued after breakfast. This bit of the journey was pretty interesting. I got my Caramel Latte from McDonald's in the Horse Heads village. Next, we drove through a very scenic road into a row of villages, and farms. The terrain was a mix of green and rocky with plains stretching far and wide and mountains rising high.