Sunday, August 23, 2009

Niagara Canada, EH?

My darling husband and I had the opportunity to get away for a few days. As one of us (I'm not telling which one) had been a raving lunatic for 2 or three weeks... or months... or years...(one loses all track of time in the padded room), we decided to get far, far away. As far as possible without leaving the country. But then we actually did leave the country, but just barely, and it didn't really feel like we were leaving the country because we drove into Canada and they didn't even stamp our passports! I mean really! I LIVE to get stamps in that thing. I even took it to Mexico when it wasn't a requirement and begged them to stamp it for me. Anyway, back to the story. We flew into Buffalo, NY from Oregon and then got a cab to Ontario, Canada, home of Niagara Falls! We got in after dark so although we could hear the falls, we didn't get to see them until the following morning when we woke up, opened the curtains and were met with this spectacular display.







VIEW FROM HOTEL WINDOW OF CANADIAN HORSESHOE FALLS
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The first thing we did was take a walk along the falls and head into the heart of the tourist district.


RAINBOW INTO FALLS




We rode on the Maid of the Mist first. This is the famous boat that takes people right to the base of both falls. This is the American Falls. Very respectable falls but slightly less impressive than the Canadian Horseshoe fall. Also the American side is less developed tourist-wise. Which is why we decided to go Canadian.



AMERICAN FALLS

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It was pretty hard to get a picture of the Horsehoe Falls from the boat since we (and the camera) were getting soaked. The mist hides some of the falls but you get the picture. I don't have exact numbers but the falls are VERY HIGH. (I don't speak Metric, anyway).
HORSESHOE FALLS FROM THE MAID OF THE MIST

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We also went on down the river to view the rapids. These are very fast rapids, they are some dangerous category (5 maybe?) They told us on the tour to be careful not to fall in because we we could die....uh, really? I think I could'a figured that one out myself even if I am a stupid American!

DANGEROUS RAPIDS-DO NOT GO SWIMMING!


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This is a picture of the American (left) and Canadian (right) Falls bridged by a rainbow. I think this makes me look like a brilliant photographer, patiently waiting all day for just the right light and conditions to take the most perfect photo. Okay, maybe not but it is pretty, though.







Monday, August 10, 2009

Bungee Bear

Daddy took the girls to Girl Scout camp last weekend. They stayed in tents, swam in the lake, made pine derby racecars (in deference to the dads, I'm sure). They all said they had a great time. The girls slept in a tent on their own. The dads were left to wonder what their little girls were up to all alone in the wilderness without parental supervision...

We discovered this on the camera when they got home: