Finally Fireworks!

Gary noticed a leak in one bbow tire so our first stop in the morning was to get that fixed. From there we had a very long drive up thru Pennsylvania and into New York. This was a new drive for us and we really did enjoyed seeing new country. The rolling green hills with small towns tucked in the valleys were beautiful. It seems like every small town is proudly punctuated with a charming white church steeple. What a pleasant sight!

This was a long 360 mile day and we were exhausted by the time we reached our travel goal - Niagara Falls - at 7:45 pm. The pool at our "resort" was only open till 8:00 so we dropped Taryn off there immediately as we entered. She deserved this after that drive. I did laundry with a multitude of giant foreign bugs while Gary set up the bbow.

A bit later I found him at the office visiting with the manager who was a great source of information. This helped us plan out our time. He urged us to head in to town that evening for the fireworks show over the falls at 10 pm. Now our 4th, if you'll remember, was the nite we had our tornado warning, so the poor twelve year old only lit a few pathetic sparklers alone in the wind and rain. That's a sad 4th of July celebration.

So despite our weariness from travel we reloaded the bbow and drove to the edge of town. From there we took a wonderful walking path right to the falls. Its roar absolutely stuns you the first moment you hear it. Taryn was quite amazed. The fireworks were great but certainly could have used some inspirational patriotic music to bring it on home.

My favorite part of the evening was afterwards when the crowds had wandered off and we were able to stroll further up the walking path right to the very edge where the water starts over the falls. It is always amazing to me just how close you are to that edge. It's right there! And that sound - it's roar takes your breath away! This is the first time I have seen Niagara at nite and it was so beautiful.

One peculiar sight between the path and the water edge was rats. Yuck. I'm not quite sure why they were there, but there they were!

Leaving the falls we walked into the city which still had a lot of activity going on. We wandered thru some shops and then we spotted an ice cream stand with 64 flavors! We stood in a 20 minute line for our cones and then while we were eating I suddenly noticed mice way too close to my feet. I maneuvered from my chair up to the table. What is it with Niagara and rodents!!

After Gary safely secured the walking path I came down from my perch and we went back to the bbow. It was nearly 1 AM by the time we were once again settled at our "resort" and I still had to slay the giant foreign and now flying bugs to retrieve and fold my laundry. I was so tired I was actually brave.