Niagara Falls, the American Bride's second biggest disappointment of her wedding night, to quote my Mother. (I think it's the punchline to a joke - ask an old person if you've never heard it.) We went to the Canadian side which is supposed to be much better than the American one, I think with regards to the view over the falls, it's certainly not because of the tasteful manner in which the town has developed. Suffice it to say, the Falls are spectacular and the town is like Blackpool.
We all travelled up together, all 6 of us in the one vehicle, which we can do now due to my new gas-guzzling-hockey-mum-mobile. (Pictures coming). Derek valiantly volunteered to sit in the very back, bending himself double getting in and out, and spent the whole 5 hours with his knees not quite touching his chin. I took shot-gun under the guise of being able to read a map but in reality caught a few zzzzz's as Miss. Smarty-Pants GPS lady took all the fun out of cross border driving.
To be fair, it is a straight forward drive from good old Skaneateles and we arrived without drama. The Border guards were their usual less than friendly selves and we all enjoyed shouting, "We're in Canada.........now!" as the flags changed colour in the middle of the bridge. Least ways I did.
Mmmmm. downtown Niagara. A big pile of rubbish next to a truly amazing waterfall. Well, two in fact; the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. We thought it was raining when we walked out of the tat shop aka visitor centre but no, that part of town is permanently drizzled upon, thanks to the super mega litres of water that hurl themselves over the edge every hour.
We spent most of the afternoon in the water park at our hotel, as you do. Thankfully inside and very well equipped with tube slides and kiddies water chutes, it inevitably had a huge bucket of water that emptied itself on unwary passers by at given intervals, and nearly scared Finn half to death when he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong moment. He soon worked out however, that actually joining in and going on stuff was more fun than hopping about on the sidelines whining, and had a really lovely time.
After dinner, we retired at we've-got-small-children 'o'clock, so Derek and Hazell pushed on to the hotel bar. As to what went on in there we shall never know, but a probably wildly inaccurate guess could be made when you discover that, at 3.15am there was a knock on their door. Derek opened it up and had a look up and down the corridor but no-one was to be seen. The next morning however, when we ferried Finn over for his jump-on-the-grandparents daily fix, there, waiting outside their door was a fairly ordinary ice bucket. (Can you see where this is going?) Ordinary that is, until a closer inspection revealed the presence of poo. A bucket of poo. Outside their hotel room door. Derek still claims they didn't upset anyone in the bar, but equally claims to have recognised the source as raccoon. Make of this what you will.
The next day was beautiful and perfect for a boat ride. The Maid of the Mist has to be experienced if you visit the Falls in the Summer. The boat takes you slightly closer to the base of the falls than seems sensible but don't worry, you are supplied with one of those all over rain ponchos. you know, the ones that look ridiculous and are very good at making sure that when you reach up to hold your hood on, the water runs straight down your sleeve, and is just exactly not long enough to stop the legs of your trousers getting utterly drenched, no matter how tall you are. When the spray lessens a touch, the view of the Falls is wonderful but, a piece of advice learned the hard way, don't bother putting on mascara that day: way too scary for the kids!
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