Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Canucks!!

We had an early breakfast at the hotel this morning, complete with self-made Belgian waffles, cereal, coffee, juice and fruit. We were going to swing by the university for Nigel to get some lacrosse gear, but couldn’t be bothered, so we set out for the day’s drive. We headed north along Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes District. It was absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was endless views of lakes, rivers, autumn trees, vineyards, old barns and country towns. We did stop at a few of the wineries to check out the views, and managed to buy a few bottles at the Thirsty Owl.

We arrived in Niagara Falls late in the afternoon and stopped at the border for hot dogs at a little hot dog stand, then crossed into Canada (Oh, Canada!) and checked into our hotel. While driving around, we were surprised at how gaudy and cheesy Niagara Falls (the town) is, complete with the chain entertainment restaurants, Ripley’s museums and haunted houses, one souvenir shop after another, and lots of garish signage. So instead of exploring this once romantic, honeymoon destination, we hopped in the car and drove the short distance to Niagara-On-The-Lake, Canada. This is MUCH more like it! Streets full of boutique shops, cafes and elegant restaurants, beautiful flowers and trees, and all the buildings in old colonial brick styles. We had a coffee while wandering into some of the shops before they shut, then drove back along the winding roads to the hotel. This is definitely an area I’d love to live in! And Lindsay didn’t think the golf courses looked to bad either!

For dinner, we headed to one of the chain restaurants, Tony Roma’s, as Lindsay had a taste for ribs. It was a great meal (portions way too big of course), and afterwards, we walked down to the falls to view them at night. I had remembered from when I was young that there were coloured lights shining on the water, which changed every few minutes, and we soon discovered that they are still there. We tried to walk along the river across from the American Falls to the Horseshoe Falls, but the mist and wind were getting us absolutely drenched, so we gave up halfway there and went back to the hotel. Marie and Lindsay headed to bed while Nigel and I threw on our bathers (not worn since Acapulco) and soaked in the hot tub.

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