Canadians Are Nice People Too

Niagara Falls, from the Canadian side. So much water!

Day 43      July 22      part 2

Today was a big day for us, as our road trip became an international affair. We were crossing the border into Canada, via the Rainbow Bridge, to get a better look at Niagara Falls.

We were hoping we wouldn’t have any problems with customs, what with our space shuttle and our canine critters. Ends up it was all quite fast and simple.

The most complex question we were asked was, “How much beer do you have?” Uh…well, how much did we start with a couple days ago, and how much have we drunk (drinken? drank? dranked?). A short computation in my head, and I shouted….”Four. We have four beers.” At the exact same time, Mark shouted, “Twelve. We have twelve beers.” The guard waved us on through anyways.

Oh Canada!

The first thing we noticed about Canada, was how beautifully landscaped and how clean it was. Not only was it much nicer than the American side, but the Canadians also had a 2000% better view of Niagara Falls.

We were immediately smitten with Canada, and were wondering why more Americans don’t move there. We suspect it’s because Canadian immigration weeds out the weak by asking, “Can you withstand the long cold winters up here?”

The second thing we noticed about Canada, was how nice the Canadians are.

We asked a young parking attendant, where we could park the space shuttle. He gave us directions to the RV parking area, where we’d then catch the free shuttle back down to the Falls. He confirmed that, yes, we could take our dogs on the shuttle bus.

We parked where we were told, and walked to the shuttle bus stop. But when we tried to catch the shuttle bus, we were told that, most definitely, no, dogs were NOT allowed on the bus.

It was way too hot and humid to leave the dogs in the RV, so, we weren’t quite sure what to do. And then, out of the blue, a couple of guys who were working on the grounds crew, who had figured out what was going on with us and the dogs, came over, and offered to drive us down to the Falls in their work truck.

We were so grateful for their kindness! What nice guys! What nice Canadians!

After arriving in style in the Parks Department truck, we had a great time walking around with the pups. Niagara Falls, from the Canadian side, was spectacular!

Niagara Falls & tour boat

Mark @ the falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

To return to our RV, I waited at the Falls with the dogs, while Mark took the shuttle bus back to our RV. He then drove down and picked me up.

We completed the day with a beautiful drive to Niagara-On-The-Lake, where we dined and drank at The Irish Harp Restaurant. Our waiter was a young Irish guy, working in Canada for the summer. We tipped him well, because, as Mark pointed out, we must keep the Irish happy so that they keep producing Guinness.

Lake Niagara

 

Niagara-On-The-Lake

Beautiful flight of beer

Canadians…not afraid to have fun. Wading pool in the park in Niagara-On-The-Lake

And then we tucked in for the night, just down the road, at the Pine Ridge RV Park and Campground. Our first night in Canada!

Our first Canadian RV Park

Fiona’s first night in Canada!

Sasquatch, Fast Driving, and Freakishly Large To-Go Cups

Niagara Falls, all lit up!

Day 42    July 21

On our morning dog walk in Squirrel Hill, we stopped at the drug store up the street and purchased an electric fan. This would end up being one of our finest purchases as we travelled in warmer weather.

We said goodbye to our friends, and headed out of Pittsburg. Mark had assigned me two duties….#1 was to deal with AT&T on the phone regarding our service. That was real pleasant, as you can probably imagine.

My other assigned duty, was to look for Sasquatch in the woods off the side of the highway. I thought this was a dumb thing to be assigned to, because Sasquatch lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Hello New York!

Cranberry & Mars…sounds like a candy bar

A texting area…cool…

Rest stop

I gave myself a third and final duty, and that was to keep an eye on Mark’s driving speeds. Mark had dubbed FIONA Fast In Our New Airstream, instead of Fun In Our New Airstream. I was getting tired of nagging him about his speed, but there wasn’t anyone else around to do it, so I had to.

Thinking we’ll pull up on this guy’s trailer and get a free ride

We stopped for lunch at the Applebee’s in Dunkirk-Fredonia, New York. There was a whole story there about whether we were in Dunkirk, or Fredonia, or Dunkirk-Fredonia, but I don’t remember what the story about it was.

What I do remember was the freakin’ gigantic iced tea to-go that I got on the way out. It barely fit in the cup holder, and was so heavy that I could barely hoist it up to take a sip from the straw. I did the best I could with the large iced tea, trying to avoid lifting it in such a way as to aggravate my tennis elbow.

Feeling lucky….Bought a lottery ticket at lunch

Our lucky ticket (NOT!)

Why is the info we need on the atlas, always right on the spiral binding seam?!

Our drive continued, through Buffalo, past the Peace Bridge (which takes you to Canada), and right on up to Niagara Falls. When we arrived at Niagara Falls, it was already dark out, which was fabulous, because we got to see the Falls all lit up at night. Very cool site to see!

We drove back to the KOA Niagara Falls for the night, and looked forward to the next day, when we’d cross into Canada to see the Falls from The Great White North side.