Niagara Falls

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We left the Sandman hotel about 9.30 after a nice lie in. Packed up the mini and headed south to Niagara Falls. It was about an hours drive from the hotel and this time it was Stephs turn to drive. The roads were still pretty busy and it was taking a bit of used to driving on them as back in the Rocky Mountains it was a more leisurely relaxed pace of life. Over here the drivers are more ruthless and the roads faster. The turn offs from their motorways are strange and if you're in the slow lane and don't have your wits about you next minute you're heading off at the exit. So after good driving by Steph and excellent co-driving by me we arrived in Niagara Falls about 11am. Check in at the hotel wasn't until 4pm but we pulled up in the valet parking area and Steph went in to find out about our room. She came back out after a while, she'd been offered a free upgrade with a better view of the falls but it was only a king size bed instead of a twin room, as well as a bunch of vouchers for free drinks during our stay. We took it anyway as the king size beds are huge here! It wasn't going to be ready until 1.30pm but the bell boy could take our luggage and put it away until the room was ready. The valet guy took the car off somewhere for the grand fee of $25 a night! However some of the areas and parking lots looked slightly dodgy do we figured the car was safer left in their hands.

After sorting out the car and luggage we went for a walk and realised the whole place is like a mini Vegas! There's big hotels everywhere overlooking the falls, casinos and restaurants in the hotels. We spent the next couple of hours walking round and had a lunch stop early as we'd missed breakfast. We had to go back to the hotel a couple of times before the room was ready but then managed to get given free wifi for our stay instead of having to pay $9.95 per day do that was another win. We went up to the room when it was ready and found we had a separate lounge area which we've basically just left our luggage in and turned into a dumping ground! Steph called the extension for the bell boy who brought our luggage up to the room which was handy then had to tip the poor guy with coins as we had no notes! After some chill out time in the room and time spent looking at the view out of the window we decided to go for another walk round and to try and book tickets for the cruise that takes you up to the falls. We'd read that they do fireworks at the falls on weds,fri and Sunday's in May. This meant we'd see them tonight and Friday. We decided to try and book tickets for the firework cruise on Friday night for our last night and try to go on the cruise this afternoon as the weather was hot at 30 degrees and sunny with blue skies. The next couple of days are forecast for cloud and sun. We managed to get on the day cruise and sort out the tickets for the Friday night one.

We got in the queue for the cruise and were handed the free plastic red poncho to keep you dry from the spray. We both thought it was a bit overkill as surely you couldn't get that wet, how wrong we were! We ended up in a great position right at the front of the boat. Poncho's on, hoods up and tied tight around our chins. We looked like right muppets along with everyone else on the boat. First the boat went alongside the American falls which are at the side on the American side of Niagara Falls before heading up to the falls themselves. We cud feel the spray on our faces which felt refreshing. However as we got closer and closer the spray got stronger and stronger. We both had sunglasses on which was protecting our eyes. Closer and closer and it became a massive deluge. I had to close my eyes with my contact lenses in because it was like being underwater. This continued for about five minutes. Water running down the inside of the poncho, the hood being blown off by the wind given off from the spray. I missed the whole time by the falls and could only just wipe and open my eyes on the journey back. We were both soaked under the poncho as the water had somehow found its way in! Once back at the dock we got off and found a bench to dry off on and get a hot chocolate.

Once we were drier we walked right across from the dock to the actual edge of the falls which was a good 20 minute walk, took some photos and had a general walk around. Where the water goes over the edge it looks a real greeny colour and surprisingly the depth of the water before it goes over isn't very deep by the looks of it anyway! We decided it was time for dinner so wandered around trying to find somewhere with a selection of veggie good for Steph. There wasn't many places that had much veggie stuff on the menu so we ended up at Applebee's where we've eaten before in New York. The menu must have been different as the only thing on the menu that was veggie was to get one of the burgers and substitute it for a veggie patty in the burger. I had half a rack of ribs which was lovely and Steph had her veggie burger. All was fine until she got a quarter of the way through and thought it was meat!! I had a taste and it did taste like meat but the consistency didn't seem right. All was confirmed when the table next door had burgers arrive which were definitely meat ones! Phew!

After Applebee's we went across to the casino to waste a bit of time and have a gamble before the fireworks later. We didn't really win anything which was a shame! After the gambling we walked down to the falls view level and waited around for the fireworks to start. It was dark outside and the falls were lit up illuminated in different colours which looked pretty. A raccoon was shuffling around in the undergrowth which was a surprise and it came pretty close. Myself and Steph were running round after it at various points to try and get a photo but it was fast!! Luckily we saw it the next morning and managed to get a good photo!

After the raccoon the fireworks went off bang on 10pm and lasted about ten minutes. They weren't directly over the falls but we're pretty good nonetheless. Once the fireworks were over we leisurely walked back to the hotel and went back to the room for the night.

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