Our neighors to the norph (part 3)

After the hurried pace and numerous activities of day one, we slept a little past our alarm for the start of day two. By ten we were dressed, lightly feed (an apple each) and outside in our parkas waiting for the shuttle though. The light rain necessitated the parkas, but our spirits where still high as the rain would get us just as wet as the mist. The shuttle dropped us off at the old casino and we sloshed through what was now heavy rain over to the Maid of the Mist.

The kind folks at the Servante de la brume had longer parkas for us (ours didn't cover our shins), so we shed the old for the new and ventured on to the boat. I did not grasp the falls true scale until we were at their base. They are a massive testament to the sheer power and force of water. We learned from the prerecorded guided tour that a seven year old boy went over the falls and lived back in the 70's. One of the Maid's boats witnessed his fall and picked him up no worse for wear as he floated down river. When we returned to the dock the rain was starting to let up so we ditched our parkas and walked the main drag for a bite. After just a single apple for breakfast we were starving.

The restaurant we picked was right across the street from the falls and offered a gorgeous view with our meal. We had to wait a bit at the bar for our table though, so we threw back some beers and planned the rest of our day. The food came quickly once we sat down and we snapped pictures of falls and local wide life between bites. Stomachs full, we paid our tab and made our way to the exit. Crystal was leading us out when she slipped and fell on the wet marble stairs that ended at the street. An elderly Japanese man ahead of us turned around and started laughing and clapping with glee at Crystal's misfortune. I don't know if it was his lack of a shared language or a cultural difference, but Crystal was offended and I was amused by his amusement.

Our next stop was the journey behind the falls. As the name suggest, there are a set of tunnels dug out behind the falls that open to sheets of water poring past you. It is a sight for sure. Another tunnel opens to a large roofed site seeing deck that puts you not 20 feet from the base. It wasn't quite worth the money, but for something we may only see once in our life times we were ready and willing.

Soaked and tired we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for our night out at the casino. We stopped at a gift shop and watched glass blowing on the way back to our hotel, in case you saw the pictures and were confused. Dressed to semi impress we went back outside to wait for the shuttle again. The restaurant we picked for dinner was cafe across from the casino, the food was disappointing, but there was a live band and it served its romantic purpose. Before we went to the casino we wanted to go up the Skylon Tower. The view was breath taking from so high up and being able to see the falls lit from such heights made us appreciate it even more.

As expected the casino was a little over whelming. There are so many flashing lights and sounds that it felt a bit like Japanese seizure robots (I won't link to that site, don't worry). We finally got to an ATM and took out only $100. We both played $20 in slots combined and Crystal won $28 so we came out $8 ahead. While walking around looking for a slot table we spotted the only empty black jack table in the whole floor. We sat down ready to pretend like we knew what were doing when the dealer pointed to the $75 minimum a hand sign and we promptly got up.

We roamed around looking for a place to give the casino our money when we finally realized that it was 10pm and we needed to get back to the hotel. We cashed out our $108 in US and went to wait for the shuttle. We packed our bags and went to sleep knowing that we had to be up at 6am to drive home.

The border crossing at dawn on Sunday was uneventful and the ride home had Crystal sleeping and me listening to more podcast. Our trip up north was quick, but fun and memorable. I don't think we will go back until we have children, but we will be looking forward to it until then.