Niagara Falls

Raquel, Maya, and myself went to Niagara falls for spring break. I know that it's kind of an odd place for spring break given the fact that the falls area is freezing in March but it's the time of the year that we had free time to travel and it has always been a dream of Raquel's to visit Niagara falls. We had a good time visiting the falls, Canada, and Toronto. All together, we spent five days there.

On day one (friday), we spent five of the longest hours of the year flying to Washington D.C. Maya screamed and cried at the top of her lungs about half of the time. I think that there were a few couples on that flight who changed their minds about having kids. Once we landed in D.C., we tracked down the gate of our connecting flight to Buffalo, NY. After we located the gate, we had a really over-due diaper change to do. The layover was about an hour and a half. On the first half of the flight to Buffalo, Maya was great. She was happy and smiling at everyone. The second half of the flight was a different story though, she turned into a monster once again. We were really relieved to land in Buffalo and put flying behind us for five days. After gathering our luggage, we made our way to the Alamo car rental company and picked up a compact car even though I reserved a mid-size. After about a 30 minute drive, we ended up lost in Canada. Our hotel was on the American side! The Canadian border agent was really nice (a whole lot nicer than the American ones!) and directed us to the right location. Finally, after 12 hours of traveling, we were at our hotel. What a dump! Travelocity really needs to update the photo that they had on their website.

Day 2, Saturday. We were excited about seeing the falls which was supposed to be two blocks away, not true, more like four to five. We also experienced the cold weather. The type of cold on the east coast is different than here in California. It is so much colder over their. It's a whole new level of coldness. I will never again think that it is cold in California. I carried Maya as we walked to the American falls and to the visitor center. The falls were impressive but the cold was so over-powering that it was hard to really enjoy the view for very long. Later in the day, we drove to Canada to view horseshoe falls. The Canadian falls are much better and it really was breath taking.

Day 3, Sunday. On this day, we decided to take the drive to Toronto. After crossing over into Canada, I spotted a highway sign that said "Toronto 140" I knew that Canada used Kilometers instead of miles but I didnt tell Raquel that. It was funny because she thought that we had to go 140 miles, she was happy when I told her that it was really about 80 miles. I was really surprised at how big Toronto is, it's a really big city. Across from Lake Ontario, you can see the city for 40-50 miles. Many huge skyscrapers all over the downtown area. We found a public parking garage and decided to walk to the CN tower which is a huge tower of a building, kind of like the Stratusphere in Las Vegas, only much bigger. The tower was great, we had lunch up top and walked on a glass floor with Maya 1100 feet above the ground.

Day 4, Monday. On this day, we spent the whole time on the Canadian side which is so much nicer. If any of you plan on visiting the falls in the future, stay on the Canadian side. There is so much more to do on the Canadian side and it is nice everywhere, at least all of the places that I saw. On the New York side, it's really run down and there is a lot of ghetto. We spent the day walking down Clifton hill (the major tourist area), walking to the falls and going up another tower building. The tower at Niagara falls is much smaller than the one in Toronto but the view is amazing. We had lunch up top in a restaurant the rotated once an hour. By far, this was the best view of the falls. We also spent much of the day walking to the falls from all of the attractions on Clifton hill.

Day 5, Tuesday. We spent our last day in Niagara falls by casually visiting the American falls once again, and then the Canadian falls. The three of us took a ride on a gondola ride overlooking the falls. After that, we parked the car on a look-out over the falls and enjoyed our last view of the Niagara falls.

Day 6, Wednesday. We woke up at 4:00 AM to begin our 12 hour journey back home. Neither Raquel or myself were looking forward to the plane rides back with Maya. Amazingly however, Maya did great the whole time. She did'nt shed even one tear the whole time. When we landed back in Sacramento, it really felt like we were coming home to paradise because the weather is so much nicer here.

Thanks to Malcolm for taking us out to the airport and for picking us up!

Malcolm dropping us off at the Sacramento airport early friday morning.

Next to Horseshoe falls on the Canadian side on Saturday.

The CN tower in Toronto, Canada.

The glass floor 1100 feet above the ground. Maya was'nt afraid at all.

Maya and Mommy enjoying lunch at the CN tower.

View from atop the tower at the Niagara tower restaurant.

Maya fell asleep from all the walking around Clifton Hill.