Neither mom nor Josh had been to Niagara Falls before, and since a trip there is second only to pumping your visitors full of pizza and wings (check!), the three of us took off yesterday mid-morning to journey north.

I’ll admit, I was a little anxious about driving by myself (a.k.a. without Andrew) to the Falls, but with only a couple missed-turns (hey, the GPS and our printed directions were a little confusing!) we made it and went with the expensive (but close and easy and convenient) parking lot.  Good thing, since not 30 minutes after leaving the car and making it all the way down to the Falls, we decided to turn around and eat our picnic lunch before sight-seeing.

The last time we went to the Falls (last summer with Emily and Dan), we must have parked much further away or something, because I don’t remember seeing all this touristy stuff.  (It’s not new; I remember it from times I visited with Andrew when we were dating.)  It reminds me of an amusement park.

In case you haven’t been to the Falls, after you pass all the arcades, putt-putt, eateries and flashing lights, you make your way down and see this:

The horseshoe you see above is the Canadian Falls; in the photo below you see both the American Falls (left) and the Canadian Falls (right):

Josh and mom:

Can you believe he’s only 15?  He’s already 6′ 2.”

Mom and me on the Maid of the Mist.  I’m not a huge fan of getting wet (and boy, you can get wet on this thing if you really want to), but I had a great time and am so glad we did it.  It was the one attraction they really wanted to do, and I think it’s definitely worth doing, at least once.  The first time I went was years ago, so it was nice to go again.

Our caped crusader:

While on the Maid of the Mist, you really get an appreciation for the magnitude of the Falls–size, power, sound…everything.

I mean, look at that!  They get you pretty close; it’s almost as if it’s raining on you while you’re in the boat.  The wall of water is incredible, and (apparently) the powers that be control the water flow over the falls, and only about half the amount that could go over actually does.  Can you imagine if the Falls were doubly as strong?

We ended our trip with the obligatory arcade game for Josh and some refreshments for mom (a caramel-chocolate-nut-covered candy apple) and a lime spritzer drink for me from Starbucks (hey, I had a giftcard!  Although, sadly, it’s now out and I have to reload it….  How one girl can blow through that much moolah at one place is beyond me, but I manage.)

We made it out of the country and back into the good ole’ (although that’s becoming debatable) USA without a hitch (with Josh’s immature comments in the back seat, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d suspected him of drug-trafficking…thank you to whoever told him about the Monk episode in which Adrien says at the border crossing: “I am not a drug dealer” over and over again.) and were on our way home in no time.

Andrew picked up Pasquale’s pizza and wings  for dinner on his way home.  I love sharing that with people who visit.  I remember not really liking the pepperoni pizza in the beginning, but it’s really grown on me.  I think it was the spiciness; I definitely remember thinking the pepperoni was hot before.  The gobs of grease?  Well, I may never get used to that, but a girl’s got to cut loose every once in awhile.  We followed up our evening in with a movie, Real Steel, and freezie pops.

Mom and Josh leave today, and we’re all pretty beat (at least I am!), so I think we’re going to have a low-key morning before Andrew comes home for lunch and I take them to the airport.

Happy Hump Day!