Surprise Birthday Trip - Day 3 & 4

Man, I have been busy! I guess that's a good thing. I have been avoiding finishing these updates because I'm still sad that this trip is over!! It was really so wonderful and such an amazing surprise. Not sure how you're gonna top this one, Tom :)

So back to day 3. We excitedly woke up on Saturday morning ready for a full day at the falls! We got ready, then headed down for our third all you can eat breakfast at the buffet of the vacation. I'm not the biggest fan of breakfast but I could get used to that.

It was about a 5 minute walk down to the falls and it was absolutely gorgeous out. Tom had bought us ADVENTURE PASSES so we were ready for a full and exciting day! The first glimpses of the falls were truly breathtaking. We had seen them a bit the night before but I will always remember seeing them for the first time in the daylight.

The American Falls

The Horseshoe Falls

The Adventure Pass included four different attractions: Maid of the Mist, White Water Walk, Journey Behind the Falls, and Niagara's Fury, plus a few trips on the bus (which they so cleverly called the People Mover).

We started with the Maid of the Mist which was probably the highlight of the day for me.

I had a slight idea of what Maid of the Mist would be like from the famous Jim and Pam Office wedding, but had no clue it was going to be so amazing. We boarded the boat with probably 100 other people and raced to get a good spot around the edge. 

The boat starts off slowly, edging closer and closer to the falls. I could NOT believe how close we got! We were lucky to be wearing ponchos because at one point the "mist" became a full on downpour!

It was so incredibly cool to be floating in the rapids at the bottom of the falls. SO. COOL. !!

After Maid of the Mist we dried off and hopped on a People Mover to go on the White Water Walk. We basically walked through a short path along extremely rocky rapids.

It was pretty interesting but I wish the walk was slightly longer and more secluded. The rapids themselves were really scary. I can't imagine having to swim through them. Here's some info from Niagara's website:

"The water travels at different speeds along the length of the Niagara River. South of the Falls where the river is wide and slow, the maximum speed is about 40km/h. Near the brink of the Falls, a speed of 109 km/h has been recorded. As the water travels through the Whirlpool Rapids at White Water Walk, it is traveling at about 48km/hr or 30mph, creating the Whirlpool Rapids - 'Class 6 white-water rapids'."

After the walk we took the People Mover back and then walked along the top of the falls. There were a few choppy spots, but overall the water on top of the falls was pretty calm. It's creepy to think about the first person who discovered the falls by way of falling down them. Eek!

We decided to stop for lunch in the only touristy food spot offered. It was a fast food burger joint of some sort and I do wish they would have had a few other options (they did have take out sushi but that seemed a little too out of place for me). I ended up ordering a plain ceasar salad and some fries. Funny story -- so we're waiting on line at the food place, about 2 feet from the counter, when this older couple comes and stands RIGHT in front of us. When I say right in front of us, I mean it -- the guy was *this close* to standing on Tom's feet. We looked at each other like, "did these people just blatantly cut us?" and figured they would eventually say sorry and move. But they didn't! They were clearly avoiding eye contact and so we just let them go. I couldn't stop cracking up about it though. This doesn't sound as ridiculous as I write it but we were looking around for hidden cameras!


After lunch we went to the third attraction: Journey Behind the Falls. We were given another poncho and then descended 150 feet through bedrock to tunnels that led to observation decks and portals close to the falls. The observation deck was really cool but the portals were a little underwhelming. 

There were too many people and I felt pressure to get in and out. I told the guy who worked there that I would have enjoyed it more if Tom and I had been alone down there. Apparently he thought I meant something else. Kids with their crazy minds!

The last stop for us was Niagara's Fury, a "4D" movie where we learned about the creation of Niagara Falls. It started with an animated pre-show which was adorable and perfect for kids. As a kid, I loved it as well. Then we wre taken into a theater where we flew through time and water and "snow" sprayed down on us. It was so fun!! I believe I may have screamed louder than any child in the room when the "lightning" struck...or maybe that was Tom. You just can't be sure in a dark theater.

On our way back to the hotel after Niagara's Fury we stopped at the falls for one more look, and I'm SOOOOO happy we did. This is what we saw when we looked out over the balcony:

Seriously, have you ever seen anything like this?? The rainbow touched each side of the water and was so bright. I never wanted to leave!! I took about 1,000 pictures and stared longingly at the rainbow for about an hour before I agreed to leave. We did have dinner reservations to get to!

When we got back to the hotel we cleaned up and then headed to The Watermark, the in-house restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. The restaurant offered absolutely stunning views of the Falls from above.

Unfortunately I didn't want to to look out that much because there were so many bugs on the windows! I have no idea why. It was very strange. For dinner we ordered a delicious bottle of wine and started with some mussels. I haven't had mussels in a while and it was about time! For dinner I ordered the leg of lamb, which was good but nothing like Iceland's lamb! Tom ordered the fish special and we got a very decadent chocolate torte type thing for dessert.

Before heading back to the hotel we decided a visit to the casino was a must. I have a ridiculous gambling addiction -- I like wasting my money on scratch tickets and slot machines. Tom is more strategic and sticks to the card tables and "real" casino games. We decided to go our separate ways and I lost $60 bucks in about 10 seconds on slot machines. Fun! When I met up with Tom he was doing pretty well on a blackjack table and decided to get out ahead. Good move. I still can't get over what happened next! Tom has a gambling ritual which I'm not going to write in case it jinxes it...but basically he won $700 in about 5 seconds!! I was flipping out and jumping up and down. I had a ton of Canadian change in my pockets which flew out all over the floor. People probably thought we just won a million bucks. But seriously, it was so exciting!!!!

We happily left the casino to go back to our hotel room and roll around in Canadian dough. Woo hooo!

The next morning we weren't too sure what to do. Our flight was around 5 pm and we had no idea how long the border crossing/traffic to the airport could take. We decided to walk down to the Falls to take one last look and see the whirlpools. The whirlpool was underwhelming, it was really just one big area where the water stopped. I don't get it.

We hiked around a little bit and saw a snake (!!) and then hit the road to Buffalo. We expected the city to be a little more interesting but it was fairly deserted. We yelped the best place to get some buffalo sauce (obviously) and ended up at Gabriel's Cafe. I ordered some boneless buffalo fingers which were pretty good, but I think I've had better in Boston. Sorry Buffalo!


After lunch we had some time to spare so we decided to enjoy the beautiful day by lounging at a park and reading. Here's Tom sitting under an oak tree reading Harry Potter :)

We had an easy flight home and were back in Boston before 8 pm. It was an INCREDIBLE trip and I'm stilllll experiencing post-vaca blues. Luckily I have a bunch of mini trips planned this summer, including a trip to the Cape this weekend. I wish I could quit my job and travel 24/7. Any way to make that happen??