The Long, Long Road Home

Dec 10th & 11th- Days 4 & 5

I woke up at 10 AM, perfect timing to get ready for the ride home. I sat in bed for a while and wrote out a postcard to my friend, Leah, as I tried to shake the post-sleep cobwebs from my brain.

We watched the weather reports and things didn't look great. After some debating, we decided to just get out as soon as possible and try to beat the worst of it.

Like a well oiled machine, we were packed, bundled, ready, and on the road at 11:45 AM.

As we rode the freeway out of Toronto, we hit a little bit of snow, but nothing of any real consequence. The wind gusts were the worst part of it.

Back on Day 1 of this trip, I wrote "As we approached Buffalo, the weather got bad. Real bad."
In hindsight, that was but a flurry.

When we hit Niagara, we were hit with whiteouts. I've driven through some heavy snowfall, but I've never seen anything like this. In a matter of seconds, everything beyond the windows would vanish, swallowed by pure white. It was disorienting and actually pretty scary.

WALL-E tries to see through the snow

We pushed on, crossed the border, and made it to Buffalo...where things got even worse.

The whiteouts were more frequent and the road conditions became far worse. The three lane highway became a two lane parking lot as the already slow moving traffic came to a complete stop.

At times, we would go for well over an hour without moving so much as a single inch.

When we would finally start moving, speeds would rarely reach 15 mph, but never higher than that.

My overpriced iPod adapter didn't even get used, as we wanted to keep listening to local radio to hear what was going on.

Eventually, all daylight was gone and we were still stuck on 90 West in the same awful conditions. In the dark.

Our plan became to make it to the Angola rest stop for a break and then decide if we should keep driving or hang there until sunrise.

Upon arrival it didn't even look like the rest stop was open. The entire parking lot was buried under several inches of snow.
Eventually, we saw people go in, so we at least knew it was open, but there was no possible way for my wheelchair to get through all that snow and get inside. Luckily, the guy who was plowing the parking lot was extremely helpful and cleared a path right up to the door for me. He even cleared a parking space near the door for us and made sure we got inside.
I can't thank him enough.

The drive from Toronto to Angola should have taken us about 2 hours. It took us 8.

Once inside, we made our way to Denny's, got some food, and tried to figure out what to do.

We made a couple calls and checked online, it seemed that if we could make it past Erie, PA, we'd be in the clear. Our decision was made for us by a phone call to the restaurant, informing them that the freeway had just been closed.
We were spending the night.

Our awesome waitress, Elke, was really helpful and nice throughout the night. I set up shop with my laptop to pass the time and keep tabs on the weather situation.

There were about a half dozen other travelers spending the night there. Some had pulled into the parking lot and gotten their car stuck in a snow drift, so they just left it and came inside. Later, a few semis pulled in, also got stuck in drifts, and ended up completely boxing the car in.

It was such an odd scenario and, honestly, kind of creepy.
Sometime during the night, Mom and I went to see how the road looked from the windows in McDonald's. It seemed so bizarre to see people sleeping in every booth inside the place.
I felt like I was in a zombie movie. We were a band of survivors holed up in a secure facility, waiting to hear something from the outside, trying to decide if we should stay put or try to make a break for it.


Mom managed to doze off for a few minutes throughout the night, but I was way too wired to sleep.

Eventually, the sky started to lighten as the sun unsuccessfully tried to peek through the clouds. We ordered small breakfasts before Elke went home and resumed our stay-or-go debate.
Neither of us wanted to spend another night in a rest stop Denny's, but every time the freeway reopened, it closed again within minutes.
We decided to get off of 90 and push for home via Route 20.

We set out again at 9:30 AM.
It was still bad, but at least we had daylight on our side.

For hours, all we saw were vast snow-covered grape fields and tiny towns, each one looking exactly like the last. Winds would come sweeping across the fields, picking up snow from the ground and repeatedly slamming us with whiteouts as we crawled down the long, boring road.

We were moving slowly, but I was just happy to be moving at all. We would occasionally come to a halt, but none like the day before.

WALL-E just wants to go home

I had been up for a full 24 hours. That, combined with the bland scenery, the hum of the engine, and the whoosh of the defrosters, would get the best of me as I found myself randomly falling asleep for seconds at a time.

