Niagara Falls

Day 8

Monday

August 18th

Tradition has it in my family that you don't rest while on vacation. You go nonstop until you go home. So after our big day yesterday at the reunion, we decided to go to Niagara Falls the next day. It's about a 70 mile and 1 1/2 hour trip. Here is how we traveled:

That's my grandmother's head in the bottom left-hand corner. Normally she would have stayed home to rest after such a big event yesterday, but we guilted her into coming with us to Niagara Falls because it was my sister's birthday. We had a wheelchair for her to make the trip easy. My brother and his family traveled with my dad in their car.

Wendy by the Falls.

Emily and Sarah by the Falls.

Rachel hung out.

Emily doesn't read signs.

Bradley by the Falls.

Jason by the Falls. Its the best picture I got of him.

We journeyed behind the falls, including Nani...

and Rachel.

Journeying behind the falls basically means you dress up like a giant banana and walk through some tunnels and look at a loud white wall of water.

I did the journey many many years ago. I had anticipated a really cool walk behind the entire length of the horsehoe. I was a little disappointed that it was mostly tunnels that plop you out at this look out point for you to view a huge cloud of mist. Nonetheless, it's a pretty spectacular view. Thankfully my camera survived the moisture.

A rainbow. It's real. Not Photoshopped.

Is it too much to ask for kids to look at the camera? I'm not quite sure why Emily thought she should eat her sister's arm.

The day was fun. On our way back home we had to show our US citizenship. We arrived at the border and this is the conversation:

Patrol: Where are you going?

David: New York.

Patrol: Why are you going there?

David: We are going home.

Patrol: How many people are traveling in the vehicle?

David: 11

Patrol: How many children and how many adults?

David: 5 adults and 6 children.

Patrol: Who do the children belong to?

David: Myself and my wife.

Patrol: All of them?

David: Yes.

Patrol: Why did you travel to Canada?

David: To see the falls.

Patrol: How long were you here?

David: Several hours.

Patrol: Did you buy anything?

David: No. Just food.

Patrol: No souvenirs?

David: No. We spent all our money getting here.

Patrol: May I see your proof of citizenship?

We handed him a stack of 10 birth certificates, 5 licenses and one passport.

Patrol: Out of 11 people only one person has a passport?

Me: Yes. Passports are expensive!

He looks at the documents and passes them back.

Patrol: Thank you.

Our hotel false alarm fire at 2:30 AM. As I looked around at the other hotel guests who evacuated, I realized that I probably had time to get dressed. I was more concerned about grabbing my purse and camera to document the event.

Bradley wasn't too happy about it.