The thing to see in Buffalo isn’t actually in Buffalo, but rather nearby. I’m speaking, of course, of Niagara Falls. I don’t know how many of you have actually seen the falls, but man! They are quite impressive! Now that I have seen them in person, I really can not understand why anyone would ever think to go over them in a barrel! I didn’t even want to go near the water for fear that I would suddenly forget how to walk and trip and fall in, and thus sealing myself in a barrel and going over the edge was definitely out of the question!
Now, other than the amazing amount of water falling over the edge of a cliff, the best thing about Niagara Falls is people watching. For some reason there were approximately a million Indian tourists there (like from India), and we’re not really sure why. (Now, don’t get me wrong – other groups were represented as well – after all, this is Niagara Falls – but by far the vast majority of tourists there were from India. It was kind of odd.)
Niagara Falls is actually on the border between the US and Canada, and I have to say that the Canadians are doing Niagara Falls right. They have huge hotels with what I assume is an epic view of the falls lining the cliffs. They have an amusement park. They have casinos. They even have a boat ride – the Maid of the Mist – where the people put on blue ponchos and ride on the decks of a big boat right up to the bottom of the falls. It actually looks like fun on the Canadian side.
On the US side, there is a restaurant called Top of the Falls that I don’t think actually has a view of the falls. There are walking paths along the river and lots of opportunities for photo ops. There is a statue of Nicola Tesla, which is exciting to almost no one. (It’s important to note that Mike was very excited about the Tesla statue.) In fact, there are only two vaguely exciting things to do within sight of the falls. First, there is an elevator that you can go down (for a fee, of course) and you can then stand underneath part of the falls should you so desire. For this adventure, you get to wear a yellow poncho and they even give you sandals so that you can put your shoes in a bag so they don’t get wet. I will say that this looked like fun, but not worth waiting in the epically long line (mostly comprised of Indians) to experience. The second option is a large viewing platform that they have built that juts out over the edge, affording a better view of the falls. This was jammed with people the entire time we were there, and of course, they charge $13.50 (a rather random amount, don’t you think?) to go on it. Needless to say, we were pretty pleased with the free (relatively crowd-free) views from the walking paths.
I did try to find a barrel to at least stand in for a moment, but they didn’t appear to have any available. I really don’t know what the Niagara Falls tourist board is thinking in not having barrels scattered everywhere. They probably have them all over the place on the Canada side.
I will say that the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend was probably not the best day to decide to go to Niagara Falls, but what can you do? We thought about going to the Canada side, but the huge line of cars and hordes of people discouraged us, and we decided to just be happy with the US version.
The next stop on the Buffalo tour was to drive by my Great Gram’s old house on Hoover Ave. The neighborhood is super cute – the houses are all very well kept and just nice enough to make you understand why she would have been happy living there. The only snag was that there was a dude sitting on the front stoop when we pulled up, making it difficult to take a picture. We decided to drive around the block in the hopes that he would go back inside. (We’re not exactly subtle, driving around the neighborhood in a car that says ‘Just Married’ all over the back windshield.) Fortunately, when we got back, he was gone and we were able to take a few pictures of the house.
That mission accomplished, we headed for Tonawanda (a suburb of Buffalo) to the home of some friends of Matt’s from college. Jen and Matt are so good to us. Not only did they let us crash on the floor of their hotel room (twice!) on our leaky air mattress, they also scored us an invite to the annual pig roast. Thanks guys! You rock! There was tons of delicious food and really nice people and perhaps a little too much beer. We were there the rest of the day and into the night. They had a beer pong tournament (which Jen won! Go Jen!!!) complete with a trophy. Jen will now be the second female to have her name engraved on that trophy. It’s pretty awesome.
We had planned to leave the party at a reasonable hour and hit the road in search of a campsite a couple of hours away, but the party was so much fun that we didn’t want to leave! We are so glad that we stayed, because just as the sun went down, there was a huge crack of thunder and the skies opened up. Torrential downpour! I am so happy we were not sleeping in a tent last night! It would have been highly unpleasant.
This morning we are sneaking out of the hotel room early (trying not to disturb our awesome hosts) and hitting the road for Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – home of none other than Ferdinand Soisson, Mike’s awesome grandfather who did the reading at our wedding. I’m told that there will be a cookout tonight and we do not want to be late!