Mom caught me dozing

We finally crossed into Pennsylvania just shy of 11 AM.

There was a whole convoy of us headed west on 20. It must have been quite a site for the locals, seeing this endless line of big rigs and other assorted freeway refugees slowly filing through their rural towns.

Our convoy

Bort! Bort!

Somewhere near Wesleyville, we hit another dead stop. A long one. About a mile or so ahead of us, a semi tried to get up a hill (a very small hill) and failed. This blocked traffic for over an hour.
We were losing daylight fast and started to discuss whether or not we should just find a hotel and try again the next day. We were tired, stressed, and all we wanted was to be home. So we pushed on.

It was completely dark by the time we reached Girard. That's when my uncles started calling, worried and urging us to get a room somewhere. But we were determined.

We were finally in familiar territory once we reached a snow covered Conneaut. Just an hour from home if 90 was clear. We decided to try it.
And it was clear.

Mom and I spent the final hour of the long drive talking to keep each other awake.

We got home at 7 PM on Friday night. 10 hours since we last had anything to eat or drink (or had access to a bathroom). Roughly 30 hours since we left the hotel on what should have been a 5 to 6 hour drive.

We were home.

We came inside and quickly ordered pizza and started guzzling whatever liquids we could find.

We were home.

It was a long and sometimes scary vacation. Most things that could have gone wrong did. It was chaotic...but I had fun. It was worth it.
I will give it some more thought next time I consider traveling during the winter months, though.

PS- Here's the weather we came home to.

Another Journey North

Yeah, I know my trip recap is a little late, but here it is.

All packed up and ready to roll, Mom and I left around 1 PM on Tuesday the 7th, despite winter giving us its (hopefully) last hurrah.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, the weather sucked. Especially for driving. It was the worst while we were still in Ohio. At one point, the snow was coming down so hard, we could only see maybe a quarter of a mile ahead of us. Observe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtlJemyWSM

It improved to just some flurries in Pennsylvania and a few scattered flakes in New York, but the wind never let up. As I've written in the past, Mom's a bit of a nervous driver, so I'm sure it was a long drive for her, but she did great. A couple hours in, we made our traditional mid-journey pause at the rest stop in Angola. I swear, they play no music in that Denny's unless it's at least 30+ years old. Honeycomb, anyone?
We sat, we ate, we hit the road and crossed the border into Canada. Thankfully, we were out of the snow, though the cold and wind stuck with us.
We got to the hotel some time after five and settled in a little bit. Mom sorted our stuff in the room and I checked out the view. It was really weird to look out at the Falls and see almost nobody walking around. Even weirder (but way more impressive) was seeing the massive ice bridge spanning the river at the bottom of the Falls. Take a gander, won't you?

After a little bit, we headed off to St Catharines to wander the Pen Centre.

We didn't stay too long, as we wanted to be sure to have time to get back and have dinner at The Keg. The highlight for me was HMV, where they were having a sweet sale on DVDs. I picked up Sunshine and [REC].
We shopped around a little more, then back to the Falls and to The Keg inside the Embassy Suites. An awesome chicken dish and a glass of wine later and we headed back to the Marriott to crash before the big concert day.

I woke up to some bizarre Canadian children's TV shows. If I had caught the name of this one particularly odd show, I'd find and post a clip in a heartbeat. If my memory serves me, this one lady was supposed to be a doll or something and was dressed in a blue (or maybe purple) full body suit. The only part of her that remained exposed was her face and it was painted to match the rest of the costume. It was freaky, man.

Once we were up, we headed across the street to Tony Roma's for some lunchtime breakfast. It was a little less chilly, but the wind seemed to have picked up.
Tony Roma's was kind of a strange experience. When we got there, we were literally the only people there (excluding employees), yet the service was extremely slow. Seriously, after ordering our drinks (tea and hot chocolate), it was about 20 minutes before we actually got them. Don't get me wrong, I love it there, but that baffled me.
After finishing eating, we scribbled our names on one of the brick pillars (can you find them?) and aimed back toward the hotel.

