bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2005-05-31 01:21 am
bigmacbear) wrote2005-05-31 01:21 am
Road Trip!!!
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gmjambear and I are sitting around watching his station's 5 PM newscast. Somebody misspells the name of a town on the superimposed caption and I remind Gary he's not at work, whereupon he decides he really can't watch his station's newscasts while he's on vacation. So I suggest we go out for a drive for an hour or two, maybe take a look at Hamlin Beach State Park nearby.
We pile into the car with a camera. Just as we get on the expressway Gary says, "Let's go to Niagara Falls." I think perhaps we ought to go back home for our passports but as soon as I stop for gas Gary finds our passports in my glove box from our recent trip to London. Woohoo!
We follow the Lake Ontario State Parkway to its western end and pick up Route 18. Almost immediately we find ourselves following a pack of about 10 motorcycles. So we're just kind of tooling along, enjoying the scenery. ;-)
When we get to Niagara Falls, NY we park the car and walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada. In front of us at Customs Canada is a big bear of a man from Texas.
First we check out the Falls from the promenade at the cliff's edge, then scurry up a rather steep hill to the Skylon Tower. We get some amazing sunset shots from atop the tower, spending a nice chunk of time up there (as pointed out to us by the elevator operator on the way down). When we return to the amusement park under the Skylon Tower we bowl a couple of games and split a round of skeeball.
After the Skylon Tower we walk up the hill to find some place to eat before returning to the States and to our car. Gary picks a TGI Friday's along the main drag. We're told we're going to be served by a fellow named Sean (or perhaps Shawn) -- who bears a distinct resemblance totoken_otter -- but instead a waitress comes to serve us our dinner. Fireworks are going off over the falls at ten; we're busy eating and can't see them, but we can hear them and see the people across the street ooh'ing and ahh'ing as they watch.
From dinner we make the trek back to the bridge. The last 500 yards or so down the hill are lined with gaudy neon-lighted establishments like the House of Frankenstein and the Celebrity Wax Museum (featuring Brendan Fraser in his role in The Mummy).
We wait a bit before crossing the bridge, since the entranceway is jammed a bit with people trying to use the change machine to pay the 50 cent toll. We have change ready so we kind of politely push our way through with a few "Excuse me"'s. Then when we arrive at US Customs we wait a bit more while the agents confer over what to do with a clearly befuddled woman who must have popped up on their computer screen for some reason. Eventually they start a new line for US citizens with photo ID, and we're soon on our way.
We return to Rochester via the Thruway as it's getting a bit late. Pictures to follow.
All in all, not a bad way to spend the waning hours of a Memorial Day weekend.
gmjambear and I are sitting around watching his station's 5 PM newscast. Somebody misspells the name of a town on the superimposed caption and I remind Gary he's not at work, whereupon he decides he really can't watch his station's newscasts while he's on vacation. So I suggest we go out for a drive for an hour or two, maybe take a look at Hamlin Beach State Park nearby.We pile into the car with a camera. Just as we get on the expressway Gary says, "Let's go to Niagara Falls." I think perhaps we ought to go back home for our passports but as soon as I stop for gas Gary finds our passports in my glove box from our recent trip to London. Woohoo!
We follow the Lake Ontario State Parkway to its western end and pick up Route 18. Almost immediately we find ourselves following a pack of about 10 motorcycles. So we're just kind of tooling along, enjoying the scenery. ;-)
When we get to Niagara Falls, NY we park the car and walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada. In front of us at Customs Canada is a big bear of a man from Texas.
First we check out the Falls from the promenade at the cliff's edge, then scurry up a rather steep hill to the Skylon Tower. We get some amazing sunset shots from atop the tower, spending a nice chunk of time up there (as pointed out to us by the elevator operator on the way down). When we return to the amusement park under the Skylon Tower we bowl a couple of games and split a round of skeeball.
After the Skylon Tower we walk up the hill to find some place to eat before returning to the States and to our car. Gary picks a TGI Friday's along the main drag. We're told we're going to be served by a fellow named Sean (or perhaps Shawn) -- who bears a distinct resemblance to
token_otter -- but instead a waitress comes to serve us our dinner. Fireworks are going off over the falls at ten; we're busy eating and can't see them, but we can hear them and see the people across the street ooh'ing and ahh'ing as they watch.From dinner we make the trek back to the bridge. The last 500 yards or so down the hill are lined with gaudy neon-lighted establishments like the House of Frankenstein and the Celebrity Wax Museum (featuring Brendan Fraser in his role in The Mummy).
We wait a bit before crossing the bridge, since the entranceway is jammed a bit with people trying to use the change machine to pay the 50 cent toll. We have change ready so we kind of politely push our way through with a few "Excuse me"'s. Then when we arrive at US Customs we wait a bit more while the agents confer over what to do with a clearly befuddled woman who must have popped up on their computer screen for some reason. Eventually they start a new line for US citizens with photo ID, and we're soon on our way.
We return to Rochester via the Thruway as it's getting a bit late. Pictures to follow.
All in all, not a bad way to spend the waning hours of a Memorial Day weekend.
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