Niagara Falls 2006: Day II

After an oddly restless night's sleep, I woke up around 11:30, which, if you know me, is actually really early. I took some time to wake up, enjoy the view from the room, and call home while Mom got herself ready.

First up for the day was Marineland. It was another overcast day, which was actually pretty nice, since I got sunburn the last two times we went there. The park itself seemed strange though, there was hardly anyone there and we only saw one concession stand in the whole place that was actually open. I'm not complaining though, it's always nice not having to battle a crowd.

We got right up to the killer whale viewing area in Friendship Cove, which was nice. They were constantly moving around this time as the mother nursed the baby. It was really amazing to watch.

Since it was pretty cool last year, we tried to check out the deer park area, but decided against it when the deer seemed to be somewhat overly social. There were a handful of them right up at the gate when we got there, if we tried to get in, they would have gotten out.

I've never imagined a deer growling before, but I'm pretty sure I heard one doing that to some guy inside the enclosure. We even saw a couple of them knock over an empty baby carriage by the gate. So, we decided to go somewhere a bit more tame. The bear pit.

We watched them horse around a bit and wait for people to throw food in, but the smell of bear gets old really fast, so we didn't hang around too long.

Next was the beluga area, Arctic Cove. I'm always surprised at the number of them in there, always clamoring for food.

A really cool sight, much like at Friendship Cove was a mother nursing her baby. Yes folks, I saw Baby Beluga in person.

While eating lunch, it became apparent to us who was actually in charge of the park. The seagulls.

Wherever you look, where you would expect to see park employees, you'd instead see seagulls patrolling the area. Remember the Goodfeathers on Animaniacs? It was like that, but with seagulls instead of pigeons and in much greater numbers. I never noticed how cocky the walk of a seagull is. Never trust a seagull.

As if that's not enough avian fun, we had a strange sparrow encounter as well. As we picked at our fries, we heard a slight "thud." A sparrow flew right into the window. From the inside. He wasn't hurt as he was going relatively slow. The bird hovered down to a chair to take a breather, moved down to the next window pane, and once again, "thud." This went on, pane after pane. A blind Canadian sparrow with OCD. Probably a spy for the seagulls.

We headed back to the hotel for a few minutes to gather ourselves and the sun finally broke free from the clouds in an impressive way.

By some strange coincidence, Maria and her boyfriend, Steve, were visiting the Falls at the same time we were, so we made plans to meet at Tony Roma's for drinks.
I noticed how good the music they were playing was and thought back to hearing a Corrs song played in there last year, a rarity around these parts. I casually said to Mom "I'll freak if they play Chantal this time." To my surprise, mere seconds later, I heard the opening notes of Chantal's latest single, All I Can Do. As promised, I freaked. Well, it wasn't so much of a freak out as it was a stare that said "Holy crap."
*Sidenote- To my amusement, the Moby waiter was there again!
A few minutes later, Maria and Steve showed up. It was a nice couple hours of drinking and catching up.

Hoping to ride my luck from the previous night, I headed back to the casino. I sensed the vibe wasn't there after a few minutes and stopped before the fun was taken out of the experience.

Despite the fact that it was dark and cold out, Mom and I wandered down to check out the Falls and take some pictures. Again, the area was pretty empty, so the walk was nice and leisurely. We got some pretty cool shots thanks to the lights they use to light the Falls. Also, the camera's flash combined with the nighttime mist produced a really funky orb-like effect, see for yourself.

Chilly, damp, and tired, we returned to the room. I played with the laptop a little to see if it had sorted itself out and to get some driving directions for the next day. I got the directions, but lappy was still cranky. Adding "frustrated" to my list, I rolled over in hopes of a better sleep than the night before.

Niagara Falls 2005: Day IV

When I woke up, Mom and Kris were already hard at work packing.

Checkout was at noon, so we had to be ready. In a total reversal of how things normally go with us, we were actually ahead of schedule, so we decided to get a bite to eat before hitting the road.

We heard they had some kind of breakfast deal going on, so we headed across the street to Tony Roma's again. Eggs and orange juice really hit the spot. A nice bonus was their choice of music. Everything they played was something I liked. Imagine my excitement when they actually played The Corrs. It was a lovely little surprise and a great nod to last year's adventure.

Grinning as "Forgiven, Not Forgotten" plays

An unexpected source of amusement was actually our waiter. Picture, if you will, Moby. Now imagine Moby to somehow be about twice as mellow as he actually is. That was our waiter. As we paid our bill, we said "Have a nice day" and he replied "You guys..." (10 second pause) "...as well." For some reason, I just couldn't stop laughing after he left. Maybe you had to be there.

Cracking up

Back in the hotel room, we made sure we had everything and I took one last look at the view of the Falls.

We loaded into the truck and we were on the road at noon. I fired up my road trip tracklist on my iPod and we crossed the Rainbow Bridge to Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again."

The view from the Rainbow Bridge

Buffalo




Fake buffalo on the road out of Buffalo

It was a smooth, uneventful, and bee-less ride. As we drove through New York, we passed a small convoy of supply trucks heading down to New Orleans to help out with the Hurricane Katrina relief. That was a pretty cool thing to see.

Almost exactly three hours after setting out from Niagara Falls, we were back home. We were all so eager to get out of the van and move around a bit, it's amazing how stiff you can get after just three hours of driving. We unloaded the van and told Dad all about the trip.

Loungin'

After a little while as Dad was leaving for work, that strange sensation hit me where it felt like we had never even left. It really was a great trip, but it brings up one question: Where to go next year?