What A Weekend

I've had the strangest, most chaotic, and most unexpected events happen over the last few days.

Wednesday was really nice, I got to hang out with Corey, Bridget, and Eric. We caught up with each other, had a few drinks, and I dominated at the pop culture edition of Trivial Pursuit.

Thanksgiving was cool. Went to Granny's and visited with everyone. The day was a blur.

Friday rolled around and it was time for game night. Corey, Brendan, Eric, and Aaron all gathered and the games began. As we played, though, I started to feel a bit...off. After everyone left, I went to bed and ended up staying there until Sunday night.

Out of nowhere, I had the worst cough I've had in years. I coughed for about 48 hours nonstop.

I went to the doctor today and he gave me an antibiotic, I'm feeling much better, but still far from 100%.

I was really scared this was going to compromise the trip to St Catharines, but, thankfully, it appears I'm in the clear. As a matter of fact, we're leaving in the morning, so I better get some sleep.
I'll write when I get back Thursday!

Niagara Falls 2006: Day III

The first order of the day was to shop. I've been a huge fan of Chantal Kreviazuk for at least ten years now, and her newest CD, Ghost Stories, was released in Canada last week. If I had ordered it online, it would have arrived at the house while I was away, so I just decided to buy it while I was up there.
After a bit of research, I found out about the Pen Centre, the fourth largest mall in Canada. Sounded like a plan.

So, after waking up from a (slightly) better night's sleep, we hit the road for the Pen Centre in St. Catharines. We weren't on the road long when I completely cracked up. What could possibly crack me up on the road like that? A Canadian biker.
Now, there's nothing immediately that funny about a Canadian biker, the funny part was his choice of music. Picture, if you will, a big, gruff looking older man with a grizzly beard riding a heavy duty, mean looking motorcycle. What would you expect to hear blasting out of his speakers? Probably something like Born to Be Wild, right?
Guess again.
A fit of laughter overtook me when I recognized the music to be (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Canada's own Bryan Adams.
At full blast.
I'm not knocking the song or Bryan Adams by any means, but in that setting it was absolutely hilarious.

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at the Pen Centre.

After seeing this place, I can really see how far downhill our mall here has gone over the years. It's big, nice looking, tons of stores that are actually open, etc. Even the food court was impressive. They actually have sinks and microwaves if you needed them. It may not sound like a big thing, but it was a nice little touch of convenience.

It was strange not recognizing so many of the store names as we roamed the mall. I was pretty amused by the name of one store in particular...

They also had a giant chess board on the floor, complete with huge, movable pieces. It was kind of like that scene in Harry Potter, but less violent and with senior citizens instead of magical British children.

I eventually found my way to HMV and grabbed my copy of Ghost Stories. I also treated myself to Trailer Park Boys: The Complete Fourth Season on DVD. Mmm...Canadian goodness.

On my way out of the store, I stopped and posed for a quick picture with a poster of Chantal.

Before heading back to the hotel, we took a slight detour and drove by the Centre for the Arts at Brock University in St. Catharines, where, to my extreme excitement, I'll be seeing Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida perform in November.

Back at the hotel, the sun and clouds decided to give us yet another beautiful photo opportunity.

Even more great shots presented themselves as we journeyed to the Skylon Tower.

The Skylon was cool again this year, though it was already getting dark out, so the pictures didn't come out very well through the windows. We tried to find a wheelchair-friendly way to leave that would aim us toward Planet Hollywood, but that turned into a twenty minute headache full of running around, broken elevators, and badly lit sidewalks.

We eventually got onto the right path, though I underestimated how long the walk actually was. It was long and dark and the night air was chilly. Mom even temporarily ditched her shoes at one point to ease her feet. Just after passing Clifton Hill, they started to shoot off fireworks over the Falls, so we paused to watch.

After a run in with a kiss, we continued on our way.

I'd been wanting to check out Planet Hollywood for a while, so I was relieved when we reached the end of our long walk.

Once inside, I took a quick picture with the Terminator, but that was just about it. I wasn't really into anything on the menu and the tables were too tightly packed to walk around and look at all the stuff, so our visit was relatively short.

We wanted to avoid having to go up the big hills on the way back to the hotel, so I lead the way toward the main road. At least that was my intent. About a half hour later, it was clear I had gotten us lost. Sort of. We could see where we wanted to be, but had no idea how to get there or where we were. Passing tattoo parlors, small foreign food restaurants, liquor stores, and the serial killer museum, we eventually found ourselves on a familiar street. A few blocks later, we were back by the hotel.

Cold, hungry, and tired from our several miles of walking, we went to Fridays, it's become a tradition for the last night in Niagara Falls. We split some chicken and I tackled an Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea.

Back in the room, I took a last nighttime look at the Falls. It was something I hadn't seen before, the mist was so thick, it would occasionally entirely block out the American side of the Falls. Impressive, to say the least.

Knowing I had to be up early for checkout, I headed to bed after another busy day.

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 2006: Day I

Our plans to hit the road early were derailed by a bunch of those little things that always pop up at the very last minute. I had trouble sleeping, which resulted in waking up later than I had hoped, then my laptop decided to throw a noisy fit when I tried to check my email before leaving. You know, those kinds of things.

So, after a slightly stressful start to my birthday morning, Mom and I hit the road a little after 1 PM.

It was a nice, uneventful ride on a somewhat overcast day. Occasionally, the sun would peek through and shine down, giving the clouds a really cool look, like paintings.

