8.13.2008

the Falls

I'm sick. There's too much work to do to actually be sick, but here I am, feeling like crap anyway. I cleared my morning so I could stay home and sleep it off but because it's me, I was up extra early and haven't been able to fall back asleep. So, it seemed like the perfect time to make a triumphant (yeah, that's right, this is what triumphant looks like) return to blogging.

What's really prompted me to get back to blogging? The glory of Niagara Falls, of course--the most amazing muse ever. For realz. If haven't gone, you must. It really is a wonder to behold and words can't really describe it how, um, busy the landscape is.

Chaz and I headed down there last weekend to catch up with Mo, Jay, and Mac. Despite being so busy with work and with Chaz's upcoming move, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to hang out with them, as visits with Mo are few and far between these days. Stupid BC, why are you so far away?

Below are some of the highlights for you to enjoy... I know you'll all be planning trips out this way once you see the glory that is Niagara Falls!


One of the first things we saw...dino mini-golf that was so clearly a Jurassic Park ripoff.



I asked Chaz to skip down the pathway to Niagara Falls. Because he loves me, he sucked up his pride and did it. Unfortunately (for him, not me) the first picture didn't turn out so well, so I instructed him to do it again. Apparently what I asked him to do was so embarrassing it troubled a man who was walking down the path so much that he begged me not to make him do it again. As you can see by the above picture, I ignored the stranger's request. There was skipping to be had!



Haunted houses are very popular in downtown Niagara Falls. You would probably never guess this on your own, but this BK was right next to Frankenstein's house.
Here's us trying to be all artsy with the big ferris wheel thingy that has an impressive name that I can't quite remember at the moment...





Tee hee!


We tried a few times to get this shot right, but it wasn't working. Also, I was in a skirt kneeling down on the ground and there was an older man (some might call him an adult 50+) who was watching us very intently whom I didn't want to flash. So, yeah, we gave up.
So many photo ops, so little time...




This is what fun looks like...didn't you know?


This is me doing my best GSP (who is not with the WWE, I know, I know)...the belt will be mine!








Cosmic mini-golf! It had been a while since our last game (the courses kind of suck in the K-dub) so I was a little rusty. Luckily Chaz really messed up one hole, so I didn't lose too badly.

If you enlarge this you will see some interesting (unintentional) hand placement.


The actual falls...







The line up for the Maid of the Mist, a boat ride that takes you right up to the falls. I seriously can't believe how long the line-up was...this is the end of the line-up (near the walkway that you take to see all the Falls and get to all the Falls attractions). The line-up continued below us on the stairs all the way to the water. There must have been thousands in line and somehow the people just didn't stop lining up. It was really gross.




This picture makes me laugh. There was this man who seemed to know a thing or two about photography, with his fancy camera in a plastic bag (mist protection...there's so much mist!). It turned out that we were kind of following him around and taking the same pictures as him. We finally joked about it with him and then decided to maybe let him get far enough ahead of us that we wouldn't be creeping him out too much. But then somehow we magically caught up with him again, and that's when this picture happened. For the record, I think THEY were copying US in this picture. Gold!



In case you actually wanted to see the falls without us standing in front of it (how boring!). Also, that's the Maid of the Mist.

Chaz likes to take any opportunity he can to let his inner kid out, so he and Mac got along swimmingly. They couldn't help but strike some mad poses and put on a cart-wheel show, among other things.





I couldn't get over how many wax museums there were in Niagara Falls. And they all looked really awful. I don't get what the appeal is, but to each their own, I guess.


We couldn't help but take more pictures with the dinos.



Just like a bad amusement park, Niagara Falls has it all.


This made me a little disgusted to be part of the human race. You pay $2 and you get to pretend to fry someone in an electric chair. The crowd that gathered around this was alarming and the whole thing made me feel a little sick to my stomach. What I also found to be not-so-cool was the wax museum dedicated to criminals. Why we want to celebrate sexual predators and murders like that is beyond me...

Journey Behind the Falls...

This is quite possibly the most terrible tourist attraction I have ever experienced--I feel like a chump for paying money for this. If you do go to Niagara Falls I beg you not to get suckered in by this one. The name makes it sound so cool, but the reality is that you walk through tunnels with two look-out points that let you see behind the falls. Awful, awful, awful.

As least I'm not the only one who got duped. Good, old Aqua!


So much poncho action!

This is me before I knew what a rip-off this "journey" was.



This is the view from behind the falls. Glorious, right? Stupid Niagara Falls!