Canada or Bust

Last weekend we packed our bags and hit the road for an overnight trip to Niagara Falls. Roy and I have been there multiple times but my cousins have never been there. So we left on Friday morning and headed north.  About three hours into the total six hour drive, we were in Corning, NY. Corning is home to Corning, Inc., a major manufacturer of glass and ceramics (you might have heard of Corelle or Corningware). There's a large museum there called the Corning Museum of Glass. It's the mecca for all things glass. It might not sound exciting at first but it is a pretty popular place.

 

 

 

 

 

The museum is huge. They have pieces that date back to the 1500s among many other historical pieces, plus live glass making shows throughout the day and they have a large retail section on the lower level with all kinds of jewelry and gifts like the glass flowers shown above. Admission is free for kids 15 and under. Adults are $15.00 each.

 

By the time we left the museum it was about 2pm. We got into Buffalo at just before 5pm and decided to stop at the Anchor Bar downtown for dinner. It's the place where the original buffalo wing was invented, or so the story goes.

 



 

Can't go wrong with chicken wings.  The falls are only about 16 miles away from the Anchor Bar. Once we got there, we decided to stop on the American side first and walk around.

 

 

 

Jess has Zohan legs.

As you can see the vantage points on the American side aren't that good. We didn't take any tours down to the side of the falls but there are some options to get a better view. Since our hotel was in Canada, we headed to the Rainbow bridge to cross the border.

 

It was getting dark by this time and it took about 30 to 40 minutes of waiting in line to get through the checkpoint into Canada. The Canadian side is much more crowded and there's much more to do. It's lit up like a Boardwalk with shops and restaurants lining the streets. The American side is just ho- hum. Not sure why that is, but my theory is that at one time the US dollar got you farther in Canada so most people spent their time there. Now that's not the case, but it could also be that the view is just so much better on the Canadian side. After we finally got to our hotel and got settled in, we walked down to the falls just in time to catch the Friday night fireworks. Afterwards, we got a glimpse of the falls at night.

 

 



These photos are pretty bad as you can see. They shine these huge lights on the falls in various colors. My favorite is the white light though. I like it au natural. It was about 10pm and there was a Coldstone Creamery that was still open (until 2am!) so we got a late night treat there. Walked back to the hotel and hit the sack.

 

The next morning we ate breakfast at Denny's and headed over the Maid of the Mist landing. Roy's dad, two sisters, nieces and friends were driving up that day to meet us. The original plan was to travel all together to Niagara but my cousins had church on Sunday so we left a day earlier in order to leave on Saturday. It was gorgeous out and we even had an Elvis sighting.

 

                    

 

 

 

Once everyone arrived, we headed down to the Maid of the Mist. It's a boat that takes you up close to the falls. It's about $20 a person, $13 for kids (free under age 5). As we made our way to the lower level and got our ponchos, we found out that they go through about 15,000+ ponchos a day, one per passenger. That's craziness.

 

 

 

If you haven't been to Niagara, I highly recommend it. I think I like it better than the Grand Canyon. It isn't extremely tall, but the amount of water that flows over is just amaze balls. Hearing the stories about people trying to go over the falls is also interesting, as well as the amount of erosion that has taken place over the past hundreds of years. It's also nice to get out of the country once in awhile, even if it is just over the border. Put that passport to good use!

 

Speaking of passports, after the boat ride we departed Canada. Here are some shots on Rainbow Bridge:

 

 

 

When we got the to US checkpoint we got grilled pretty hard. We had three passengers with Korean passports. My cousin had a student visa and the agent asked her if she was enrolled in school. After a pause, he asked when she was going back and she just gave him a blank stare. She (and I) thought he meant when was she going back to Korea but the girls answered for her and said next Monday, which is when she was going back to school. He was like, how come she doesn't know?! It was pretty funny but only after he let us through.

 

So it was back to good old Pennsylvania. Although it was a short trip, it was a good one. And lastly, this post wouldn't be complete without a snooze shot of the girls, so here you go: