Trip 09 : Niagara Falls

Monday, Sept 28 :
It was about an 1 1/2 hour drive to Niagara Falls, drove thru town and checked in at the Fallsview Marriott. They tried to put us in a 5th floor room, which had a view of the restaurant roof and a sliver of the river - we had a talk with the desk, who offered a 'partial fallsview', finally got a full view of both falls... Dropped our stuff off then went out to 'Maid of the Mist' for a boat tour. Pretty awesome - takes you right along the landings of both falls (can't see much of the Horseshoe Falls thru the mist). Then checked out some of the touristy Clifton Hill (think SF Fisherman's Wharf, complete with all the wax museums!), We went into Ripley's Believe it or Not 'museum' - outside : neat facade, makes it look like the building is sideways, with Kong hanging out on top; inside : fun exhibits, including a survey of people who have gone over the Falls! Then made a drive to see some of the actual town of Niagara - rather grim and rundown. We stopped at a bottle shop, then back to the room. We didn't like the fare at the Marriott restaurant, went to the Sheraton next door, and were given the high hat. We saw a restaurant at the Ramada hotel, menu looked OK, so we went in. The concierge at the front desk was very polite, even gave us a discount coupon. We went up to the 22nd floor, there were only 3 other couples in the restaurant, but the staff was very pleasant. Food was excellent (awesome baked brie), view was wonderful (the view of the falls, too 0:>). Lovely evening. Back to the room for some hot tub for more views...

Tuesday, Sept 29 :
Made our way down to the walkway to get a closer look at the Falls (the observation deck is about 5 ft from the drop-off of the Horseshoe! Then back to the car, and the drive over the bridge back to U.S.! Off to Buffalo Airport...

I was considering just driving to Detroit from Niagara, but it was an extra $200 for the drop, so we took our scheduled flight. Oh, hindsight is 20/20. The flight out of BUF was delayed an hour, then canceled. Meaning, we couldn't make the connecting flight out of Chicago. Thankfully, I was nosy and up at the front of the line, so we were transferred onto a direct BUF-DTW flight on Delta (apparently, there's no more Northwest Airlines anymore). Had to go out, pick up our luggage, recheck at the ticket counter, and go thru security. I forgot that I had picked up a bottle of Buffalo Hot Sauce (when in Rome...), so that was confiscated, even though I showed the TSA guard that the gift shop where I bought it was about 15 feet from the security checkpoint... Fortunately, it was only about $5.
We boarded the plane an hour or so later, THAT flight was delayed because high winds at DTW, they were metering the flights... so, all told : what couldve been a ~4 hour drive, became a 9 1/2 hour excursion waiting in airports and stressing out.
But, by 7 that night we were settling in at my parents' place in Westland. Ready to visit Michigan folks - next!