Ithaca, Niagara Falls and Philadelphia

About halfway between Boston and Niagara Falls is the Finger Lakes region. We stayed the night in Ithaca, which is perched above Lake Cayuga and boasts pretty scenery, lakeside vineyards and several waterfalls.

Ithaca Falls in the town centre.
Taughannock Falls, the water drops 66m, making it about 10m taller than Niagara Falls.
Goose Watch winery on the shores of Lake Cayuga. We stopped here for a spot of wine tasting and a souvenir bottle.
MC picnicking in Taughannock Falls State Park.

Refreshed after our Finger Lakes stopover, we continued on the road to Niagara Falls. There are two Niagara Falls townships, one in USA and one in Canada, with the Falls straddling the international border. The Canadian side is blessed with a far better view so we had a quick look around Niagara Falls, USA and then headed over the border to Canada.
The gushing (or phat as John would say) Niagara River on the American side which feeds the Falls.
Side view of the American Falls from Niagara Falls, New York, USA. Over the river is the skyline of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada!
The awesome $1.59 breakfast at the Flying Saucer diner in Niagara Falls.
Full after brekkie at the Flying Saucer.
The American Falls from the Canadian side. We took a boatride on the 'Maid of the Mist' which gets you up, close and personal (not to mention completely drenched!) with both Falls (there are two - the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls). The American Falls drop 20-30m and are 320m wide.
Luckily they gave us free full-body ponchos on the boat - you definitely needed them! The spray was like being outside in pouring rain. This is one side of the huge Horseshoe Falls from the boat. These Falls drop 53m and are 800m wide.
American Falls and styley poncho-clad MC.
From this viewpoint you can see both the American Falls on the left and the Horseshoe Falls on the right.
John trying to be funny. Funny how he never gets sick of these photo opportunities.
American Falls.
Horseshoe Falls.
Amazing Horsehoe Falls. It is really hard to capture the mightiness of these Falls in a photo.
This is Niagara Falls, Ontario township. The whole town is like a themepark, definitely not what we imagined! The Falls are also illuminated different colours at night but our photos didn't come out very well.
The Horseshoe Falls completely dwarf the 'Maid of the Mist' boat.

After a fun day exploring Niagara Falls we set off south on a 7-hour journey to Philadelphia.
City Hall in Philadelphia. The statue on the top is quaker William Penn who founded the city and had the state (Pennsylvania) named after him.
Probably the best thing in our short time in this city - famous Philly cheesesteaks for lunch.
The building where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

We didn't really enjoy this city so only spent a few hours looking around before heading south again to our next stop - Washington DC.