Black and White Sunday: Are We There Yet?!

Road Trip - Day Three

As part of our planning for this trip, I saw that nearby was a very quaint and picturesque waterfront town called Niagara-On-The-Lake, the lake being one of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario. This may well be one of the prettiest towns I've ever visited, if not the prettiest! It has a lovely historic district filled with lots of unique shops. But the best past for me was all the flowers! Everywhere you looked, the town was just dripping with flowers! The sidewalks were lined with large beds, the shops had potted flowers flanking their doors, buildings had window boxes full and porches sported hanging baskets. It was a version of heaven, for sure!

This is how it looked, everywhere!

 

What an appropriate name for this hotel as a spot to pose my Welsh Corgis!

This town was SO classy, even the dog water/treats were served on a Silver Platter! Really!

Some of the sidewalks looked like this........Hmmmm, what could a maple leaf stand for?

Both liquor stores I saw, here in Niagara-On-The-Lake, and in Niagara Falls, had this cute sign in their windows ......

There's that maple leaf again!

It was a very warm day (but still much nicer than home temps!), so after finishing up on the main street, we headed to a park right on the lake. There was a small beach area where the boys were able to cool off. They promptly found a stick and did a few rounds of fetch. I think you've all seem enough "swimming with a stick" pictures to last you a lifetime so I'll spare you those :-)

Here are a few posed shots after the swim.The lake is a gorgeous blue! That's Fort Niagara on the American side in the background (or so I was told).

Enjoying the shade and watching the seagulls.

We took the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) highway to get here, and took the Niagara Parkway on the ride back. It winds though endless wineries and along the banks of the Niagara River. Here's another example of the beautiful water....

The wires are for a tram ride, but it wasn't running at the time.

We headed back to the room. The dogs were exhausted, we needed showers and a break before heading out to see 4th of July fireworks.

Here's the end of the evening, the American Falls as dusk was falling around 10PM.

This last picture made me smile. Look at the sign of our times....So many people holding up their smart phones to record the fireworks.....

I see little white phone orbs everywhere!

We got up early the next morning and bugged out! It was a short but very sweet trip! The ride home consisted of an hour (!) stopover at the duty free shop (with me baby-sitting the boys, a very long hour indeed)  at the border,  followed by a long line through customs, followed by missing our exit in Buffalo and taking the l-o-n-g way through the area.

As the sign in the liquor store said: I Heart Maple Leaves! .....I Love Canada! It was a great trip!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Road Trip, Day Two - Part Two

After the fun of riding the Maid of the Mist, we walked back to our motel and got Jimmy and Wilson. We drove them to the upscale side of town to save ourselves a very long walk. Here there is a fancy Marriott highrise looking right at the top of Horseshoe Falls. The rooms must have wonderful views! There is a lovely brick paved path running all along the top of a hill above the falls, behind a fancy mall and casino, and eventually coming out to a road that heads down to the Welcome Center. It was planted with all sorts of pretty plants and flowers.

Here we are at the start of the walk......

It looks like you could almost jump right in!

There was a storm blowing around and it made for some interesting light. This picture makes it look like dusk but really it was just afternoon.

Click to enlarge the falls.

Between the Canadian side and the American side runs a bridge. It carries both cars and pedestrians across the border. It is called the Rainbow Bridge, due, I am sure, to the many rainbows cast by the spray of the falls. It was cloudy so we didn't see any. Needless to say, I had no plans to walk my dogs across a bridge called that!

There was no way in hell I was walking my dogs across the Rainbow Bridge!

We turned off the pretty brick path, and headed down to the Welcome Center area which is down a steep hill.

A nice photo-op!

I really wanted to get some classic "in front of the falls" pictures of the boys. But, alas, the walls and fencing made it difficult, as well as all the milling people. I tried to get John to hold each boy up for a shot but he was too embarrassed! Heaven forbid someone he didn't know and would never see again, might think he was some dog weirdo! I guess I am used to it :-)

We wondered around a bit more and then headed back to the car. We drove around, through a park, past some interesting old buildings, etc. It was dinner time for the boys and they had had enough outdoor time to take a break.

