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.

August 31st, 2007 - A Day at the Falls

Okay, so I didn't wake up early as I hoped. I ended up sleeping until 11:00. Yeah, it's vacation, but I've got things to do, baby.

We flicked on the TV as I went through my waking process as quickly as I could. There was a story dominating the news about a guy sending out letter bombs to people in Toronto. Mom and I watched as the news chopper followed the bomb squad escorting the explosives out of the downtown area to be detonated.
Not exactly an inviting story, knowing that we would be heading to Toronto on Sunday, I wasn't worried.

I was a bit worried about the bed situation in the hotel though. The beds in our room didn't quite work with the lift I use to transfer me out of my chair. We managed to work through it the first night, but Mom's back couldn't withstand much more of that kind of strain, so we went to the front desk. The manager and two electricians (the maintenance man wasn't available) came up to our room and, with some creativity and elbow grease, came up with a solution and fixed our problem.

With that taken care of, Mom and I headed to the Falls for the day. Our first stop was the SkyWheel on Clifton Hill. The SkyWheel is a giant ferris wheel, over 175 feet tall with climate controlled cabins that can seat up to eight people inside.

I was excited and ready to go, but Mom has never been a fan of heights. She used to be nervous about the Skylon Tower until we went up, so I was hoping this would be similar.

Personally, I thought she did great, but she didn't feel as at ease as with the Skylon, mainly because of the windows on all sides. If anyone in the control room was listening in, they certainly got themselves an earful.

The view from up there was beautiful, though. Such an awesome perspective of the Falls, Clifton Hill down below, and a good chunk of the city.

After a few rotations, we were back on solid ground, much to Mom's relief. All the employees we talked to on the way in got the rundown from Mom on her take on the whole experience. From there we popped into a shop to pick up a couple souvenirs for family and friends back home.

Clifton Hill


Dinosaur Park Miniature Golf

We wandered for a few minutes in a good sized, yet surprisingly well hidden park in search of a shortcut towards the Falls. Not finding one, we wandered back to the van and drove down.

The park

We usually come up to the Niagara area after Labor Day, so it was a bit more crowded than we're used to, but thankfully the crowds weren't nearly as bad as they looked. The weather was gorgeous: warm and not a single cloud in sight. Most of the trip seemed to follow in that weather pattern.

The Maids of the Mist


Across the gorge


Into the mist

Walking by the Falls was fantastic, as always. The mist, the rainbows, even the crowds just made it great. The kids were full of great little quotes to overhear. One family was obviously also from Ohio, as the young son looked out over the rushing waters and proclaimed "I can see Cedar Point!", which was followed by a pause of deep thought and then concluded with "Can we go to Cedar Point?"

Mom & Me

Our stroll led us down to the Table Rock Center at the top of the Falls, which is currently under construction as they add onto it. We sat behind the building for a few minutes and just took it all in as a nearly full rainbow seemed to rise right out of the water before it went tumbling over the precipice.

A few feet away, another little boy exclaimed in an excited voice "It's all so amazing, Mommy!"

The Rainbow Bridge

After a little while, we were getting hungry, so we hopped back in the van and headed up the hill to Tony Roma's. I went for the sure-fire route and got the chicken fingers. Simple, but always tasty.

We arrived back at the hotel shortly after 10:00 PM, where we decided to stop at the bar in the lobby for a glass of wine to unwind.

Up your nose with a rubber hose

Back in the room, I got to sleep as early as I could. I had to be ready for concert day, after all.

Day 2- "We Were Occupied, I Never Had to Go Outside..."

Friday, February 23rd, 2007

I hate hotel beds. I've had a water bed my whole life, so sleeping away from home has always been something of a challenge. Making sleep more of a challenge was the heater in the room. This thing was so loud and ran almost constantly. It ran so much that when I finally fell asleep, it woke me up by shutting off. Needless to say, it was a fairly restless night.

Mom was up before I was and snapped a few shots out the window. There were giant chunks of ice floating down the river in the morning sun.


As I woke up on the day of the concert, I checked out some of the many channels and was overjoyed to see MuchMusic. I was a huge fan back when our cable company carried it, but they dropped it years ago. It was where I first found a lot of the bands I still listen to today. It was nice to be able to watch it again for a few minutes.

While we got ready to go find somewhere to eat, we noticed a boat coming down the ice-filled Detroit River. As it got closer, we could see it was actually an icebreaker.


A few minutes later, it was followed by another one. It was a pretty cool sight.


Mom and I wandered down to the River Runner Lounge, just off of the hotel lobby for breakfast, but found it didn't open until 2:30. Having a half hour to kill, we decided to go check out how to get to the Chrysler Theatre. It worked out nicely, since the Hilton was right next door and the buildings are connected, we didn't even have to go outside to get to the venue.

We went as far as the ticket booth door, which was locked, and turned around to find the door we had just come through was now locked. There was an open door leading to an empty meeting room, which we passed through and found an employee who helped us out.

Still having time to kill, we wandered a bit more. Checked out the gift shop. Posed with a funky little statue. The usual.


When they finally opened, we got a quick bite and and a little wine (what a breakfast) in the lounge. Jeff called halfway through, asking what I was up to that night. When I said I was in Canada, he responded with a classic "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" and we made plans to hang the next night.


A little while later, we headed over for the sound check, as we were so kindly invited again. It was a great time, watching Chantal and Raine play and visiting with them and their awesome crew for a bit before the show.

The concert itself was excellent. The show in St Catharines was great, but this one blew it out of the water. The venue was bigger, the crowd was bigger and more responsive, and the performances from both Raine and Chantal were more finely polished.

During his set, Raine played two new songs from his forthcoming album, both of them, especially Yellow Brick Road, sounded great. I'm really looking forward to hearing the completed album.


One funny moment came when Raine commented how happy the audience seemed and suggested it was cause of all the strip clubs in the area. Seconds later, Chantal chimed in from behind the piano, "Not gonna happen, honey."

Chantal's set was excellent, mixing it up newer songs with the older ones. After opening with So Cold, she briefly paused the show, noticing several audience members had an extremely obstructed view, due to the piano's position on the stage. She took a few minutes and actually had some chairs brought up on stage, she then brought some of the audience members up.


Chantal and the band, including Raine on bass, sounded in top form. So many personal favorites were played, including Time, Ghosts of You, Surrounded, and a recently reworked version of Wayne.


After leaving the stage, Chantal returned to the stage for an encore minus the band and completely unplugged. She sat, legs dangling over the edge of the stage, with just her guitar and her voice, no microphone or amp, and performed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Far Away. This was my sixth time seeing her in concert and I was blown away by her ability to hold such a large crowd in awe with her voice alone.


I've always loved the song, but this was the best it's ever sounded. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who thought so, as the song was interrupted by applause for about thirty seconds before it ended.

The band returned to join Chantal for the remainder of the encore and close out an incredible show.


Mom and I quickly went back to thank Raine & Chantal and say our see-you-laters before heading back to the hotel.

We decided to stop in the lounge for a drink, but found it was closed. Before midnight. On a Friday. After a concert. In a casino town. Does that make sense to anyone? Cause it sure seemed odd to us.

So we went with Plan B and went back to the room and hit some snacks Mom packed. Some pretzels and a few cookies later, we called it a night and got some sleep before the drive home in the morning.

What an amazing day. All that without ever even going outside.