April 21st, 2007
Niagara Falls

We began our day waiting to meet Martha, a tour guide from Bedore Tours of Niagara Falls who volunteered to give us a personal tour of the Falls and the area around it. If you ever find yourself at Niagara Falls, we highly recommend getting a tour from her.

Once we met Martha at our hotel, she was able to help us get photos from the Penthouse where we had quite a beautiful view overlooking the falls. After that, we decided to have some breakfast with her at the Sheraton at the Falls where they had a wonderful buffet. It was probably the best breakfast we had all trip, we will definitely be going back there on our return trip to the Falls.

After food, we headed out to see Niagara from the Canadian side. We started out first by driving down to a nearby park where they had a beautiful indoor garden that we were allowed to admire from the outside. We also admired the nearby squirrels and attempted to say hello, but for whatever reason they wouldn't come down from the tree to greet us.

From the park we crossed the street and began our close-up viewing of the Falls. We went further down the road where it seemed everyone agreed the best view was and got up on a little perch to enjoy the water cascading down and creating perhaps the thickest mist we've ever seen.

We were sure to take a picture of ourselves with Martha to commemorate the moment. Everyone around us seemed to think a picture with us was a good idea also and began posing with us for pictures of their own. We can't remember how many people posed for a picture with us, but it sure was a fun and interesting time.

When everything finally calmed down, Martha suggested we head over to the United States side to see the difference. One early difference we did note is that Niagara on Canada's side was very similar to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. It seemed like they had every type of attraction possible, waterpark, wax museum, casinos and much more.

On the United States side however, it was more focused on the park than the amusement outside of the park. Everyone was there to enjoy the view from the other side. There was a viewing deck, but dogs aren't allowed on it.

We trekked over to the Three Sisters Islands and had a fabulous view of the river with huge chunks of ice flowing down it. It was absolutely amazing to see the ice from the Islands, and it was fun to get closer to the water, even drink from it in one area. Had we more time in Niagara, it likely would've been at Three Sisters.

Our timeline didn't afford us any further exploration of Niagara, so we headed back across the border, thanked Martha for her wonderful hospitality and great tour and then headed out for Toronto.

On our way to Toronto, we remembered that there were relatives we needed to visit near Hamilton. We gave them a call and found that luckily, they were at home and able to take visitors. We figured out where we needed to go and arrive not long after we called them. Upon arriving, we met Molly, who we're told was a 2nd or 3rd cousin, possibly once or twice removed. We sat around and enjoyed her company for a good while before needing to leave again for Toronto.

We arrived, not too late and settled down for the night, happy to get another good night's rest.

Kenzie and Boone
Scottie Tails