trip to usa december/january

Dave Smith wrote:
...
It's not bad weather. It is snow. You slow down a little on the roads and
it looks great. Road crews in that part of NY do a great job of sanding
and plowing the roads to keep traffic moving.

(road crews are not that good in Pennsylvania)

Dave, that's fine for us who grew up with winter driving but even in
Canada you know that when we get the first snow fall there are large
numbers of extra accidents as people have not changed their driving
habits yet. For people who have never driven (on the right side) in
snow, ice, black ice, white-out conditions, etc. it might make for a
very dangerous trip plus having three kids in the car to worry about and
be distracted by. I would not recommend taking the chance. It is a
holiday, why put your family in possible danger?




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"Bill" wrote in message
...
On 25 Apr 2006 04:07:03 -0700, "cora" wrote:

Well this isn't a new subject, but I have more questions and don't now
how to continue on without starting a new topic - Can anyone help???
Niagara Falls in december - to go or not to go. does anyone else have
an opinion


I also suggest skipping the Niagara Falls excursion this time. Going
direct from NYC to the Falls is a long, dull drive at the best of
times. The Buffalo/Niagara area is famous for bad weather in the
winter, and if you're not accustomed to driving in winter conditions
you could have a very unpleasant experience. Going by way of Penna.
is a much longer trip, and as was noted, Penna. is very hilly and also
is prone to treacherous driving conditions in the winter.
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You can of course get to Niagara Falls without driving. There are
flights to Buffalo and Amtrak runs a daily train service.

Keith



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On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 08:23:14 -0400, "TheNewsGuy(Mike)"
wrote:

cora wrote:

I really really want to go to the amish dfistrict in pennyslvania and
thought we could stop there for a night or 2 on our way to Niagara
Falls.

The Amish district in Pennsylvania is not really on the way to Niagara
Falls. There are several Amish districts nearer to Niagara, including
one in northwestern New York State and one in southern Ontario.
However, both of these districts are much more likely to have snow in
late December than the Amish distict in Pennsylvania is.

... The driving can be
very DANGEROUS in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the winter, again
especially if you are not experienced in driving in snow and icy
conditions. I recommend DON'T DO IT!!!

There is no need to go anywhere near the mountains to visit the
Pennsylvania Amish country. If the family is visiting New York, they
can drive down the New Jersey turnpike to its connection with the
Pennsylvania turnpike, and exit the latter at the Morgansville exit.
This part of Pennsylvania is at a relatively low elevation and is very
unlikely to have snow in late December.

I would agree with those who suggest not driving to Niagara at this
time of year. The Niagara area is much more likely to have snow than
southeastern Pennsylvania.

Maybe just going to the Pennsylvania Amish district and skipping
Niagara Falls would be a good idea.

There is a Sesame Street Park for small children near the junction
between the NJ and the PA turnpike. It is especially nice for children
under age 6 or 7. I don't
Save this part of your trip for another time, save the money, come back
to New York in the spring or fall.

As others, including me, have said in your other thread DO NOT drive to
Niagara falls at that time of year. Not worth the trip. I also don't
understand the idea that you have to save money on a NYC hotel but are
willing to spend hundreds of dollars outfitting five people with cold
weather cloths (that you probably won't use at home) for the trip. Why
not save the money on the clothes and plan a return trip to NYC when the
weather is better. Christmas in NYC can be great but again, with three
small kids may be difficult. You will have to make that decision for
yourself. I would not have gone with my kids at that age. (and for me
it is a short drive home).

I am not an expert on air fares but wouldn't a return ticket to San
Francisco with a return car rental now and a return ticket to NYC at
another time be more reasonable than the many short one way flights and
the one way car rental you plan to take in this trip? Others can
probably answer that better than I.

Hope this helps.

--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

Have you thought about Disney World instead of the Northeast?
I think your kids are going to be cold and homesick spending Christmas
in New York. I've lived in the Northesat all my life and visit New York
City every year in April/May or October but never in the winter. It's
very cold and windy and then there's the slush. If there's a big snow
storm the airports close. Also Christmas in the US is a big family
holiday- everything's closed and people stay home. Of course there will
be things open in Manhattan but I think you'd have a much better time
in Florida. Every day is Christmas in Disneyland and it's warm.

Ginny

On 26 Apr 2006 08:53:15 -0700, wrote:

Have you thought about Disney World instead of the Northeast?
I think your kids are going to be cold and homesick spending Christmas
in New York. I've lived in the Northesat all my life and visit New York
City every year in April/May or October but never in the winter. It's
very cold and windy and then there's the slush. If there's a big snow
storm the airports close. Also Christmas in the US is a big family
holiday- everything's closed and people stay home. Of course there will
be things open in Manhattan but I think you'd have a much better time
in Florida. Every day is Christmas in Disneyland and it's warm.

