Niagara Falls, the ugliest place on Earth

Actually, the Falls, the area and the locals are really quit beautiful and nice. It’s the tourists, such as me, that ugly up the place. If I had a chance to post a picture you’d understand what I mean. The weather was a little dreary from all of the rain and/or mist coming off of the falls and lack of sun. So every picture of me (which I tried to limit those!) I have Bryan’s big coat on since none of mine fit other than a big, puffy maternity winter coat which would have looked really out of place. And my hair from the wind and rain…I basically looked like a drowned rat in an oversized coat along with every other tourist.

But despite my appearance we had a great time. The Falls are amazing and we had the best view from our hotel. The highlight for me was doing the Maid of the Mist boat tour thing which takes you right up to the bottom of the falls and it’s just so stunning to see and feel how massive they are. The boat gets all rocky and wind and water are flying everywhere, it felt like The Perfect Storm. A few people told me I shouldn’t do it being pregnant, because we all know once you are pregnant you are instantly classified as helpless and fragile, but I asked the tour people and they said it was completely fine. There were kids of all ages and elderly so I figured I was good. Being pregnant, I’ve found I’m often treated the same as my 85 year old Grandmother so if she could do it, I’d be OK. I’m so glad I did. We also, well Bryan, did well at the Casino. It’s always fun making money on vacation. And we went to this Butterfly conservatory which was awesome. We both weren’t expecting anything great but it was so cool because there were hundreds of butterflies flying all over the place and all over us. I think even if you didn’t like butterflies you’d enjoy it.

The low of the trip would have to be the food. Way overpriced and not even good. When we travel we like to find good, local places to eat. Not the chains you see everywhere. Well there weren’t too many options that looked inviting other than chains. So for breakfast we went to Denny’s. And get this, our bill was $40!! In American! After the conversion! It was almost $50 in Canadian! And this is greasy spoon, Denny’s, nothing special. And we ate a normal breakfast, we didn’t gorge ourselves or anything…I swear. Breakfast is the cheapest meal to eat and we go out all the time and usually spend about $20 for the 2 of us to eat very well. I wanted to protest, I was so baffled. Or better yet, dine n’ dash! The night before we had a nice steak dinner (well I had a damn good hamburger) for $50…that seems normal to me but $40 for a Denny’s breakfast for 2 people! Unheard of! Obviously I still haven’t gotten over it. We tried to play it safe the next day and just got bagels elsewhere and even that was $15 for 2 bagels and cream cheese. Not even with coffee or juice!!

Traveling does take its toll on a pregnant body. It was getting difficult to walk as much as we normally would. My little stumps just couldn’t seem to drag my weight around any longer. So there were a lot of rest stops. Oh and the bathroom issue! I had to make sure I was within 10 feet of a bathroom at all times. We walked from our hotel to dinner and I peed before I left and not even 10 minutes later by the time we got there I was about to pee my pants again. So I was always worrying about how long a walk, ride or wait was.

But despite the overpriced food, it didn’t stop us from having a good time. And although the weather wasn’t perfect spring temps, it was still decent and didn’t damper our plans. We’re looking forward to visiting again, next time little baby boy!