Packing up and headed to Niagara Falls Canada, eh

---

Packing up, ISB Concert, Buffalo and Canada

This morning started at 7am. That has been our earliest start time yet. We had a big day ahead of us. We had Kirby's concert, we needed to go return the rental car and pick up the new rental car and then head to Canada.

International Society of Bassists - Youth Concert

From 8:30am to 10am they had a college showcase so we got to the campus right at 8:30am. We visited a few college tables and ended up at the University of Alabama table. We talked to Mr. Crofut again and agreed to catch up in September. Most of the Alabama staff travels during the summer so it would be best to catch up once school gets back in. We all shook hands and we went to look at some of the vendor booths.

All I can say is, 'WOW!' There were so many basses everywhere. They ranged in price from 30k to 99k. I'm sure there were some outside of that range but we didn't see them. If Kirby wants to play in college guess we are going to have to start saving our money. I don't even want to think about it. Kinda makes us want to throw up.

Yesterday we talked to Kirby's small ensemble teacher, Dr. John Schinek. He is the bass professor at Oklahoma City University. He was so nice to talk to. He told us about a summer camp at Oklahoma and gave us pointers on what to look for when choosing the next bass. He owns 14 basses so he might know a thing or two.

He told us to look for a carved bass with a spruce top, maple sides and back, adjustable wheel bridge and 12 inch or more endpin. Sounds like a whole bunch of money to me! He said to stay away from laminate, plywood or crack resistant. Oh, this is just going to be complicated!

After we looked at a couple of vendors who were selling basses and bows Kirby went to get ready for his concert and we went to run errands.

We cleaned out the apartment, returned the rental car, picked up the rental car and went and bought Timmy a new set of luggage because his broke when we got to New York.

At 1pm the concert for the Young Bassists started.

There were six ensembles that performed. Kirby was in the first group. John introduced the group and he explained the Kirby wanted to call the group 'The beauty and the beast.' John said, 'that would be unfair to call the girls beasts so they decided on another name.' Ha! Leave it to Kirby.

In the middle of the performances they took a break and made an announcement. Each year they award a bass to one student. The recipient is recommended by the professors after getting to know the students the week of the concert. No, Kirby didn't win. We didn't expect it either. I believe this is intended for a high school student. It was really a pleasure to watch the person receive this gift. It is truly a life changing gift.

The concert had a variety of orchestra music and jazz music. One group even had a singer.

The last three songs were performed as a large group ensemble. It's always cool to see so many Bassist on stage performing.

The concert concluded so we returned the rental bass and hit the road to Buffalo.



Buffalo

We didn't see a straight shot to Buffalo so we just followed the directions given to us by the cars navigation system.

This time we have a Nissan Rogue. The poor little Rogue struggled up and down the hills. Jeff actually liked the Ford Focus better. We needed to Rogue though because we could never have fit our luggage in anything smaller.

On the way to Buffalo we drove past Seneca Lake. The lake was buzzing with activity (probably because it's Saturday). There are Vineyards all up and down the road we traveled. We didn't stop at any because we were focused on the Buffalo pizza and wings we were going to eat. Yeah!



Our friend recommended La Nova Pizza. There are two locations. One is off West Ferry and the other is on Main Street. Since we were not familiar with the area so we decided to eat at the restaurant on Main Street because it was right off the interstate. The Main Street store is not a restaurant but they have a few stools and a table outside. We ordered our slices. Jeff ordered a fajita slice, Kirby and Timmy both ordered a buffalo chicken pizza slice and I ordered a pepperoni slice.


We enjoyed sitting outside at the picnic table.

We then he headed to Niagara Falls on the USA side. I have always heard that the Canada side is better than the USA side but we really didn't know what to expect.

When you pull in you follow the signs through a normal looking State Park entrance. That's about where the normalcy ends.

When you get to the falls there are high rise hotels, shops, street vendors and people walking everywhere with out regard to the fact that a car is driving down the road.

There are places to park but they range from $10 to $20 per day. We were lucky to find a metered spot and we just paid $3 for an hour. By this time it was 8pm and we wanted to get to our Canada hotel before too long.

It was a very easy walk to find the falls. We walked along the rapids to the first fall. We did not have time to ride the trolley over to Goat Island. We just walked around the park area.

The sight of the falls is pretty amazing. The sounds, the mist and the intense current.

We walked around for about 45 minutes and then headed to Canada.

Embassy Suites - Canada

Passing over the board was pretty simple. We pulled our car up to the boarder crossing and Jeff handed his passport to the guy in the booth. He was a no nonsense guy. He asked where are we from, whose car is this, how did you get here and do we have any weapons. Jeff answered the questions and the guy was satisfied and we drove on. It was pretty simple. I wouldn't recommend being funny with the guy though. He meant business!

We easily found our hotel and went to check in. Well, first thing, holy parking fee! This hotel charges $43 American dollars to park a day!! There are parking garages everywhere that charge anywhere from $15 to $30 a day. I guess they are pretty proud of their parking lots.

Second fun fact, it's important to let you credit union know when you are traveling internationally. Well, long story short, we finally checked into the hotel.

Our room has a Falls view where we can see both the Canadian side and the American side from our window. It had a separate living area and bedroom. It is a very spacious room.

Tim and Laura came up to our room. We sat in the living room area and had a much deserved glass of wine.

After we got settled Tim and Laura walked us down to the falls viewing area. The falls were so pretty at night. As you got closer to the big Canadian Fall the mist was flying. We decided to call it a night and headed back to the room.

Tomorrow we are going to roam around, eat an early dinner at the Skylon Tower and take the kids to Clifton Hill.

Cheers!

---

Comments

[Lori Blume]

Great blog woman!
This was a great read! I loved all the info and pictures and felt like I was driving over the Canadian boarder with ya! Kirbys concert was awesome. Fun pics~I know he had a great time! I need to start some some kind of blog about our European experiment...Miss you bunches!xoxo