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July 26, 2013 - 11:23 p.m.
"niagara falls" or "cave of the winds & journey behind the falls"

Hey Journal!

Here we are in Niagara Falls!! We've had a REALLLY long day, but we've packed tons of fun stuff into it and we've already done so much! Right now, we're all pretty exhausted, but that's because our day began at 4:30am! My alarm went off and we got out of bed and got ready to go!

Lau and Re arrived at about 4:50 and we packed up the car and hit the road at exactly 5:00am.

Our car ride got off to a great start when Lau got into the back seat and spilled water out of the cooler she had brought. It went all over the seat where Re was supposed to sit, so Re told her she had to sit there instead. Lau's response... a very calm "I can't." It was soooo funny... That's definitely the joke of the trip.

We made great time through the city and didn't hit any traffic. We almost got stuck in a big backup just after the Throgs Neck Bridge, but we looked up an alternate route and avoided the whole thing!

We also learned that on this drive, a drive we've all done a bunch of times, we all have a favorite "moment!" Mine and Lau's turned out to be the same... that curve right before a mountain near Scranton!

We stopped for breakfast at 8:30 at the Cracker Barrel in Binghamton! I didn't realize it, but according to foursquare, Dan and I had stopped there on our way to Toronto last year.

I had never had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, so this was a new experience. I got the Momma's Breakfast, with pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage. Re got the Turkey sausage, and I tried a little bit of it. I actually think I liked it better than the one I got!

We bought a Mad Libs book there and did some of them while we drove. Then, we pulled up next to this really weird guy who had some weird blinker activity!

His left and right blinkers would alternate flashing in such weird patterns! It was so strange! It was definitely not normal! This went on for a long time as we drove behind him, and then finally we parted ways.

We arrived in Niagara Falls, NY around 1:30pm!

Because Lau didn't have a passport, we were worried that we would have a problem crossing the border. The problem is that on the Canadian website it says that all that a US citizen needs to enter Canada is a driver's license and birth certificate. Then, on the US website, it says you need a Passport to get back into the United States. Meanwhile, we know from past experience that "a US citizen can not be denied entry into the United States," however, we were afraid that Canada wouldn't let Lau in based on her not meeting the US requirements to go home.

As I said, we were worried about this, so we decided to do the US side first so that we wouldn't have to cross the border twice.

We got to the park, parked, and bought tickets for the Cave of the Winds. There was no line for the tickets and there was only a short line for the elevators. We went back to the car, changed, and got our State Park Sandals. (Just me and Re.)

The Cave of the Winds always has been, and still remains one of the BEST attractions at Niagara Falls and my FAVORITE. It's so much fun! We put on our ponchos and then headed down. I had my iPhone in a waterproof case, and off we went.

We spent a while up on the "Hurricane Deck" and it was so much fun! We got soaked, but it was all worth it!

When we were done, we headed back up the elevator and then took a walk through the park and checked out the American Falls and the Horseshoe falls.

Next, it was time to cross the border. We crossed at the Rainbow Bridge and we had about a 15 minute wait to get to the border agent. We had all of our documents ready and all of our info ready. The guy was nice, and we had no problems at all! Lau was successfully allowed into Canada!

We came to our hotel and got checked in, brought our stuff to the room, and then we went in search of lunch! We wound up eating at a place across the street called Shoeless Joe's. The food was okay, but a little expensive for what you get.

Just after ordering, we heard a loud noise and looked over into the street. A man had been sideswiped by a woman in an SUV. He was from Ontario, she was from New Jersey. He must have been so pissed! lol We watched the whole scene as the police came, left, came back, and then this really tall police woman wrote the report. It was really the main focus of our dinner!

When we were done, we took a walk down to the falls! We walked along the railing and then we went into the gift shop. We went to check out the prices of the Journey Behind the Falls and since there was no line, we figured we'd do it today!

We went down, no line at all, and checked it out. It's not the most thrilling activity, the Cave of the Winds is so much better... but it was fun! We enjoyed.

When we finished, we decided that since we had done almost all of the main attractions, that we'd try to go to Toronto tomorrow! We're going to do the Jet boat in the morning and then go to Toronto in the afternoon for dinner and stuff.

We all decided we'll skip the Maid of the Mist on this trip.

We walked down to the other main street and checked out the stuff going on over there. We walked back to the hotel, and stopped at a little convenience store to get some bottled water.

The woman told us that the fireworks tonight would be great, so we shouldn't miss them!

We headed back to the hotel, then went to Margaritaville (right next door) for some drinks! I got a frozen margarita. It was good... much better than the one I had at dinner.

After that, we went to the Casino, walked through, and then headed down to the falls to see the fireworks. We found a spot on the lawn, and the fireworks started promptly at 10! The only problem.... they were completely blocked by a big bus stop like thing! Everyone in our area had to get up and move as soon as they started! lol

When the fireworks were finished we walked up the hill and back to the hotel. Lau took a shower, I went in the pool, and then I took a shower. We booked our Jet Boat tour for tomorrow, and now we're off to bed!

It's been a LONG day!! Over 19 hours already!

One more notable mention of the day was that in the car, Lau had a pillow and was trying to sleep! Re wouldn't allow it, and was not having any of it. Lau told us that her two pillows are named "pillowy" and "feathery!!" We loved it!

Anyway, we've had a great day... done SO much already, and it's only the first day! Tomorrow we're gonna have a blast... I know it!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)