Niagara Falls (Part 1)

This year we were unable to take a week long vacation like we normally do, so we decided to go somewhere close by that we have been meaning to visit for a while now, Niagara Falls. Both Sarah and I visited the falls with our families as kids, but wanted to revisit the site now as adults. So one Thursday night we dropped Minnie off at my parent's house and on Friday morning we were off to Canada.

Friday

We'll be needing these...

All packed and ready to go.

Our first stop on the trip was at the halfway point just outside of Erie, Pennsylvania in the sleepy little town of Lawrence Park. Sarah picked out a restaurant that would certainly appeal to me, The Lawrence Park Dinor. This is the oldest "dinor" that has continuously run in the state of Pennsylvania and the food was really good too, even though we just missed breakfast. (Fun fact, the spelling "dinor" is only found in Western Pennsylvania)

I got the Rueben and Sarah got a BLT.

After our brief trip back in time we made our way back to the car and continued northeast toward the state of New York and finally across the border into Ontario, Canada. Our first stop was our Bed and Breakfast to check in and drop off our luggage. The owner Bruce met us outside and helped us in with our bags.

NO VACANCY...that's how cool we are. We still got a room.

Our room.

Sarah approves.

After we dropped off our stuff we headed out to our first stop, Clifton Hill, but not before becoming acquainted with the rest of the house first.

The dining room.

Living room.

Sarah checking out the "Veranda".

Let's ride to Clifton Hill!

You may be thinking, "But Postmaster, isn't Clifton Hill notoriously touristy and cheesy?" The answer is yes, yes it is and yet you can still have fun in places like that. Who knew? So come join me in the fun. (and yes you must now refer to me as "Postmaster")

Whoops.

Clifton Hill.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum. Where you can find...

...this giant chair, or....

...this pocket watch camera from 1905. (How?)

Back outside you can go bowling, or ride this giant Ferris Wheel.

But Sarah had other plans. She took us to a fish and chips joint, owned by a family that came over from England. I have never had English fish and chips before, but I can only assume that now I have, and it was good.

After we had our lunch we ran back to the car and grabbed coats, due to the wind and cooler weather in the falls area. We also stopped at Starbucks back on Clifton Hill for coffee to warm up.

Sarah's cup-o-whip.

Cuban cigars and free Salvia...nice. (In case you are unfamiliar with Salvia, it is a powerful hallucinogen that is of the mint family) 

Oooh...

Ahhhh....

We then had this crazy idea to head down to the falls, since we hadn't even seen them yet.

The American Falls and Luna Falls (or Bridal Veil Falls). The name was changed when you could no longer see the Lunar Rainbow over the falls due to city light pollution. This was a popular spot for honeymooners so it was locally renamed to Bridal Veil.

The Horseshoe Falls (or Canadian Falls) and the downtown area in the distance.

Then we climbed back up Clifton Hill to try out this mirror maze we had previously scoped out. It was a blast.

It was getting about time for the fireworks over the falls. The plan was to grab pizza from Napoli's Restaurante downtown and take it and our picnic blanket to Victoria Park, and believe it or not, the plan went off without a hitch.

Classic pizza with prosciutto and Italian sodas.

Yum!

The fireworks were amazing and probably the closest we have ever been to them.

After the fireworks had ended we retired back to our home away from home. We took our bottle of wine (from a local winery that we had bought earlier) out to the veranda and toasted travelers as they made there way back to their homes away from home.

Jammies!!!

Day 1 was filled with adventure and fun. It was great to get away from our normal lives and see one of the natural wonders of the world. The next day was filled with even more exploration and we could hardly wait.

Part 2 coming soon.