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Today the goal was to get to Niagara Falls by way of northern New York.

I started off towards New Hampshire on the same road that I took before on the test trip. I drove on these roads at night then, and they seemed much more out in the middle of nowhere than today in the day time. For today’s first meal of the day I stopped at Porfido’s Deli in Littleton, NH and ordered a meatball grinder. It was pretty good, and was priced about the same as Subway or Quizno’s. I think I’d definitely eat here over either of those if I lived in the area.

After New Hampshire I was quickly in Vermont, the 49th state of the trip, leaving only Michigan. I drove over a causeway on Lake Champlain and decided to eat just before entering New York in South Burlington at Orchid’s, which was a Chinese food place. Despite some warnings from twitter regarding Orchid’s I had the chicken chow mein and it was very good. I think this underscores the power of Foodio54’s recommendation engine, what might be a terrible place for one person could be great for someone else. Hopefully our system can sort that all out, and in this case did a good job for me.

As I drove through upstate New York it started to get dark and I started to look for some hotels around Niagara Falls/Buffalo, but to my suprise they either didn’t answer the phone, were as much as New York City, or were full. I’m not sure if a convention was going on or what, but I then tried Rochester and has the same results. Finally I settled on a Motel 6 in Syracuse, which despite the annoying $3 for wireless internet has been a fantastic value over the course of the trip considering I really just want a bed, shower, and internet.

One more day to go.

Tags: Big Road Trip