To Alex -

To Alex...who is far away in person, but never far from my heart. I miss you. Enjoy these snippets of everyday family life here in the states.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

I rode my bike to Niagara.


Ha...no, I didn't. I'm not crazy except for maybe just a little. It was muggy, melty hot over the weekend and I tend to get a little testy from high heat. We drove, but we brought the bikes, and cameras.


We crossed the Ambassador Bridge about 6 a.m. Saturday and proceeded East, but since we're not the sort of people to take the direct route, we veered and ended up driving along Lake Ontario while stopping frequently to enjoy the sites.


This was a 'stop the car, I have to have a picture of that' sort of moment. How could I not when the name isn't common at all? In fact, I made the name up only to find out that it was already in use. Still, I had to have a picture.

Hmm, somehow we ended up at a winery too, although I have no idea how that happened. Two hours, two bottles of wine and two bundles of local cheese later, onward...

Crossed over to Niagara, NY about 2:30, checked into our room and promptly hopped on the bikes to do some exploring, but found we weren't allowed to ride along the river in town because of all the crowds. Did I say crowds? I meant to say hordes of people. We apparently weren't the only ones to have thought the long weekend would be a good time to see The Falls. Eventually, we rode across the bridge onto Grand Island (?) where it wasn't quite as crowded.


Oh my gosh, the photo ops are amazing here in that everywhere you look there's another view so we kept hopping off our bikes. That's okay, we were in no hurry. In fact, we found a huge boulder in the woods along side the river and we climbed up to have a rest while enjoying the moment. B took a short nap and I played with the cameras and tried my hand at sketching. Yea, it's pretty darned hard to draw a river and waterfalls and have them look even remotely like they should. Mine did not. I had mentioned that I bet the locals took The Falls for granted, but seriously, by the end of our time there we were being very selective about what qualified as a good view and was worth taking a picture of. How wierd is that?


Okay, well this was definitely a good view. Taken from the Canadian side after we walked over Sunday morning. Standing on the bridge was wonderful with the view and the cool breeze, but once we cleared customs it felt like we walked into a blast furnace. We didn't stay long, but I did get to meet Number 5's cousin.


I wanted to get my picture taken with him, but he kept "Short Circuiting." ~grins~ I know, I know, I have to work on my humor.

It was ridiculously hot in town so we gave up on the touristy site seeing, went back to the hotel for a brief, but refreshing nap and then hopped on the bikes again to explore the bike path. This was the best idea as the path wound up and down through the woods and along the top of the gorge beside the river. Shady, fabulous breeze, stunning vistas and hardly any people. Oh my! That's why we brought bikes.







Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Where shall I ride to next?

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