Niagara Falls - May 2008

Last week Craig and I spent a few days up on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We desperately needed some quality bonding and relaxation time, just the two of us sans responsibility. Of course we missed our little bebe, Mr. Scooty Magooty, but sometimes a mummy and daddy just need some downtime (ok, so yes, I may still feel a slight bit of guilt about leaving him).

We left at 8am Sunday morning, which was Mother’s Day. Cameron headed off to breakfast with Nana, Papa, Aunty Pam and Aunty Kim and we headed off on our 7-hour road trip across the states of Massachusetts and New York (both quite boring states I must add). Though I will admit the drive didn’t feel nearly as long as I expected, having split the driving in half between Craig and myself. We drove 80mph and only stopped once for 10 minutes to grab lunch (we ate it in the car while driving)… we were on a mission. No stopping. Must get to Canada. Pronto, eh.

When we arrived in Niagara Falls we checked into our hotel (Sheraton Fallsview), dropped off our bags and pretty much instantly headed to the casino, Fallsview Casino. We both played $2-$5 NL Hold’Em and after 4 hours of play we were both up. We were exhausted, a 7-hour drive followed by a 4-hour poker session will do that to you, so we crashed back in the hotel for the night.

Monday morning we had breakfast in our hotel’s restaurant overlooking the falls. I forgot to mention, the view from our hotel room was incredible (see pics below). The room itself was a typical hotel room, and most importantly it was clean (I would be so grossed out if it wasn’t). It wasn’t quite like some rooms we’ve stayed in while in Vegas (ah, Bellagio and Venetian’s Venezia Suite, so lovely), but for what we wanted and what we were willing to spend I was very happy.

Monday started out a wet, cool day so we did The Journey Behind the Falls (where you get to go down behind the falls) since we knew we’d get wet anyway and did a bit of walking along the falls park area. As the day went on the weather improved. We headed off to the small town of Niagara on the Lake by late morning. A few people recommended it so we wanted to check it out. It was a little street of shops and restaurants, nothing impressive by any stretch. I think I’m spoiled, because Rockport is about a million times better than this place. We had lunch there and then headed back. On our way back we stopped off at a few of the scenic pull off stops to take a look at the river, the dam, and the whirlpool area. We spent the evening back on the poker tables. My night ended by flopping a set of nines to someone’s straight (playing K-10), after they called my $30 pre-flop raise. Yuck. I couldn’t stop thinking about that hand… it took me about 5 times as long to fall asleep because of it. There was so much money in the pot already (there were a few other callers pre-flop and I lead out with a $75 bet) could I have really gotten away from it? This is where I’d love to have Daniel as a mentor, to tell me the right play on these important decisions. This hand still eats at me.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Sunny and mid 60s, what could be better? We went to breakfast at Perkins, which was good I must say. Eggs cooked perfectly, delicious shredded homefries and buttered white toast (I haven’t had white bread in forever). Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day by far, and after going two nights in a row without any dinner (yes, we’re complete degenerates that won’t leave the poker table to eat dinner) this breakfast tasted like a what having a million bucks must feel like - awesome.

After breakfast we headed down to the Maid of the Mist. By this point we had done a TON of walking. My feet were sore, had calloused bottoms and could have totally used a good taxi ride though we trekked on. The Maid of the Mist was great. We got soaked as we rode up to the falls, it was incredible to see the force and hear the sounds of the all that water coming down. Just before we made it to the Maid of the Mist our old digital camera officially crapped the bed. There were these beautiful tulips I wanted to get a picture next to and the camera had other ideas, such as NOT WORKING. Ah well. I didn’t want to carry along the nice new camera everywhere, and couldn’t even contemplate bringing it on the Maid of the Mist (holy wetness batman) so we were without camera for the actual Maid of the Mist boat ride. If you go to Niagara Falls it is a must do, just take my word for it.

After Maid of the Mist we needed some lunch. We couldn’t decide but ended up in Casino Niagara. It was between their café and their buffet. We were tired, hungry and next to their buffet so we went there. It was good, especially for a buffet. We both ate a lot and then headed back to the hotel to chill for a bit.

Next stop, go-carts! We got the car and drove a few miles to the go-cart place. The mini-golf portion of the place was not yet open (I guess they do the big mini-golf grand opening on Memorial Day weekend?) so we both did 4 times around the track. Yes, yes, Craig kicked my butt. If we had both gone around the track 6 times we would have probably caught up to me, yikes! I was a bit of a fraidypants, but in my defense Craig has ridden those things at F1 before and I never have. So there!

After resting back at the hotel for a bit and freshening up we headed back to our favorite place, the poker tables! We knew better this time (we had over an hour wait on Monday night) so we called ahead to put our names in. It was a brutal session to say the least. Lets just leave it at that.
Wednesday morning we got up, packed up and checked out. Mission – to get home to see my bebe, I missed him dearly! Our drive home wasn’t nearly as smooth as our ride there. We hit a few construction spots that caused us to slow down and then when we got into Western Mass the Pike was shut down! Ugh. We were right next to an exit and Craig could see a route on the map we could take back roads and get back on the Pike 10 miles up (hopefully past the accident that caused the Pike to shut down). It added an extra 30 minutes to our drive but when we got back on the Pike was moving along. After 8.5 hours of driving we made it home, YIPPEE! Cameron was eating dinner and so happy to see us. For the next two days he was Mr. Lovely Pie. It was nice to be home.


View from our room

Craig & I in front of the American Falls

See the platform in the middle right side of this picture?

This is Craig down there...

Some lovely tulips (which were all over Niagara Falls)