You'd think crossing the street would be an uneventful thing. Not in this case. The second I got into the street, a gust of wind smacked me and I ended up with my sweatshirt and blanket blown up over my face. Mom quickly fixed it, but between the wind and how hard we were laughing, we had tears streaming down our faces by the time we made it across the street.
Finally, we made it back to room, got ourselves ready, and left for Brock University.

We were invited to get there early for the soundcheck, so we did. Upon entering the theatre, we were greeted by Karen Graves, so we sat and chatted with her for a bit. Not much later, Kevin Fox came in and joined us for a few minutes before the pair of them started soundcheck, as Chantal was still on her way and hadn't arrived yet.

When she got there, we talked for a couple quick minutes and then she hopped behind the piano for another quick soundcheck. To my surprise, she turned to me and asked "What do you want to hear?"
I thought, smiled, and said "Something new."
Chantal, Karen, and Kevin debated for a few seconds and Chantal said "Let's play something that's not in tonight's set."
I was in musical geekout mode as she played a new song called Say the Word from her upcoming CD. It sounded fantastic, I really can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that CD.
They played around with the sound a little more and headed backstage to get ready, so we headed up to our seats.

Kevin opened the show with songs from both of his CDs, Come Alive and Songs For Cello & Voice, including covers of River and Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). His set was great and it was nice to see him at the front of the stage. You should check him out at kevinfox.ca

At intermission, I met up with my friends from Chantal's message board, Elements. It was great visiting with Kathy, Sandy, and Terrence again, the first time since the Jackson-Triggs show. I loved finally getting to meet Angela, after years of corresponding online. As intermission ended, we agreed we'd meet up again after the show.

Chantal made her way onto the stage and kicked off her set with Leaving On A Jet Plane. This was the last night of a seven show tour and everyone sounded excellent. They even played a couple more new songs- Today and Half of Me. Have I mentioned I can't wait for this CD?
Chantal was extra chatty that night, thanks to a visit from "The Claritin Man." She was on a roll and had everyone cracking up all night.
Toward the end of the show, Chantal thanked a fan of hers, whose family sent Chantal a letter, explaining how her music helped this girl through some rough times. Then she thanked her best friend and followed that with thanks to "Jacob and his mom." She talked about how we come up from Ohio to see her. "They're always traveling that road..." she said, and then tried to remember which road it was. People in the audience started calling out freeway names before she finally said "Jacob, what's the road?"

From the back of the theatre, I yelled out "90."

"90. Thank you, sir" she replied.

For her last song, she explained that during the other shows on the tour, two of her sons, Rowan and Lucca, would come on stage and sing What A Wonderful World together. They weren't there that night, so Chantal sang it on her own to end the night.
Just for fun, here's a clip of Rowan and Lucca doing their thing at a previous show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqHxKfBuzuE

I met back up with my Elements friends as the theatre emptied and Kathy once again surprised me with a setlist, this time, it was Chantal's. Thanks a million!
We eventually made our way out to the lobby and hung out for a few minutes and snapping a couple group pictures. Kevin and Karen even got in on the photo fun.

Eventually, we said our goodnights and our hope-to-see-you-in-Junes (Chantal's playing at the Jackson-Triggs winery again) and Mom and I headed backstage. Sadly, we just missed her, she had to get back to her kids in Toronto. Ahh well, next time. So, we said goodbye to Kevin and Karen and headed back to the hotel.

Before crashing, we scooted over to the Fridays in the Embassy Suites for our traditional last-night-at-the-Falls drinks and snacks. Such an excellent way to end a trip.

Thursday morning, we were up fairly early, which was nice , as some of the pressure to rush to get out on time was relieved. We ate some cold leftovers, packed our things, enjoyed the view one last time, and set out for home.

Thursday was actually a pretty smooth and uneventful day. It was a sunny day and much warmer, though it was still kind of windy.
We made a quick stop at Duty Free for some wine and a couple little gifts. The border was crowded, but the wait wasn't too long. It was the first time they've wanted to look inside the van, but even that was fast and we were on our way before very long.
It was a nice ride with wide open roads...except in PA. There was a traffic jam (with no apparent reason) that had us at a standstill for about 20 minutes. That sucked, but it was all easy going after that.