Ginny


It is true that cold weather limits the things one can comfortably
do in New York City in late December. There may be days when
strolling about is comfortable and then there may not. But there
is good public transportation on subway and bus and lots of shopping,
museums, the theater, and other ways to spend time indoors.
The city is very festive at Christmas. Other than Christmas Day
itself, everything is open during that season.

You can't compare Disneyland to New York City. The former is
an amusement, the latter a real city with many choices of things
to do. Since the original poster is planning considerable time in
California no reason not to do Disneyland and then go on to
New York as planned.

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:22:04 -0400, Dave Smith
wrote:

Bill wrote:



I also suggest skipping the Niagara Falls excursion this time. Going
direct from NYC to the Falls is a long, dull drive at the best of
times. The Buffalo/Niagara area is famous for bad weather in the
winter, and if you're not accustomed to driving in winter conditions
you could have a very unpleasant experience. Going by way of Penna.
is a much longer trip, and as was noted, Penna. is very hilly and also
is prone to treacherous driving conditions in the winter.

It's not bad weather. It is snow. You slow down a little on the roads and
it looks great. Road crews in that part of NY do a great job of sanding
and plowing the roads to keep traffic moving.

"Slow down a little"?? I've been on the Depew-Erie extension of
the Thruway when there was a raging blizzard going. When I
finally got to the toll booth I was exiting at (the next part of
the Thruway was closed) I told the toll taker they should pay ME.
And I was once on a bus travelling from Erie to Albany on old
US-20 (before the Thruway was complete) that arrived in Albany
twenty hours late.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen wrote:


"Slow down a little"?? I've been on the Depew-Erie extension of
the Thruway when there was a raging blizzard going. When I
finally got to the toll booth I was exiting at (the next part of
the Thruway was closed) I told the toll taker they should pay ME.
And I was once on a bus travelling from Erie to Albany on old
US-20 (before the Thruway was complete) that arrived in Albany
twenty hours late.

That would be the exception rather than the rule. For four years I chaperoned
my son's high school ski club trips to Ellicottville almost every Friday during
the ski season. The bus ride was a little less than 2 hours on average. We were
never snowed out, snowed in or delayed more than 15 minutes due to snow.
..

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 18:18:34 -0400, Dave Smith
wrote:

Hatunen wrote:


"Slow down a little"?? I've been on the Depew-Erie extension of
the Thruway when there was a raging blizzard going. When I
finally got to the toll booth I was exiting at (the next part of
the Thruway was closed) I told the toll taker they should pay ME.
And I was once on a bus travelling from Erie to Albany on old
US-20 (before the Thruway was complete) that arrived in Albany
twenty hours late.

That would be the exception rather than the rule.

Well, certainly. It doesn't take much in the way of exceptions to
ruin a perfectly good vacation, though.



************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen wrote:


That would be the exception rather than the rule.

Well, certainly. It doesn't take much in the way of exceptions to
ruin a perfectly good vacation, though.

It is a good thing for Florida's tourism business that people don't
avoid the state because of Hurricanes, and that people haven't avoided
Washington because of a volcano eruption 20 years ago, or New York City
because people get mugged. We had a nasty blizzard here 29 years ago.
There was about 4 feet of snow where I live and most of the roads in the
area were closed for days. It was the worst blizzard that we had had in
more than 100 years, and there hasn't been anything like it since. By
your reckoning, the risk is still there.

Dave Smith wrote:
Hatunen wrote:


That would be the exception rather than the rule.

Well, certainly. It doesn't take much in the way of exceptions to
ruin a perfectly good vacation, though.


It is a good thing for Florida's tourism business that people don't
avoid the state because of Hurricanes, and that people haven't avoided
Washington because of a volcano eruption 20 years ago, or New York City
because people get mugged. We had a nasty blizzard here 29 years ago.
There was about 4 feet of snow where I live and most of the roads in the
area were closed for days. It was the worst blizzard that we had had in
more than 100 years, and there hasn't been anything like it since. By
your reckoning, the risk is still there.



Dave, now you're being silly.

I think a lot of people have expressed the opinion that a family of
five, with three little kids, half way around the world from home, not
used to winter driving where there's a high probability of ice and snow,
driving in a strange country, on unfamiliar roads, in strange rental
car, where we're driving on the wrong side of he road, in the dead of
winter, during the darkest shortest days of the year, might be putting
themselves at unnecessary risk.

According to the Weather Network site, Buffalo averages 61 cm (2 feet)
of snow in Dec. and another 65 cm (2 feet) in January. I would say
there is a high probability of bad weather. Why risk their time, money,
and safety?



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