I’m strictly tourist
But I couldn’t care less
When they parlez-vous me
Then I gotta confess…That’s for me!
– from Funny Face
August 18, 2011
Got in the car with aunts Peggy and Dori and headed to Niagara Falls. We’re the honorary tag-alongs on their delayed honeymoon. On the road, Peggy told us an hour and a half long story about a small girl who befriended an owl. It hardly felt like driving at all! Once we got into town, we had a bite to eat and then headed straight for the Maid of the Mist Boat Tour.
Got closer to the American Falls than we thought we would. Lots of spray. We had to keep our heads down in order to see through the mist.
Mama calls this our spy shot. She and Dori kept their shades on – but it only made things blurry! We got drenched! But we had a fantastic view of the falls on the American side AND the horseshoe falls that belong to Canada. It was like we were right under them, taking a shower! On the way back, Tobes kept watch for the birds on the rock near the docks. He called them penguins, but they were just seagulls.
After the boat ride, we hit the much anticipated Hershey’s Store. This has been Bea’s fantasy since we passed it on a trip to the U.S. earlier this summer. We had free samples of fudge, miniatures, and kisses, and then we kissed the kiss outside.
Oh…and while we were in there shopping for experimental flavoured candy bars, stuffed bears, and toy cars, Aunt Peggy found “Peg Packs” of chocolates and posed beside them to give them the “thumbs up.”
Checked out the fallsview from our own separate SUITE at the Doubletree, all the while eating the warm cookies they gave us upon check-in! Peg and Dori were in the suite right below us – so they had the same view! We tried to tap dance like Fred Astaire up above them, but the Gingers downstairs didn’t seem to be bothered.
So, we headed down to take a two-hour dip in the saltwater pool. Saltwater seems to make us float more easily…We’re pretty sure we perfected our backstrokes and our front crawls here in Niagara.
After a fancy steak dinner at a restaurant which promised and delivered a falls view, Mama let us stay up late to watch retro cartoons on our television. No clue when we actually fell asleep. She said it took forever.
August 19, 2011
Since we were all so comfortable in our rooms-with-views, we decided to make a further holiday of it. Peggy and Dori booked the hotel rooms for another night! Well rested, we went to have a closer look at the Horseshoe falls. And, on the pedestrian walkway there, Peggy helped us make a video re-enactment of the famous Three Stooges comedy routine about Niagara Falls (“Slowly I turned, Step by Step, Inch by Inch….”). Watch it here.
After a long look at the mist and the incredible drop down (not really sure why anyone would want to head down there in one of those old wooden buckets. What are they, nuts?) we all decided to go our separate ways for the afternoon…
Dori stayed put to spend an hour or so by the misty horseshoe. She said she picked up one of these Kosher Hot Dogs At the Brink of the Falls while she was taking in the view. Wouldn’t you?
Here’s a bit of what the newlyweds were looking at together, and then, from different angles.
Later, Peggy took a stroll over to the Rainbow Bridge to straddle the International Boundary Line.
And, she headed over to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum to take a wide array of photos of their two-headed animals and shrunken heads, and those bodies that disappear as if by magic.
Meanwhile, we took mama over to have a look at a Lego exhibit/museum. Really, it was just a small room. But it was a small room full of Lego masterpieces! Here’s theLlego version of our Maid of the Mist adventure, complete with a tight walker making his way over the falls.
Stood for a long while watching the vast network of Lego trains make their way around the room. Never seen a Lego train before. Seemed to be hundreds here. CN trains, GO trains, Subway cars, fancy european lines… So hard to tear ourselves away…
After we all had our rambles, though, we met up at the hotel jacuzzi. First time for us kids in a jacuzzi! Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! And our feet did, too!
Then, later that night…A sushi dinner, a raid on the liquor store for mama and the aunts, and a trip to the mini mart for chocolates. Ahh, the preparations for our pajama party on the 18th floor!
The fireworks started at 10:00pm. They were beautiful!
Unfortunately, the fireworks ended at 10:05pm! Still, they were fun while they lasted…and we were exhuasted, anyway! Mama let us watch the television again, but we don’t remember a single moment of those shows…
August 20, 2011
After a pancake breakfast, we drove Pegy and Dori back down to the falls for a special honeymoon shot. Photographer: an unknown helpful stranger. We can just hear them singing, “Let’s get away to Niagara…Let’s get away….” Either that, or this song they sang with us kids.
After a brief tour of the local road through to the lake, we drove back home. Peggy told us another crazy story in the car! We passed out soon after we got home! But, Mama and Papa and Peggy and Dori stayed up to watch the famous movie “Niagara.” Every once and a while, we might have woken up to hear them downstairs, saying, “We were there,” or, “I saw that,” or, “Wow,” or “Look at those electric hips!” Mama said that Marilyn was as steamy as the falls. They wondered how they missed the carillon on the way in and out of town.
So, now we can say we’ve done the falls! Thanks Peggy and Dori for taking us with you on your belated honeymoon!
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