Falling for the falls again!

In order to get to the church on time, er, airport on time, I had to, ick, set an alarm to wake up, just in case my inner alarm didn't work. The inner one usually does a decent job, but since someone else was relying on my existence, I didn't want to take the chance. I am lucky that I normally don't have to use an alarm and can sleep and wake naturally, as my body dictates. Yay! How lucky am I?! This works best when I actually do sleep, which, fortunately, is most nights.
Got up, got out and got on the road in a timely fashion. And on the road, I got to listen to more of the book, Water for Elephants. Yay! I think I am about half way through and I am enjoying it thoroughly. The drive isn't as long as I thought from here, Geneva, to there, Buffalo. The GPS (yay GPS) took me straight to my destination. I despaired a little because parking was going to be costly. Not super costly, but still, I am uber parsimonious. I really, really, really dislike paying for parking. Really. I wouldn't lie to you all. So I drove around the airport trying to think of ways around paying for parking, when the holy grail appeared - free parking if one parked for less than 2 hours! Yippee skippy! (Wow, I would have hated to have been named Skippy!)

As I was walking into the airport proper, I was reminded of just how much I love to travel. When I worked for Macromedia as a Sales Engineer and was on the road 80% of the time, sure, it was exhausting, but it was also exciting and, yes, I might say even exhilarating! I got an energy boost just walking in to the airport.

I didn't have to wait long for Grace's arrival, but as I did, I noticed that TSA has gotten new uniforms since last I was in an airport. And it still amazes me that we have such high security and restrictive/invasive practices for airports (like the full body scanners), yet as a country can't chose to get guns off the streets or feed our poor. (Oops, slipping up onto that soapbox a bit - maybe I need to actually get a political blog or two written. One more thought, though - why is anything related to a social issue thought to be a political issue? Or is that just me?)

From the airport we drove to Niagara Falls - about 20 minutes away. On our walk from the parking lot to the Maid of the Mist entry point, we saw a couple from India (I think that's what they said) taking pictures of each other - so, I offered to take a picture of both of them. They agreed quickly (I think they were hoping someone would offer). We found out that they were on their second anniversary vacation. Nice pair!

The Maid of the Mist was fun again! For those who don't know, this is a boat ride that gets close to the falls. Not as wet as last time when I came with mom - I think it depends on which way the wind is blowing or something. Next we headed to The Cave of the Winds where the cave is no longer available to the public. Still, a fun place - I think if I were to go again, I would have to go in my bathing suit. And I would have to wait for a hotter day. The power of the little bit of the waterfall that one feels at the top of the platform is amazing! One of the attendants told us that they take the platforms down each winter and rebuild them each spring! And we ran into the couple again and took more pictures of each other. Grace gave them her email address. I will be surprised if we hear from them, but pleasantly. I think their names were Shrikan and Shrilamsi. It was kinda difficult to hear over the rush of water...

Although Niagara Falls can be a bit on the expensive side, it is a pretty pleasant place to visit. It would have been even nicer if it hadn't been drizzling most of the time. Still, I think Grace had fun. I know I did!

Next stop beer and food. I am posting a beer blog later (after Grace leaves maybe?) - when I get the pictures off my camera - about the experience. Suffice it to say here that it was decent, not awesome.

The drive back to Geneva passed very quickly. Amazing how good conversation will make that happen. I had originally thought we would drive straight back to the house, but somewhere along the way I agreed to go into the Smith for a little bit to tidy up some ropes that were causing Kelly (the leader of the organization) some safety concerns. At least Grace got a self guided tour of the Smith. Maybe when I show the movie on Sunday, she will let me show her around a bit.

At home, I had no idea what to do to feed mom. She had survived the day on two yogurts, some chicken salad (at least two helpings) and heaven alone knows what else. I really don't like to leave her alone in the house for that long - almost 12 hours - but I did call to check in a couple of times and she did seem to manage ok. Grace and I had the same idea at the same time - that mom could feast on our leftovers from the pub! Yay! Problem solved. Neither Grace nor I were particularly hungry - she had some nuts and I later had some potato chips to tide me over till the morning. She was more exhausted than I, so went to bed at 8. I stayed up till midnight or so, playing and starting work on blogs. Hey, these things don't always write themselves, you know!

So, was that a good day? I think so! And today is another day. Huzzuh!