It was a great trip, I was definitely in need of a little getaway after this seemingly neverending winter. It was weird not being able to wander around and see the sights of Niagara Falls again, but hey, there's always June.

"Take a Ride Down That Yellow Brick Road..."

We took a last-minute one-day roadtrip last Friday. Raine Maida had been on tour to promote his CD, The Hunters Lullaby, for a couple weeks, but all of the shows except for two (Buffalo and Detroit) were too far away for us to make. As it neared, we decided to battle the winter doldrums and head for the Buffalo show.

Mom, Maude, and I hit the road a little bit after 1 PM. The ride was smooth until Maude started to vie for control of my iPod, a struggle which was waged all the way to Buffalo. Many excellent songs were tragically skipped as a result.

Not wanting to sit all the way in the back of our enormous van, we had a little setup with a lawn chair so Maude could sit near the front with us. It worked out fairly well, until we hit the parking lot of the rest stop in Angola, where a left turn sent her flying.

Artist's rendition

We peeled her off the floor and made our way inside to Denny's for a mid-drive bite. I loves me my mashed potatoes.

Once again, MapQuest dropped the ball at the end of our journey, leaving us circling a block, looking for the venue. Maude took a second spill as we circled. We ended up asking in a nearby police station how to find the Town Ballroom. It was two buildings down the street. In plain view from the police station parking lot.

After parking, traversing a shady alley, waiting outside the front of the building, backtracking down the same shady alley, and conquering a 5 inch step up through a doorway, we were greeted by Raine and led in to watch the the familiar faces of Chantal, Kevin, and Randy during soundcheck.

It's a music fan's paradise to sit and watch a soundcheck, I'm in awe every time. As amazing as it is to hear an artist play live, there's just something magical about watching them play without an audience. Those little random moments.
In between songs, Chantal would start playing different tunes. A few notes of Hallelujah, a Sting song I'm not familiar with, and despite it just being spur of the moment, it was beautiful. I felt so lucky as I took it all in, knowing I was seeing something not many get to see.

We chatted with Raine a little after they finished and even got to briefly meet their adorable son, Lucca.

After a few minutes, one of the opening acts took the stage for soundcheck. He didn't look or sound familiar, but it didn't take Mom, Maude, and I long to agree we liked what we were hearing. His name was David Ford and he impressed me. His voice is great and his use of a looping machine filled the room and made you forget he was performing alone on stage.

Here's a clip someone posted on YouTube from a performance in 2006.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6XZpQPJWzQ8

We sat by ourselves until doors opened and we positioned ourselves by the stage for the show.

"Good evening..."
My photogenic aunt

David Ford did his thing and sounded great. He was followed by spoken word artist Jared Paul. Aside from a few times on TV and the net, I've never been exposed to spoken word performance, but it was definitely interesting and thought provoking. I'm not sure yet if it's my cup of tea, but I am glad to have experienced it.

Raine and company took the stage shortly after 9. Aside from some audio trouble with a guitar early on, it was a flawless show. They played through all the songs from The Hunter's Lullaby, including Sex Love and Honey (a personal favorite). He also covered Neil Young's Ohio and did an excellent acoustic version of Innocent, which the audience helped out with.

Chantal had her moment in the spotlight as she performed a haunting cover of Where Is My Mind? by The Pixies.
I had such a great time and can't thank Raine & Chantal enough.

After the crowd cleared out, we headed for the doors we came in through. Before we made it outside, we ended up hanging out and talking to drummer Randy Cooke and some of the crew for a while. It still cracks me up that we've been around backstage enough that the crew recognizes us and vice versa.

On our way to the van, I recognized my friend from the internet and fellow fan, Gail as she chatted with Randy and Kevin Fox. I stopped to say hello, but it was just a quick chat, due to the cold night air of Buffalo in March. It was really nice to finally meet her though.

Randy, Kevin, and me (Thanks, Gail!)
Me & Gail

We were on our way home a little after 11 PM. Wrong turns are getting to be something of a tradition on roadtrips with Mom and me, but this is the first time it's happened on a toll road and we literally had to pay for our mistake.
We made our second stop at the Angola rest stop to eat before the rest of our late night drive home. We were back on the road around 1. The ride was smooth and peaceful. Maude slept for most of it and my iPod was free to shine.

