Indiana dunes, which is a shore filled with huge sand dunes, is situated in southern Michigan shore in Indiana. We were driving to Chicago airport to drop off my parents who were going back to Sri Lanka. We searched for a place to visit on the way and found this.

It was a cold and sunny day. The lake shore was really beautiful. Sad thing we couldn't stay out much longer due to cold wind.

We visited Cincinnati aquarium on our way back from Cincinnati Buddhist temple.

The New Port aquarium is really good compared to some other well known aquariums.

We drove from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, PA. It was kind of an exhausting ride. It was around 11.30 pm when we reach Pittsburgh. Fortunately still, we had the time to have a ride in Duquesne incline.

Duquesne incline closes at 12.45 am. The ticket price was very reasonable ($2). It elevates to a top of a mountain and allow us to experience a magnificent view of Pittsburgh from the deck. The best time to do this is at night. You can see thousands of lights in the city below.

We didn't have much time to explore the city. We drove around the city next morning but wish we had more time. Pittsburgh is such a beautiful city which is situated in a pit (indeed).

Then we returned to Bloomington, IN via Columbus, OH.

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We spent the previous night in Maryland. So there was no hurry getting up in the morning. The route to Delaware bay via Maryland was really nice. We passed calm and beautiful farms on the way. The only disadvantage was it took much time to travel on old single lane highways.

Delaware bay is a really nice place to have a sun bath. The place is great for fishing too. Many people were enjoying on the beach.

Then we took the ferry to New Jersey which too nearly 2 hours to cross the bay and reach NJ.


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Then we drove all the way to Pittsburgh, PA.  
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We visited Washington D.C on the 2nd day of our trip. Our route was from WV, via Virginia to DC.

First, we visited white house.

 Then, Whashington monument.

World war II memorial.

And Lincoln memorial

It was so hard to find a parking spot in DC. We finally found a parking garage for around $15. The fact I didn't like is, they themselves park the car and keep the key with them. Also, they say they are not responsible if anything is lost. Hearing all that I felt like it is not a good place to leave our car. If they keep the key, the should be responsible for whatever inside the car too. Else, they should give us the key. So, I think it is really not a good idea to park in DC garages. Instead, find 2hr parking lots somewhere.

That day we spent night in Maryland, hoping to visit Delaware bay next morning.
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Grandview state park is situated near New river George bridge. It took around 1hr for us from there to reach Grandview State park.

There is a really nice lookout point. You can see the new river flowing like a snake around a mountain. There is a rail road adjacent to the river.

Life is old there...
Older than the trees...
Younger than the mountains...
Blowing like a breeze...
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After visiting Kanawha falls, we headed towards New River George Bridge. We a hoping to see a huge bridge but we didn't see any until the GPS indicates that we passed it. We were surprised that we really didn't see one. Then we found the visitor center of New river bridge nearby and the lady explained what happened.

We had crossed it without knowing we are crossing it. The bridge is not visible when we cross it. It just looks like the road connecting mountain tops. If you want see the bridge, you have to take the scenic trail which runs under the bridge. Then you can view the huge bridge from the bottom side.

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We visited Kanawha Falls on the first day of our Washington trip. We reached there around 2 pm.

The waterfall has a very small height but it is really wide. You can access the fall very easily as it is adjacent to the main road.

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We planned a trip to Washington D.C. with my parents in May, 2012. We thought to cover West Virginia, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA in this trip.

On day one, we started from Bloomington, IN and drove to West Virginia via Kentucky. It was aroun 8 hr drive to our lodge. This was our route from Bloomington to Lewisburg, WV.



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We visited Kanawha falls, New river George bridge and Grandview park on our way.
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Presque Isle state park is in Pennsylvania, near lake Erie. This is what it looks like.

This curve shaped land has amazing beaches. You can do various activities like kiting, cycling, fishing and jogging there.

We were coming back from Niagara(for the 2nd time) towards Indiana. We just found this park on the GPS and thought to have a look (glad we did). We stopped by a beach named "Mill road beach". It was really beautiful and sunny. We spent about an hour there enjoying and relaxing. Too bad we had to leave the place so soon as we still had to cover a major potion of the journey.

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It was a one day trip to French Lick, IN in winter 2011. It was about 1 hr away from Bloomington, IN. We had fun in BIg splash water park in the morning.

It was a small sized indoor water park. Though it is relatively small, it is more than enough to have fun if you are with friends. It was a part of a hotel. If your group has 4 people or more, you get a room from the hotel. I think it is a great deal.

We had lunch from a nice Amish restaurant in the city. Then we headed to West Baden Springs hotel and to French Lick Springs hotel. These hotels offer tours but we couldn't get one because we were too late. Those were nice hotels and we spent some time to to look and walk around.

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After visiting Gateway arch which is nearby Mississippi river,  we went for a ferry ride. There were two steam boat style ferries named "Tom Sawyer" and "Becky Thatcher". We got into Tom Sawyer.

The ferry went about 2 miles down the river and came back. It was right before winter. Therefore the surrounding was not that beautiful. It could have been much better if we visited there in Fall or Summer.
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We visited Gateway Arch in Labor day 2011. It was 4 hr drive from Bloomington, IN. So we decided to make it a one day trip.

We crossed Illinois state and reached the border of Illinois and Missouri (the Mississippi river). The Gateway arch is built beside the river.

We had reserved tickets but had to wait in a queue for security checks. Ticket price for an adult was $10. Finally we got into small elevators and stayed seated till the elevators reach the top of the arch. The view from the top was beautiful. We could see the river and state of Illinois on one side and state of Missouri on the other side.

We had to wait in a queue to get down too. The staff said it's because it was Labor day. Then we headed towards the Mississippi river to take a Ferry ride.
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On the way back home from Niagara, we visited Cleveland, OH. We stopped there for lunch and thought of visiting Lake Erie as it was near by. We could find an entrance to lake near the Lakefront airport. There was an air show as it was Labor day. So we could see that too.

However it was too cold there because of the lake breeze. So we didn't spent much time there. We wanted to get back home (Bloomington, IN) before late night.