Power outages
I thought I told myself that this trip was going to be easy and carefree. I guess I was wrong. Why do I punish myself like this???? Where to start?
Flight was good. I went westjet this time and my only complaint was that they landed a little hard and were twenty minutes early. Which in theory is good but then you just end up waiting in the airport. I'm shocked at the sheer amount of Albertans visiting and going through Toronto. There are four flight arriving in the morning between the two airlines. We must be keeping the rest of the country going some days.
I easily got my rental car. Amusingly, for the first time ever they actually had my requested size. I'm cheap and go for compact and then you usually get the free upgrade. So glad this didn't happen to us at Liz and Pete's wedding as I ended up with a two door fiat. It's so damn small. The entire "trunk" is filled by my suitcase and it's small. But it's incredibly easy to drive and has some nice power. The lady did have to show me how to roll the windows down, but that was the only problem. And it's distinctive so I can always find it! Also, I've named her Stella. It fits.
My first stop was in one of the suburbs, oakville. Wow are the houses fancy. But the town or city curves around Lake Ontario and I found a lovely park after breakfast where you can see downtown toronto in the distance.
Driving here is really different than at home. People speed like crazy. Going 109 in a 100 zone isn't fast enough. And they will jerk around you to prove the point. And the semis are really aggressive which is a little terrifying in a tiny car. The roads are busy and people speed but it's not the competition like at home where you can't let people in front of you or pass you. Not sure which is worse. I only got lost a little bit. I missed the one turn because the highways just flow into new ones and I couldn't move over in time but I got back on track and arrived fairly early in Niagara Falls.
Only to discover that all the attractions had no power. I bought a pass online but had to try three different places and ride the bus for free to get there. And then five minutes after I finally got it the ladies working there cheered that the power was back. Fabulous.
But I had a busy water day, I started off with the white water walk. With the sheer volume of water coming from the falls they have class 6 rapids. Yeah, you can't ride those, people tried and they kept getting killed and injured so no more. They were quite impressive and you could walk along the boardwalk to see them for quite a distance,
Next was the obvious maid of the mist, what an experience, didn't get wet due to the poncho but it was really misty. Even on the sidewalks in the area. It was really weird having police and border security by the loading area but I suppose when you travel up a river that is a bit of a no mans land between two countries, one being the US I can see it.
I got so much more wet at journey behind the falls where you go through tunnels behind the falls. There was a guy trying to take a picture of me but it took him so effort to find me through the water. It was really crazy to think of people building these tunnels. Wouldn't be me doing that!
Afterwards I just cruised on the WEGO bus which was included in my pass. It's okay, takes a long time between stops but better than walking. I went way up north to see the floral clock. It was okay, so quiet and serene compared to the Table Rock area right by the falls.
Now I've made it to the hotel. It's a little older but I have a suite for a rock bottom price plus hst. I hate hst, I'm too used to gst. Also I haven't really slept in 24 hours so I could have probably passed out in the car. If I can stay awake I'm hoping to go down to the falls later when it's dark and they turn all the lights on.
As a complete aside it's. much busier here than I expected. I'd hate to see this place when it's busy. And the array of fellow tourists is bizarre. I've seen people in winter jackets, it's not that cold. So many non English or French speakers and tons and tons of seniors. And every single person is walking impaired. Which is driving me. Title nuts!but now the iPad is fighting me so I'm going to leave this off for the night and try to rest up a little!
Flight was good. I went westjet this time and my only complaint was that they landed a little hard and were twenty minutes early. Which in theory is good but then you just end up waiting in the airport. I'm shocked at the sheer amount of Albertans visiting and going through Toronto. There are four flight arriving in the morning between the two airlines. We must be keeping the rest of the country going some days.
I easily got my rental car. Amusingly, for the first time ever they actually had my requested size. I'm cheap and go for compact and then you usually get the free upgrade. So glad this didn't happen to us at Liz and Pete's wedding as I ended up with a two door fiat. It's so damn small. The entire "trunk" is filled by my suitcase and it's small. But it's incredibly easy to drive and has some nice power. The lady did have to show me how to roll the windows down, but that was the only problem. And it's distinctive so I can always find it! Also, I've named her Stella. It fits.
My first stop was in one of the suburbs, oakville. Wow are the houses fancy. But the town or city curves around Lake Ontario and I found a lovely park after breakfast where you can see downtown toronto in the distance.
Driving here is really different than at home. People speed like crazy. Going 109 in a 100 zone isn't fast enough. And they will jerk around you to prove the point. And the semis are really aggressive which is a little terrifying in a tiny car. The roads are busy and people speed but it's not the competition like at home where you can't let people in front of you or pass you. Not sure which is worse. I only got lost a little bit. I missed the one turn because the highways just flow into new ones and I couldn't move over in time but I got back on track and arrived fairly early in Niagara Falls.
Only to discover that all the attractions had no power. I bought a pass online but had to try three different places and ride the bus for free to get there. And then five minutes after I finally got it the ladies working there cheered that the power was back. Fabulous.
But I had a busy water day, I started off with the white water walk. With the sheer volume of water coming from the falls they have class 6 rapids. Yeah, you can't ride those, people tried and they kept getting killed and injured so no more. They were quite impressive and you could walk along the boardwalk to see them for quite a distance,
Next was the obvious maid of the mist, what an experience, didn't get wet due to the poncho but it was really misty. Even on the sidewalks in the area. It was really weird having police and border security by the loading area but I suppose when you travel up a river that is a bit of a no mans land between two countries, one being the US I can see it.
I got so much more wet at journey behind the falls where you go through tunnels behind the falls. There was a guy trying to take a picture of me but it took him so effort to find me through the water. It was really crazy to think of people building these tunnels. Wouldn't be me doing that!
Afterwards I just cruised on the WEGO bus which was included in my pass. It's okay, takes a long time between stops but better than walking. I went way up north to see the floral clock. It was okay, so quiet and serene compared to the Table Rock area right by the falls.
Now I've made it to the hotel. It's a little older but I have a suite for a rock bottom price plus hst. I hate hst, I'm too used to gst. Also I haven't really slept in 24 hours so I could have probably passed out in the car. If I can stay awake I'm hoping to go down to the falls later when it's dark and they turn all the lights on.
As a complete aside it's. much busier here than I expected. I'd hate to see this place when it's busy. And the array of fellow tourists is bizarre. I've seen people in winter jackets, it's not that cold. So many non English or French speakers and tons and tons of seniors. And every single person is walking impaired. Which is driving me. Title nuts!but now the iPad is fighting me so I'm going to leave this off for the night and try to rest up a little!
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