The long, but fun day was rounded out when we arrived home a little while after 3 AM. It was a crazy day, but a much needed break, I had a blast.

Until the next one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aYvQji8KoUI

September 4th, 2007 - Birthday on the Road

I really loved the bed at our hotel. Normally hotel beds bother me by the second night, but I slept ridiculously well on this one. Sadly, that great sleep was shorter than I would have liked. I woke up around 8:00 AM so I could be ready for an early check out.

Check me out checking out

We checked out and got on the road before 10:00 AM, starting the long drive from Toronto to Cleveland. It was a work day, so traffic was almost non-existent, especially compared to when we arrived.

It was a bit overcast out, but the road was smooth as we made our way over the enormous bridge spanning the bay in Hamilton. Hayley Sales sang from the CD player and before too long, we were passing the mist of Niagara Falls and approaching the Peace Bridge.

A quick stop at the duty free shop scored us a couple more trinkets for family and some Jackson-Triggs for home.

The border was packed. Lanes upon lanes of vehicles moving at a snail's pace. Mom made a lucky choice in lanes and we blew by the rest in about five minutes. I smiled as Ghosts of You came on the radio just before we crossed back into the States.

The border

The iPod carried us for the next leg of the drive, leading us to the Angola rest stop. We grabbed a quick bite at Denny's, put some gas in the van, and got back on 90 West for the last chunk of the drive.

The road and Superman

We got home around 5:30 PM and started to settle back in. Kris stopped by after work and helped unload the van. A little later, Grandma came over with a birthday cake for me. I had almost forgotten it was birthday at that point, it had been such a long day.

And just like that, the trip was over. I always have a bit of a hard time switching from vacation mode back to home life. The change from constant new experiences to hanging out in the living room tends to bring me down. But it was an amazing adventure and I have projects waiting for me. It's time to get some work done.

Here's to the road, natural (and man made) wonders, good wine, good music, and good friends, both old and new. Until the next adventure.

"If You're Looking for Wonderful..."

Chantal swung through town on Tuesday night as she's opening for Five for Fighting on their tour. I got my tickets a while ago and was really happy when the night finally arrived to offer up some relief from the daily repetition.

It was a nice (though slightly chilly) evening as Mom, Kris, Jessi, and I headed up to the House of Blues. The upstairs wheelchair seating there doesn't allow for much of a view at all, luckily we were able to talk the usher-type guy into putting us right down by the stage. That worked out great, I had a perfect view of the stage.


Chantal sounded fantastic, even though she said her voice is bugging her so close to the end of the tour. Another familiar face joined her on stage: Kevin Fox, who I had the pleasure of meeting back in St Catharines and Windsor. Along with drummer Randy Cooke, they played Time, Spoke in Tongues, Surrounded, Feels Like Home, Wonderful, Ghosts of You, and All I Can Do, though the order may have been a little different. They all seemed to be having a blast, as was I.

Chantal told everyone she'd be signing autographs in the lobby after her set, so we went out when she finished. I got in line with everyone else and couldn't help but crack up when I got to the front and Chantal just looked at me and said "...What are you doing waiting in line?"

We chatted briefly and I headed over to the couches and waited for her signing to be over so I could give her some little early birthday gifts (her actual birthday is today). Before too long, all CDs were signed, all pictures were taken, and she came over and joined us. I gave her the gifts and we chatted for a little while. It was excellent to see her again, she's such a sweetheart and always so kind to my family and me. Eventually, she left to go rest her voice and get ready for a hectic day of traveling the next day. As she left, she stopped, grabbed something off the floor, and set it on my lap. It was a dime, she gave it to me and called it my "lucky dime". Simple and small, but it made me smile.

By the time we got back into the concert hall, Five for Fighting was already a few songs into their set and all the good vantage points were taken. I like the band, but I'm just a casual fan, so we only hung around for a couple songs and took off. It was a relatively short night, but a wonderful one.

The drive home was rainy and crazy due to the aftermath of a several-car accident caused by someone who stole a car. The freeway was closed down in both directions and our detour ended up aiming us back toward Cleveland at one point.

Once we got back on track, we all stopped for a quick bite at Denny's and headed home.

