13 hours one way and 13 hours back is the length we drove on my grandma and I’s summer road trip. From the early mornings and arriving in locations late at night we had a fantastic time seeing a view everyone should see: Niagara Falls. I will be highlighting the stops we made on this road trip and which ways we took to get there.
Which way did we go on our Road Trip?
We started in Iowa and drove straight to South Bend Indiana where we had our first sleep of the trip. (6 hrs.)
The next day we got up early and drove from South Bend Indiana to Cleveland Ohio (4 hrs.) to Erie Pennsylvania (2 hrs.) then to the Ontario side of Niagara Falls (2 hrs.).
On the drive back we drove from the Ontario side of Niagara Falls through Canada and into Holland Michigan (6 hrs.) Then back to Des Moines with a couple of stops in between (7 hrs.)
What did we do on this Road Trip?
This was definitely one of my longest road trips but with that being said we still had a fantastic time. We started in South Bend Indiana where we went to their downtown, toured the college campus, ate at a cute chocolate store, and hung out to relax before another drive. South Bend was a super pretty town, not much to do but enough for what we went there for. The chocolate store was super cool and they had a deli section, chocolate section, coffee side, and even an ice cream side. If I would recommend doing one thing there it would be to check out the campus to walk and the chocolate store for food. Here is the link to the chocolate store: https://www.sbchocolate.com/
Cleveland Ohio
Our next stop was Cleveland Ohio! In Cleveland we went straight to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have heard wonderful things about this museum and I knew I would enjoy it. I have always enjoyed music from all sorts of artists from every decade. The building itself was beautiful as well as the view outside. There are seven floors of exhibits in this museum making the cost worth it. You could spend an hour on each floor if you wanted to. We only stayed for about 2 hours before going back to Niagara Falls.
My favorite part of the museum was seeing and learning about artists I didn’t know, seeing artists I enjoy from back in the day’s outfits like Jimi Hendrix, and also seeing which years people were inducted.
Learn more about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here: https://rockhall.com/
We then had lunch in Cleveland and started towards Erie Pennsylvania.
Erie Pennsylvania
Our next stop on the road trip was Erie Pennsylvania. I heard that the beaches in Erie are gorgeous so I wanted to make sure it was a stop.
We only stopped at the lake for a couple of minutes due to having to get to Niagara Falls.
I would defiantly go back to Erie to explore more of the beaches. If you have any recommendations on which beaches are best leave them in the comments!
After this we got back in the car to head to Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls
After a long road trip we arrived in Niagara Falls. We stayed on the Canada side the whole time. We got there when it was dark but the lights on the water were gorgeous. The next day we did the Maid of Mist ride where you ride on a boat down by the falls. You get to see the falls in a way you wouldn’t normally when you are just standing by the rail. This was the best part of the trip! Anyone who goes should sign up for this.
When you get off the ride there’s concession stands were we had our lunch. Once you walk through their concessions and their merch you will see a park and some stores. We sat in the park for awhile then hit up some of the stores including the Hershey store. They have a huge section for amusements rides which we only walked through; it would be great for kids.
We made reservations at the Stratosphere for dinner. The views up there were incredible. Another view you wouldn’t get of the falls if you only stayed near the rails but the cost was high. The only cost we had was the food. The food was $$$ expensive. With that being said I would only recommend the dining if you are doing the Stratosphere. The views were so much better than just the deck and you had something to do. The deck cost about half the price we paid for dinner, so it wouldn’t be worth it in my opinion to go up and have nothing to do and a bad view. The service was top notch and our food was delicious. Between the two of us we split escargot then for the main course I had salmon, and my grandma had a seafood pasta.
Those were the main highlights of our Niagara Falls experience!
For the rest of the road trip we drove through Canada. We got to Michigan and explored Holland and South Haven. They had gorgeous lighthouses, lake views, and scenery. South Haven had a fun little downtown shopping district which we spent many hours in. Then we drove back to Des Moines. This was a long road trip but totally worth the drive.
Check out more photos on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorewithang?igsh=bm5zZ21sOTljMDUw&utm_source=qr
Also look at some of my old post including fun explorations in Des Moines and travel tips!