Again, I whipped up a playlist on my iPod that helped the miles fly by. I included a live performance by Chantal Kreviazuk where she sang some songs from her new album, Ghost Stories, which I was looking forward to picking up in Canada. Though it may not sound it, it was pretty funny when Mom started crying (while driving) as Ghosts of You played. We both had visions of us pulling up to the border with Mom just sitting in the driver's seat, sobbing.

As we always do, we stopped to eat at the rest stop in Angola, New York before heading back onto the road.

The clouds became more and more ominous looking as we approached Buffalo and images of Independence Day popped into my mind. They had no bite to them though, only producing a brief drizzle.

Before long, we crossed the Peace Bridge into Canada and arrived at the hotel overlooking Niagara Falls a little after 6 PM. We settled in and I returned a couple birthday calls I missed while on the road, including one particularly amusing rendition of Happy Birthday.

I decided to see if any birthday luck would find me at the casino.

Grandma had given me some birthday money and told me it had to be used in the casino, so I used it. In my first ten minutes there, I hit. Granted, to 90% of the people in there, my winnings would probably be considered pocket change, but I was ecstatic.

I figured I'd splurge a little to celebrate my day, so we went to the Terrapin Grille. We split an order of bruschetta and had some wine. I think this may have been the best wine I've ever had. Sadly, I can't remember what it was called. All I know is it was the last one listed on the menu for Niagara white wines. Delicious.
After we finished, our awesome server surprised me with a piece of cake with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on the plate. That was a nice little surprise that ended my birthday and the first day of the trip on a great note.

Tipsy (and extremely giggly) from the wine, I followed Mom back to the room and hit the hay.

Niagara Falls 2005: Day III

We woke up a bit later, since we were so exhausted from Day Two. Again, Mom was awake before Kris and I. She had the camera ready as the day began with what she says was a pretty intense thunderstorm. I slept through the whole thing. She was amazed that they kept the Maid of the Mist going with all of the lightning.

By the time I was up and ready to go, the skies were perfectly clear and you never would've guessed it had rained.

We decided to head for the Maid of the Mist. Kris led us on a "shorter route" which actually turned out to be the long road, but it was scenic. As we walked, we came upon a motel I was pretty sure they used in the first episode of Wonderfalls, so I had to take a picture in front of it. (When we returned home, I checked my Wonderfalls DVD and it was the wrong motel. Oh well.)

Before long, we found ourselves walking down Clifton Hill. I was a bit shocked when I realized it's even steeper than Murray Street. I took my time so I didn't plow through a bunch of tourist, didn't want to scuff my new chair!

Finally at the base of the hill, we neared the Maid of the Mist. After a short elevator ride and many ramps going downward, we donned our stylish ponchos and we were ready to board.

I look like something out of a Missy Elliott video

It's a funny thing, overall, the newness was gone from most of the things we did on last year's trip, but the Maid of the Mist lost none of its magic. It's such a rush getting so close to such a massive natural wonder, you can really feel the power of the Falls.

The Brothers Smurf

There was one thing I could have planned better though. It turns out that the spot I chose to park my chair was directly under the edge of the second level of the boat, so as we pulled away from the Falls, a bunch of water poured down from the upper level onto me. There were puddles forming on my poncho.

We went to the gift shop (got a t-shirt and a little Canadian flag for myself and a t-shirt for Dad), stopped to eat at the little cafeteria area we ate at last year, then we checked out a couple places at the bottom of Clifton Hill. We made a quick pass through the WWE shop and then went into the MGM store. Next, we went into the Marvel building. It really is a cool place with lots of cool stuff, but it baffles me that they don't have any adult sized t-shirts or anything. What's the deal with that?

Chillin' with Spidey again


Me between the Infinity Gauntlet and Thor's hammer, Mjolnir


Me with Dr Doom's mask


Outside the Rainforest Cafe

Next, we stayed on the walkway along the river, heading back towards the top of the Falls so we could go on the Journey Behind the Falls. Another elevator ride down and we were wandering in the tunnels behind Niagara Falls. It was pretty amusing watching Kris, who's 6'8", walk down this tunnel with only about an inch between his head and the ceiling. It's crazy to watch the Falls from behind. The combined sights of massive amounts of water pouring down as huge clouds of mist shoot upwards is tumultuous and incredible.

Under the Falls


Behind the Falls


The tunnel

From there, we stopped in the gift shop and I bought a postcard to send to my good friend, Linda. Then I headed back outside to the top of the Falls for another dose of mist before heading back to our room.

At approximately 7:30 PM, we all lost it. Without warning and without reason, the three of us completely lost it and began laughing uncontrollably. Maybe it was the negative ions, maybe it was us being in vacation mode, or maybe we were just delirious. I'm leaning towards the latter. We laughed so hard at absolutely nothing that we had tears in our eyes. When we eventually regained our composure, it was time to eat again.

This time we went across the street to Tony Roma's. I'm happy to say it was the best and cheapest of the nice places we ate at, though it was still a bit pricey. And I've just got to say, damn...that Romarita I had was excellent.

Finally, on our last night in Niagara Falls, we went to the casino one last time.

Within the first ten minutes on the quarter slots, I hit for $30. I had a good vibe, baby. At the end of the night, I had played with about $50 and won roughly $80. I'd say it was a good night.

I was craving some ice cream, cause, y'know, gambling makes you crave some ice cream. We searched a bit, but anywhere that might have ice cream was already closed for the night. So we tiredly marched back to the hotel.
I wrote out the postcard for Linda while looking at the Falls from our room and then hit the sack to rest up for the drive home in the morning.