Music! Merchandise! Mystery! And Me Without a Brown Trenchcoat. And a Fedora.

It's been a little while since I've been excited about upcoming music, probably since the release of Chantal's Ghost Stories back in August, which, incidentally, is finally being released here in the States in May. Moving on to music I don't already have, Andrea Corr's solo debut, Ten Feet High, is coming out in June.
There's a musician out of New Jersey I've been following on MySpace for a while now, her name is Jenny Owen Youngs. She just signed with Nettwerk Records and her debut release, Batten the Hatches, is set for April 10th. I have her EP's and love her sound, I'm really looking forward to picking that album up.

After Corey recommended it, I signed up and created an account for myself on Virb.com. It's basically a new networking site like MySpace, but not. I uploaded the animated shorts and Sex Love and Honey there yesterday and they've actually already featured the latter on their video page. How cool is that? It's a huge kick having people enjoy something you worked on like that. It's a cool site though, very music-centric, check it out.

The weather was nice again today, hovering around 60, though a bit overcast. I did some running around with Mom and did a bit of shopping to satisfy my nerdy tendencies. I got the Justice League Unlimited: Season 2 DVD set, a bunch of geekily magnificent DC Comics figures (including the excellent new Darkseid figure), and, on a less geeky note, Joshua Radin's CD, We Were Here.

As we left Best Buy, I spotted something that struck me as odd. Canada geese aren't foreign to me by any means, but they've always either been on the ground, flying through the air, or floating on the water when I've seen them. Not today. As Mom and I drove past Bakers Square, I saw a lone goose perched up on top of the building, just looking out over everything below him like the king of all geese. I wish I would have thought to snap a picture before we were too far away.

After shopping was done, Mom and I set out on a rescue mission. Dad's been having trouble with his truck these past few days, today he called from the lot when he noticed he was leaking transmission fluid. We picked some up and delivered it to him, before following him home to make sure he made it all the way.

We were all hungry, so the three of us went to Denny's for the first time in months. It was a bit iffy last time, everything just tasted...off, but it was much better this time. As we were getting ready to leave, we bumped into our old neighbor from across the street, Elise. I hadn't seen her in years, so it was cool to chit chat and catch up a little.

While there, I realized I may have watched too much Veronica Mars when I had my own little Mars moment. As we ate, a man came in and seemed quite perturbed when he was seated at the front of the restaurant. He asked for a table in the back room, but was told they couldn't do that, as they only had one server working. His frustration caught my attention.
Wow. Guess I'm an eavesdropper.
Anyway, he held off on ordering as he was waiting for someone. "Ooh, this guy's having an affair!" I joked to myself. Sure enough, a woman showed up a few minutes later. They seemed familiar with each other, but there was still a sort of awkwardness between them.
Is Denny's an acceptable dating destination for a pair of middle-aged folks? It seems like more of an under-the-radar meeting place, especially with the persistence to be in the back room. Now that I think about it, they did both seem a bit overdressed for Denny's.
Yeah, it's mostly speculation and none of my business whatsoever, but that little rendez-vous intrigued me.

Ahh. To be a Private Eye.

Jacob's 2004 Adventure: Part V- Day Two At Niagara Falls

Tired from the previous day, yet energetic and excited at the possibilities this new day held for me, I awoke with a smile once again.

After everyone was ready, we headed downstairs and hit the sidewalk. The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and it was a wonderful 70 degrees out. As I traveled down the sidewalk I noticed something: I felt different. Gone was my usual shy personality. I found myself ahead of my fellow travellers, just going on my merry way at my own pace, smiling and nodding at everyone I passed. I was completely care-free for the first time I can remember and it felt absolutely great.

We started with breakfast at Denny's...kind of. My food just didn't look like food, so I picked at it just enough to last me until the next meal.

From there we went back to the hotel and piled into the van to get to our next destination. For most of my life, my favorite place in the world was Sea World, but a few years ago our local Sea World was bought out by Six Flags. So while we were at Niagara Falls, I made it clear that I had to go to Marineland, and we did.
It was no Sea World, but I really enjoyed it. Upon arrival, I looked at the map of the place and headed for the killer whale aquarium.