After settling them back into the room, we headed out again! We did ALOT of walking on this trip!

The main tourist area on the Canadian side is like a beach town on steroids! There are endless ways to entertain yourself or your kids. Mirror mazes, glow in the dark indoor putt-putt golf, Dracula's Castle, a Ripley's Believe It or Not...and the list goes on! Here's an idea of what it looks like.....

Look at that full moon!

A ginormous Frankenstein atop the Burger King!

A real man in thick gold paint. This 'Elvis' statue came alive if you paid him a tip.

We wandered around, shopped in the t-shirt/junk stores, and finally walked back to the room around 11PM. It was a big day and I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow!

Road Trip, Day Two...but still NCC

We had been warned that this was the absolute peak of the tourist season, what with Canada Day just past and Independence Day mid-week. While there were plenty of people sight-seeing, it wasn't the hordes I was expecting from reading reviews. Our plan was to do the Maid of the Mist boat ride first thing Tuesday morning to beat what I read was hours of waiting. As it turned out we were able to walk right up and buy our tickets, get in line with what looked like lots of people, but board the very next boat headed to the Falls.

Here's how it went....

We looked like a bunch of blue penguins waddling down to board our boat!

The American Falls as well as the Observation Deck on the American side.

A closer look at the American Falls. The penguins are yellow on that side!

This smaller cascade is called the Bridal Veil.

At this point our boat moved in very close to the large Horseshoe Falls. We were getting drenched at this point so I didn't take as many pictures. I was using my point-and-shoot as I didn't want to risk my DSLR! It was so fun getting in this close. I couldn't stop giggling with delight!

The larger Horseshoe Falls

A view back toward the larger falls as we headed back to port.

A view from the walk back up from the dock. The water is an almost Caribbean Blue!

The Maid of the Mist area above the dock has a large gift shop as well as a fast food chain so you can get a bite to eat. The prices were quite shocking!

The prices may well have beat what I've seen in NYC! Glad I wasn't starving!

We truly had a blast riding the boat, and seeing the Falls up so close. It is totally a don't-miss-it attraction! So we had finished our must-do item and it was still just midday. We headed back to the room so we could get the boys out for some fresh air and exercise! My next post will finally include some Cardi pictures!

Road Trip!......but NCC*

*NCC...No Corgi Content

We took a short road trip over the 4th of July week. As you may have guessed from my fireworks photo the other day, we headed north to visit Niagara Falls. Originally, we had planned to make it an add-on to the trip to this year's Cardigan National Specialty. It was only about four hours from Ohio, but the unseasonably cold weather and then 10 inches of snow in Buffalo, led us to cancel that part of our trip. In hind sight, it's great we saved it for July. It allowed us to get away from the hideous heat in our area, and was a real change of pace for Independence Day fireworks. Every review I read said to stay on the Canadian side of the Falls, so we did. And of course, Jimmy and Wilson came along for the ride! My boys are now international travelers!
It was an eight hour drive due north pretty much, through pretty mountains and forests. We got to our motel and settled the boys in, and headed out for some evening sightseeing.

We decided to ride the elevators up to the top of the Skylon Tower and see the Falls from way up!

There's a restaurant at the top, and the whole thing revolves to change your view.

In peak tourist season, fireworks are shot off each night over the Falls, so we did not need to wait for the 4th to be entertained! In the tower, you are up higher than many of the fireworks.

Here's the view.....

The American Falls

In a different direction, you can see the Canadian tourist area, including a Sky Wheel similar to what Myrtle Beach has, but without the colors. Click to enlarge this photo, and you will see that apparently, dinosaurs still roam the Canadian lands......

There's a mini Jurassic Park at the base of the Sky Wheel

That was about it for the first day. We walked back to our motel that was a few blocks from the main tourist area, and hit the hay!