Canada Day 3--Kilarney to Niagara

Canada Day 3—Desolation to Dense Population (Kilarney to Niagara Falls)

July 5, 2015

After another very sound night of sleep, other than what I’d like to describe as a boar piglet getting into our burning fire pit, then oinking away after burning his nose, we prepared for the 5 hour trip to Niagara Falls.  We’re all pretty camped out at this point, and with the homeland beckoning, along with much cheaper prices on fuel and food, we’re ready to get back to the U.S.  Not before seeing the falls on the Canadian side though.  The view has always been better from this side in the four times I’ve been here.

We got to our hotel at around 5PM, pretty much exhausted, but it was nice to have a wi-fi connection back again; I can also start to text people and post social media pics and stuff of our trip so that’s a bonus.  It’s the little things.

After a little R&R, we decided to explore the area.  After a long walk around the Ontario side of the falls, Jen and I noticed something wasn’t right.  We also couldn’t get views of the falls that we remembered.  After walking through the shopping and food court area we realized we weren’t in the right place and saw the road leading to the good spots for the falls.  I guess we went out the wrong door to the hotel—it’s funny how you’re kind of “guided” architecturally toward the shops and businesses when all you want to do is see the falls. 

Finally we found the road that leads down the hill to the beautiful view platforms. NOW we remember.  It has been about 23 years since we last visited, not to mention even a thought of kids at the time.  This trip was much different!  We snapped a few pics of the falls and grabbed some “horn blower” tickets (Canada’s version of Maid of the Mist, I guess) for the ride on the Niagara River under the falls.  The kids didn’t know we were gonna ride the boat so they were excited about that one.  Next it was off to find a place for dinner—we were famished—and wanted to watch the Women’s World Cup too.  Unfortunately we got in after about ten minutes in the game, but got to see two of the goals the U.S. scored.  Carli was on FIRE, to say the least; not sure I’ll ever forget that 52yd rocket-blast kick over the not in position Japanese keeper's head, which was tipped away, albeit not enough.  Remember when….

Needless to say, I brought the Camera (full kit in bag) with me to take pics and we hit the restaurant before leaving to go back to the hotel.   We checked out the (Vegas like) upper floor of the mall area of the hotel, then told Jen and Avery that GT and I were going to head back to the hotel.  The minute I stepped outside, I noticed the tourists with cameras and instantly realized I left our camera at the restaurant.  My look of panic must have gotten to GT, but luckily we were only gone about five minutes. We raced back into the restaurant and noticed it wasn’t there.  I sent Garrett to see if Avery picked up the camera and maybe I didn’t notice.  Avery did not pick uP THE CAMERA!  As I frantically checked our seat, a patron said “sir, sir—the waitress has your camera”.  SOOOOO Lucky!  Our super friendly waitress told me I need to add my name to my camera case and address. Advice taken!  I’ll more than likely do that, along with attach it to my person. The camera was replaceable—the card and memories over the past week were not. 

Heart racing, we made it back to the hotel to watch the rest of the game and give the kids some time in the pool and hot tub.  We were all exhausted from a long day in the car, but I wanted everyone to see the falls at night, as they light up with multiple changing colors every 3 minutes or so.

I just took my cellphone for this trip and got a decent pic of the American and Canadian falls all lit up.  The kids thought it was pretty cool, but this place reminded Jen and I too much of very overpriced Vegas.  We went to Margaritaville and bought a huge chocolate desert with ice cream in it and chocolate cake for the Kiddos. GT was also able to test his "does candy taste different in Canada? theory by buying a bag of chocolates from the gift shop. He liked that Chocolate thing as shown by his expression!

 Jen and I had a Molson Canadian but she couldn’t stand it.  I guess she was hoping for a taste like PBR but got what she called a flat rolling rock.  Off to the hotel and bed for us after a long, exhausting day.