It was amazing, they had an underground observation area! I was completely mesmerized watching these beautiful animals. The aquarium seemed to be divided into two sections, in one section there was an adult that seemed to be sick and a baby, I'd guess around 4 months old. The young one was swimming around the whole time and interacting with the people watching through the glass. A few feet next to me there was a kid with a small, stuffed killer whale doll, this was responsible for my favorite moment. He kept holding the doll up to the window and something adorable happened, the young whale came over and kept gently nuzzling at the glass where the doll was. It was such a cool sight.

In the other half of the aquarium was a mother with an even younger baby, I'd guess about two weeks old. It was so peaceful watching mother and baby gracefully swim alongside one another like that, it was beautiful.

After that we got a bit lost but eventually found the beluga whale viewing area. I was so pumped, I had never seen a beluga in person before.

They're awesome, though quite weird looking, kind of like a dolphin that ran into a wall. One funny moment there was hearing a kid excitedly shouting "Mom! Look! There's a white one!" I kept thinking "...they're all white, calm down." I'm too sarcastic, even when I'm thinking to myself.

When we finished up at Marineland, of course my next mission was...find a mall. There was actually a reason though, I was in search of two Corrs DVDs that had just been released in Canada. I found them and we headed back towards the Falls, to Clifton Hill.

For those of you who've never been to Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill is a hill with the weirdest mishmash of places. Wax museums, haunted houses, arcades, themed restaurants, face painters, everything. Before we left on our trip, we were told by my uncle to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, so that's where we were going.

The Rainforest Cafe is a big restaurant with, you guessed it, a rainforest theme! It was pretty cool, they had a bunch of animatronic animals scattered around that would move occasionally, gorillas, elephants, birds, a cheetah, a snake hanging from a tree, there was even a shark tank with real sharks in it.

Every so often the lights would flash, there would be a thunder-esque rumble, and a mist would briefly drift through the air. The food was okay, but I fell in love with a drink there: The Mango Tango. It was beyond delicious, my mouth is watering as I type this. I was amazed that you couldn't even taste the alcohol in it, later I learned the reason...there was none. It was just a smoothie. But it was a damn fine smoothie.

After we ate, we headed next door to a big Marvel Comics themed arcade type place. I bought a mug and took a picture with a big Spider-Man statue.

If that wasn't cool enough, there was also a little movie shop where I took my picture next to a cool RoboCop statue.

We spent about an hour in a different casino, but I didn't like it much. It was dark, smokey, and just didn't have a good atmosphere to it.

We got back to the hotel around 11:45 PM and watched the lights on the Falls shut off. Then I thought to myself and spoke up to the group. I told them "This is our last night here and I am not going to bed at midnight. I'm going down to the steakhouse for a drink from the cute waitress, who's coming with me?" ...or something along those lines.

So the four of us headed downstairs only to find the steakhouse closed at midnight. Plan B: Fridays. We made our way to the Fridays downstairs and ordered snacks and drinks. I was celebrating a great trip, so I decided to try something new, I ordered the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea. I was caught off guard when I saw that the glass almost looked like a fishbowl. I couldn't believe the size, but I wasn't going to back down from this challenge.

And yes, I conquered it.

It was nearly 1 AM and between the drinks and us just being tired, we were all completely slap-happy. We were laughing our asses off at absolutely everything and nothing at the same time, even Grandma, who was just drinking coffee was cracking up. I was laughing so hard I looked like I was crying, tears and all. And of course our waitress, who I also thought was cute, chose this moment to show up. I sat there, appearing to be sobbing, and all I could get out was "Can I have some ice cream?"
Again I was caught off guard when she brought my sundae in the same kind of enormous glass as my drink.

Before we left, I felt brave and decided to make a lame attempt at flirting with the waitress. I didn't think I was buzzed until I started to speak and by then it was too late to stop myself. Nodding to the two big glasses in front of me I said "I have to get a picture with you for bringing me these two huge things."
Smooth. Real smooth, Jacob.
But hey, it worked, she took a picture with me.

Exhausted and full, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Karen, and I decided it was time to get back to the room. At about 2:30 AM I closed my eyes and ended one hell of a Day 2 at Niagara Falls.