August

...more

further west.

Niagara Falls. August 3rd. We were on the road for at least 8 hours by bus. Another tour group, only this time it was Dominican-Kazakh-Russian. When we were checked into the "Sun days Hotel," I was indescribably sleepy. The thing is, by my calculations, I hadn't slept for about 32 hours since that day. I just can't sleep on the road, and we left almost immediately after I finished work. I dozed off for about 30-40 minutes and went downstairs so as not to miss the tour meeting, where our guides were supposed to tell us and show us what's what here. After a ten-minute explanation, we headed to a small building where we bought a combo ticket, which allows you to visit all the sights of Niagara. What natural beauty and harmony there is, with the power of two waterfalls! I had a day and a half to spare, so I slowly started looking around at the observation deck. While I was standing there looking down at these waterfalls from a height, I wanted to hurry down to the excursion boat, which gathers crowds of tourists wearing specially provided raincoats, all identical, and we were all blue as we sailed right up to the waterfall. All this power, strength, and the sound of tons of falling water can only be felt by sailing close to these waterfalls. This half-hour ride near the waterfalls was so emotional that after getting back to shore, it took me about 10 minutes to come to my senses and take off the raincoat, which was wet from the spray. I took a bunch of photos at Niagara Falls; at one point, I even ran out of memory on my phone and had to delete old photos and videos, but I continued to visit the sights of Niagara. The evening was memorable for me with a very cool and mesmerizing fireworks display.

The next day, I slept through my breakfast) Luckily, there was still food in my backpack. As soon as I finished my homemade breakfast of bananas and sandwiches with orange juice, I continued my tour of the sights. An aquarium where I saw many different fish and a couple of interesting shows, a specially equipped cinema about the history of Niagara's development, a historic trolley with uncomfortable wooden seats, and, of course, a pleasant rain at the end of my trip signaled that it was time to return to the hotel, from where we would again make an eight-hour journey to Ocean City, and then it's another 15 minutes home by bike. "We'll manage," I thought.

August turned out to be very rich in events and adventures. By the time I finished working, I had learned to surf and fall very gracefully, save a drowning person, saw baseball in person, and walk using GPS on my cell phone along deserted roads. But perhaps I will tell you about that now.

And again the alarm at 6 a.m. and back on the road. August 18th. Just yesterday, they were seeing me off at work with a nice cake with inscriptions saying they would miss me, and today I am setting off again to continue looking for adventures. Bus, walking, boat, bus again. Such a thorny path I have to overcome to visit a close and dear person to me. This person lives and works in the state of New Jersey, in a city called Wildwood. To get to this city, I need to cross the bay from the neighboring state of Delaware, the city of Lewes. But one thing at a time. Taking my backpack with a couple of bananas and orange juice at 7 a.m., I went to the bus that would take me from my Ocean City to the city of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. By 9 o'clock I arrived in the city, where I visited the famous Tanger Outlets. It's a bunch of brand-name stores gathered in one place. After buying a pair of Converse sneakers, I headed on foot to the neighboring city of Lewes, from which the ferry departs to the state of New Jersey. I had to walk 9 miles along deserted highways, and on the map, it didn't look that far at first glance, but how wrong I was. If you watched "Smallville" as a child, you will understand what vast farmland looks like in America. This was the view that accompanied me for 3-4 hours of my walk to the ferry departure point. During this time, I managed to hate myself for walking so far in such heat, drink all my supplies of orange juice, stop in my tracks and turn back, but every time I was stopped by the thought that right now I am creating a memory for myself that I will be telling stories about for a long time. Although, most likely, I just finally wanted to get to the ferry.... Yes, that's what I wanted more) Reaching the terminal, from where I would have to set sail in 20 minutes, I caught myself thinking: "I've never been on a ferry before," but looking at how huge it was compared to me, I trusted it. This ferry was equipped with everything you can imagine; I especially liked the sun loungers that were located both inside and outside the ferry. Having settled comfortably on one of them in the bow, I fell asleep. An hour and a half later, I woke up to the sound of a horn emitting a powerful warning hum that we had arrived. The system of organizing and transporting tourists in the States is highly developed, so that you don't have to worry about anything, people will do everything for you. Following this principle, I followed the crowd and listened to the conversations in front, where I caught a glimpse of a bus that would take everyone to the town of Cape Cod right now. Apparently, because I had just woken up, after a while I realized: "Now I'm in New Jersey, I need to check off another box." The bus brought us to the Bus station. At the reception, I took a map of the city and a bus schedule so I could leave calmly tomorrow. To my pleasant surprise, the bus to Wildwood was leaving 10 minutes after I checked the schedule. That's how I got to the final stage of my little adventure.

Wildwood is a small tourist town with narrow streets and typical American low-rise houses. During my entire time there, Nastya showed me only one part of the city – Wildwood Crest. Walking through these streets, I felt like I was in some small Mexican town, perhaps because I kept coming across Mexican eateries along the way, and there were very few people on the streets. We went into one of these eateries to try Tacos and something else interesting. We walked and talked about how much we had changed over the summer, some people had grown cheeks, some had already traveled almost the entire East Coast, and some just liked their quiet, calm town.

At dawn, we went to a cafe where they make amazing breakfasts, according to Nastya. And indeed, I was full: "Pancake with tasty syrup, bacon, eggs and cup of coffee" - that's what my morning order looked like. By 9 a.m. she had to be at work, and since it was already 8:30, we said goodbye and promised to see each other upon arrival in Kazakhstan. I'll jump ahead a little: she still stayed in the States and is now enjoying morning breakfasts almost every day)

Upon arriving back in Ocean City, I finished some things and visited work again to say goodbye to my "American parents." Cindy and John did a lot for me throughout this summer that I was in the USA; they guided me, cheered me up, and their love made me think about many things, especially about the fact that at 50-60 years old, you can still love as if you are still 20. I am very grateful to them for all this; for me, they became one of the few close people in America...