Niagara Falls

18.01.2008

Today we got up early to take Chris to Niagara Falls since he has never been there.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then parked at the Casino (it's really cheap there, especially if you are a casino member, it's free to join, and then you usually get free parking)

By the way, another place for free parking is in the Comfort Inn at the top of Clifton Hill. Just park there, and tell the parking attendant you are going to Rumours nightclub/restaurant, then you're good for the whole day.

The falls weren't that impressive today. Whenever there is a lot of mist, you can't really appreciate the sheer magnitude and immensity of the experience. Chris said he was disappointed and then denied it later. However, we were lucky to see a rainbow when we first got there.

After taking a walk along Table Rock, we decided to go on the Journey Under the Falls. The bottom part was closed because of massive accumulation of ice on the lower deck. But we could still explore underneath the falls in the tunnels, and walk out on the upper observatory deck, directly beside the place where the water plunges into the river below. Really pretty, you can hear the thundrous roar and feel the vibrations from the sheer amount of water falling over the cliff. Nice.

After this, we went to go see the hydro generation facilities near the whirlpool down the river. It's pretty huge, and amazing, but still uninteresting to me. My dad likes to show people this stuff and explain how it all works.

It was pretty cold, so we went home to make a crazy awesome shrimp pizza and pull down some wood off of my old treehouse for my friends Brendan and Michelle. They are married now, but they started dating one fateful day in my treehouse, at my 16th birthday party. So I thought I would get them a little sentimental present for the next time I see them in Toronto. Aw...

After pizza, me and my mom went to go have a facial in Ridgeway, which was nice and relaxing. It was a really nice spa, and we just chilled out for about an hour while listening to new age music and inhaling some minty Aveda products while the lady at the spa massaged our face, neck and arms.

My dad and Chris went to Fort Erie, but I guess they weren't into it, so they didn't even leave the car. Chris also wanted to go to Buffalo and see the "bombed out" inner city, so that's what we did. We had some of the original buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar. After 18 years of life just across the river from the original inventors of the buffalo wing, it's hard to believe I've never been there.

We hung out at Spot Coffee and asked the baristas where to go tonight for fun music. They recommended the Tralf, which was hosting the Artvoice battle of the bands that night. So, that's where we went, after wings of course.

I guess the wings were good. I'm not a wing person at all. We ordered 20 of them, but I could only eat four and Chris could only eat six. We brought the rest home for my dad. I'm such a nice daughter.

Next, we tried to find parking somewhere on Main St. near Shea's but it was next to impossible, so we drove around forever, and finally found a spot. Back in the day, I went to the Tralf once to see the Canadian swing-master Colin James with a fake ID with my friend Lisa. When we finally found the bar, I had all these nice, warm, fuzzy flashbacks of that show, because it was a really fun time. I remember Lisa and I had the whole dance floor to ourselves and the venue was pretty much empty last time I was there. This time it was packed and we met some people from Ellicottville, danced to a couple bands, but left early because the last band was hip hop and really sucked.

We also forgot to come back to Niagara to see the lights that they shine on the falls, as well as the funny Christmas lights that are up all along the river. Chris didn't seem to mind, and I have already seen these attractions a whole bunch of times, so nobody lost out really.

So that was my big Saturday in Niagara and Buffalo. I think it was pretty eventful. Tomorrow, I go to my cousin's house to shower her with presents and see her before she has her baby.

Rainbow