Over the falls in a barrel...

Well, we now know the destination for my surprise birthday trip....NIAGARA FALLS! Even the morning we left, I still did not know where we were going. I had some ideas, but couldn't say for certain where we were going to end up. Stuart even kept it a secret through baggage check. When we arrived at the gate, we were standing in line and heard the guy behind me say something about Buffalo. At that point, I added up all of the clues and figured it out!

We had a bit of a celebrity sighting on our flight- Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau. Stuart had the chance to chat with him, and he seemed really nice.

We arrived in Buffalo and went directly to Dunkirk Lighthouse. We had a quick tour and had the chance to climb it.

We then went to Grand Island, which is located on the grounds of a private club where Stuart had to request permission to take the pictures.








We next traveled to bustling downtown Buffalo to check out a few other lighthouses in the area.


After that, it was off to the border. We were thrilled to find out that we were staying in a beautiful fallsview suite at the Sheraton on the Falls with an incredible view!









We spent the rest of the afternoon touring Niagara on the Lake and visiting some wineries.


The next day, we had a great time just driving around the area and visiting some lighthouses and parks. Our first stop in the morning was Old Fort Niagara. It really was a cool place, and we would have loved to have spent more time exploring the fort. Unfortunately, the place was overrun with swarms of Canadian Sand Flies. UGH! You can see the cloud of flies in this picture. They were everywhere!







We left the area to spend the some time on Lake Ontario, visiting Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse in Barker, NY.






After having lunch at a great small-town restaurant, we headed back to the Niagara area to check out Whirlpool Falls State Park and the Power Vista.







Of course, no vacation of ours would be complete without a casino trip. Or a few. Casino Niagara was in our hotel, and we also walked over to Fallsview Casino. One of us only lost a few dollars the whole weekend, and one of us lost way more than a few dollars. Take a guess. OK- here's a hint: The bigger loser was hoping for a win in order to buy shoes. And makeup.

The next day was interesting. We had planned to spend the day at the falls, but the forecast didn't look promising as it was supposed to rain all day. We managed to do the Maid of the Mist tour before the downpour. Getting that close to the falls was such a great experience! But once we got off of the boat, the rain came. We tried to wait out the rain by hitting the indoor mini golf course, but it didn't look to be ending anytime soon.


In an effort to stay dry, we decided to go for a drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake. You will soon see the irony in this statement.


On a map, we discovered 2 lighthouses that we had not heard of before in a town called Port Dalhousie. So, those lighthouses were on a pier that ran parallel to a similar pier that went out into the water. It was part of a park and a nice walking path.

At that point, the skies seemed to be clearing and the rain had stopped, so we decided to walk out onto the pier. We commented on the fact that the water level seemed to be high from the rains, but didn't give it a second thought. (You are getting some ideas as to where this story is going, right??)








So we got to the end of the pier and saw some dark clouds on the horizon. We thought that those clouds were going away from us.











Until the first few drops of rain fell. We decided to start heading back to land, and within seconds, the clouds opened up, the wind went crazy, and we ran! We began to notice that the water was starting to come onto the pier, and we became worried that the pier would be underwater and it would become impossible to stand. This was what it looked like during the storm:



Obviously, we made it to land safely (no, this blog post is not coming from Beyond), but were completely waterlogged. It was honestly one of the scariest things that I have ever been through. (FYI- Skydiving was THE scariest, but the difference was that we were fairly certain that our 13,000 foot drop would end safely)


In order to calm ourselves, we spent the rest of the evening at the casino eating and gambling. What better way to relax, eh?


So, that's the big birthday trip. It was so much fun, and came at the perfect time when we really needed a getaway. Stuart put alot of effort into planning the weekend, and it totally paid off!




Here are a few more pictures:





Us in the hotel room

Looking towards the Canadian Falls. A little foggy.

A nighttime shot of the Canadian side

This was the view from our room!

Another night shot.



In case you are interested, here is the linky to the rest of the pictures from the trip.

Our next trip is a PA visit for a friend's wedding at the end of the month. Other than that, we really don't have anything planned. We do expect a busy summer though. In case you don't know, we are hoping to move soon. The house is on the market (anyone interested??), and we are going to start looking this weekend. We will be looking in the same area where we live now, as we are very happy there. So, our summer travel plans are sort of up in the air for now!

PS- another reason to get excited about the move: once we get into a new place, we are going to add some new furry friends to our family by adopting some kitties!