(If you are new to these ‘vacation’ posts, start from the beginning!)
We spent Saturday evening, (for a total of 11 hours), in the train. Thank goodness it was more spacious than an airplane, but it most definitely will not be a mode of transportation I will be choosing again any time soon. Lets just say that the Amtrak here in the NW is pretty nice… there… well… I think only the trashy-folk ride. The girls slept thru most of the ride, and it wasn’t until the last couple of hours that Allie started fussing after some stupid guy tromped over her while she was playing in the aisle. Oops. But, now we can say that we’ve all ridden a train!
We arrived in Buffalo, NY at 9:30am Sunday morning where we were happily met by Nana, Zz and Uncle Jared!
We hopped into the car and drove to Niagara Falls. (That’s why we planned the trip this way: to avoid driving to Elmira from any of the train stations that were 2 hours away, and then spending 3 hours both ways to the Falls on a separate day.) Allie got to ride forward-facing for the first time… that is until we were told about that new guidelines that kids stay rear-facing until two… oops!
Niagara Falls: most beautiful, majestic thing we have ever seen!
On our walk towards one of the Falls we heard thunder, saw a little lightening and then BAM! Within seconds we were caught in a torrential down-pour! I never believed ‘movie rain’ until now; we were soaked in an instant. Allie stared at her wet feet in awe as rain drops soaked her and her stroller, and Malia…
… she LOVED the idea of splashing in puddles without her rain boots on! (We really couldn’t get any wetter than we already were!)
Since we’d already gotten soaked (which for us was somewhat refreshing since we still hadn’t showered since leaving on our adventure), it was even more fun for us in the Cave of the Winds. Not sure why it’s called a ‘cave’ but basically it’s this path/stair-way thing you can take and actually stand below part of the falls! If we hadn’t already been wet, we might have passed, but we really had no reason ‘not to’ thanks to the rain. (No picture of that actual experience though, we didn’t want to ruin the camera.)
Not only did we get yellow ponchos, but some awesome, and very stylish if I may so so myself, water sandals!
It took Malia a little while to warm up to Uncle Jay, but soon they were both a hop, skipping, and a jumping together. It was so cute!
The bridge to Canada… which reminds us… we still haven’t used our cool licenses yet (which we got a couple years ago) to get into Canada and Mexico without passports. But who wants to go there anyway? Just kidding!
It was cool boating right up to the falls… but it was almost too misty to really see anything! But, still awesome.
After a beautiful day at Niagara Falls we headed back to the car for a three hour drive back to Mom’s place. On the way we swung by the lake house the Beck’s were staying at where Malia made a cute little friend!
I don’t think we made it ‘home’ until after 11pm that night. We felt so disgustingly nasty and dirty that we woke the kids up, bathed and showered, ran a couple loads of laundry, and geared up for a week full of rest and relaxation…
Keep reading for more!
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