Summer Tour 2006 Stop 5 - Niagara Falls... Poor, lonely cribbage board...

I got a reprieve from driving when my friend Kate picked us up in CT for the drive to Canada. We made two stops on the way to pick up Emily and Jacob, then went to meet Jennifer and Charlotte at the hotel on the Canadian side of the Falls. We were delayed a bit by an idiot in a pickup truck who decided to make a left hand turn in front of us. Kate's brand new minivan got an owie, but we all were fine. The idiot was ticketed, and we went on our way.

The border crossing itself was interesting. My only previous crossing by car was from St Maarten to St Martin, and that's unmanned. To cross into Canada we had to show ID and were asked so many questions I was wracking my brain to try to remember the date of my last dot, just in case. We were finally admitted to the land of my brother-in-law, Glenn.

I always knew about Niagara Falls themselves. I never gave any thought at all to what the surrounding areas were like. The American side is pretty dismal - nothing much to speak of except a few hotels. Not so the Canadian side. I was nearly apoplectic with joy when I saw the strip of Vegas and Orlando style kitschy souvenir shops, restaurants and attractions. I love kitsch. I have no idea why the Americans have dropped the ball so badly. Perhaps the thinking is just to let the beauty of the Falls speak for themselves. Bah!

What a ball we had! The first night we got in about 7 pm. Jenn had already ordered pizza, and we let the kids wreak a bit of havoc around the room. The kids had great fun looking out the hotel room window, jumping on the furniture and playing with toys. Dan did show them the joys of flushing the toilet, though he has no official followers yet. Charlotte showed us why there are safety warnings on plastic bags (good timing on that picture - it was only on for about 1 second before Jennifer rushed to the rescue) and Jacob showed us how extensive the vocabulary of a 2 year old can be, and how affectionate. They all liked the phone. Dan is pant-less because he leaked a bit. Time to move up to the next size diapers!

On Sunday we went to Denny's for the Worst Breakfast Ever, then Lisa and Alena joined us for awhile. Alena fit right in with the kids, and Lisa played well with the adults. After a nice while we went down to view the Falls. Daniel was particulary interested, which was not a surprise as the Falls probably looked like a huge toilet to him. We did not don the blue raincoats to get soaked on Maid of the Mist. I am not disappointed about that. Perhaps someday I will feel that urge. Perhaps not.

After a nice lunch at The Rainforst Cafe, we headed back to the room. Lisa and Alena took off for other adventures and the kids napped. We hens talked. And talked. And talked. I talk much faster than I type, so my fingers got a rest.

After the kids awoke we went on a souvenir run. Lots of expensive trash! We came out relatively unscathed. We were walking along the sidewalk in front of the stores pushing strollers, battling the crowds and the racks of clearance T-shirts and shorts when I saw a creepy guy in mechanics overalls. I looked back at Kate, then grabbed my camera for safekeeping. Ten seconds later Kate tells me the guy grabbed several pair of boxers and walked off. Intuition is a very cool thing.

After returning to the hotel we let the kids run around abit, then put them to bed and talked some more. Until the wee hours. One of the best parts took place while Emily was still awake and in the room. We talked about going shopping at BJ's, whether or not it's a place where you can get all your shopping done, who likes the shopping experience there, etc. We talked about just about everything under the sun, from books to movies to parenting and marriage. Good stuff.

The next morning we got the kids ready to go and skedaddled on our way. I'm so glad we went. Had a wonderful time meeting our good friends!

Poor, lonely cribbage board. Came all the way from Ohio and never saw the light of day...