Day Three Niagara Falls: Day and Night

Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada

A couple of camping tips:

1) When draining pasta (that just took 30 minutes to cook over your 50 year old camp stove) be sure to drain over something clean like an aluminum pan. Because even though you are using your beautiful new $99 camping cookware, if you lose your firm grasp on the lid with built in strainer, your organic whole wheat linguini will end up in the mud.

2) When packing food for an extended road trip which may last up to two weeks, for the love of all that is holy: don't pack the entire menu's worth of food. Your cooler likely isn't up to the task and ice in Niagara Falls is $2.99 a bag.

2a) Morningstar Breakfast Sausages do not come in a waterproof bag and if they are at the bottom of your warm cooler, you really don't want to see the end result.

Possible environmental change: The Earth's surface is definitely getting harder over the course of years I've been camping, especially directly under my sleeping bag.

Touristy Tidbits:

Niagara Falls is breathtakingly beautiful. The surrounding tourist area however is nauseatingly garish.

There are no fewer then 7 tattoo and piercing establishments within the 2 miles from our campground and the actual falls.

At Niagara Falls, "Mist" = "Deluge"

Memories:

Danny: We saw a horse and buggy for hire at Niagara Falls. I remember when we were pretending to fly when we went under the waterfall in the Niagara Fury. I fell asleep on the bus home from the illuminated Falls.

Grace: The big thunder storm at the Niagara Fury Theater. Seeing the illuminated mist of Niagara Falls at night. When my chicken got all covered in spaghetti.

Therese: Taking the Maid of the Mist to see the falls up close. Dumping the pasta in the mud. The chilly mist in the evening.

Gordon: Getting snowed on in the Niagara Fury Theater. Watching the water pour from the upper deck when we went under the falls.

The run down:

We went the total tourist route and bought the Niagara Adventure Pass. We also sprung for a 24 hour bus pass rather than battle the traffic near the falls. Our attractions pass is good for 48 hours.

We took the Maid of the Mist boat right up to the falls and got to experience the awesome spectacle first hand. This included a lot of mist and spray. Even with the raincoats, we were soaked!

Next we went to see the 4D movie experience reliving the evolution of the falls called "Niagara Fury". The kids LOVED this. The show included actual snow during the ice age portion of the show. Of course there was also a lot more mist and another set of complimentary rain coats.

We also did a lot of walking along the park over the falls.

After dinner at the campsite, we headed back to see Niagara Falls all lit up at night. Quite beautiful but of course this included more mist. The bus dropped us off at our campsite at about 10:30 pm. Danny was out cold!

Pictures:

First a link to a short video I took from the top of the falls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V81oEs6YLB4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Now the pictures once again not in order...

All the dark ones are of the illuminated falls on a beautiful night with a full moon overhead.

A couple day time views including a look at how close the Maid of the Mist gets to the waterfall.

#3 is Grace posing in front of one of the many tourist attractions on the hill leading down to Niagara Falls.

You see a number of before and after pictures of us in our raincoats preparing to be misted.

Finally, a couple of pictures from the bus: probably the friendliest bus drivers on the planet!

Day two: Kalamazoo to Niagara Falls

Travel tip: if you meet a professional belly dancer at a rest stop who offers to buy your skirt, don't engage her in conversation or you'll still be there an hour later.

Also, after driving a gazillion hours and thinking you only have one hour left, do not panic when you see the sign that says Niagara Falls 100. You can do 100 kilometers in an hour.

Finally: no one is at their best when setting up camp at 9:30pm on empty stomachs.

States: Michigan

Countries: US, Canada

Quarters forfeited: Danny - 4; Grace 2

Mpg: 28.9

Trip miles: 1013

Fun facts: Kalamazoo Target floor plan = Crystal, Mn floor plan. Costco is in Canada.

Memories:

Danny: it was a long trip and the sun was going down when we got there. We didn't get lost coming back from the bouncy pillow we just took the wrong road.

Grace: Danny's marshmallow caught fire and fell off. I kept falling on the bouncy pillow and got bounced off.

Therese: I met a belly dancer who wanted to buy my skirt and then she talked my ear off! The new Costco cooler is not a good one.

Gordon: a squirrel eating from a candy bar wrapper. Mommy thinking her name was Natalie so our fire wood got delivered to the Veil campsite.

The run down:

After pounding down a completely fiber free, free breakfast at the hotel, we headed to...Target. We needed an extension cord and Gordon lost his sunglasses. Then we hit the road.

We stopped at the half way point for lunch and a scooter break. While the kids scooted, I was courted by a belly dancer who wanted my skirt and unloaded her large belly dancing supplies suitcase looking for something to trade for it. Failing that, she extolled the virtues of belly dancing and gave me tips on washing silk.

We crossed the border with no delays but were disappointed that we did not get stamps in our passports.

We reached the KOA at 8:30 and began to unload.

The kids headed to the giant bouncy pillow just down the lane. It's so nice that they are old enough to come and go to the playground on their own!

Dinner had to wait until our firewood was delivered. After much confusion it was revealed that our firewood was delivered to the Veil family. We had hotdogs in the dark followed by the obligatory toasted marshmallows.

Photos: once again, can't seem to bring them over in the proper order. We are roughing it after all!

1- 3) rest stop resting and eating. A squirrel really wanted to join us. This one has a pretty good gig at the rest stop.

4) Gas is expensive in Canada. It's not subsidized by the government like in the US - that would be Socialism!

5 - 6 and 10) KOA fun. Love Grace's hair on the bouncy pillow.

7 - 9 and 11) In the car. The kids keep busy as we hit 1000 miles. On of Grace's creations rides shot gun.

12) The shadows are long as we pitch camp.

Day one: Minneapolis to Kalamazoo

Travel Tip #1: When promising a destination to a five year old that ends in "zoo" such as Kalamazoo, be very specific that you are not actually going to a zoo.

Audio books: Arthur = unbearable torture for parents; fun for kids. Kids version of "Marley and Me" read by Neil Patrick Harris = delightful. "Bunicula" stories = fun for the whole family. Even adults will laugh out loud.

States: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan.

We hit the road at 6:15 and again at 6:30 since we had to turn around when we realized we forgot our envelope of cash. We didn't have this problem with Passports as we obsessively checked on this about every hour.

MPG: 29

Quarters forfeited: Grace: 3 Danny 2

Memories:

Danny: We saw a horse and buggy on a bridge over the Illinois turnpike; we went fifty miles per hour.

Grace: We had to turn around and go home for our money; Grace was busy writing her book and suddenly we were at the hotel.

Gordon: As he was looking at a man's shoulder tattoo at the Wisconsin rest stop the guy said: "Whaddya lookin' at old timer?" Therese complaining that the 15 mile stretch of toll we paid $3 for was definitely not worth it.

Therese: Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to finish packing up the car. The cool teeter-totter and the kids riding scooters.

The run down:


First stop was just outside of Madison, WI. We found a little park with an outdated weedy basketball court and a state of the art teeter-totter. We ate, we tottered, we scooted.

Next stop was just over the Michigan border. Very nice rest stop with cool playground equipment. Michigan welcomed us well!

Staggered into hotel at 8:15 Michigan time...nuked dinner...watched a bit of the Olympics...called it a good day!

Photos: sorry - can't figure out how to caption or get in chronological order on iPad.
1) Navigator showing boring Indiana flat road also seen out window.
2 & 3) fun with scooters
4) really cool teeter-totter
5) Grace: just moved from bed to car.
6 & 7) It's all in there!
8) Michigan's welcoming playground
9) Danny: scooter expert!