From the Park to the Falls

Blind River came and went, and we have continued on our Ontario odyssey:
- made it to Algonquin Provincial Park for the start of the long weekend and connected with my sister's family and their camping cohorts for a few days. On the way we saw a cool chair that we we really thought would look great at the camp site, but unfortunately we couldn't fit it into the car


- thankfully Heather is an ace camper, as I think my sole contribution to the camping experience was buying the beer and making the pancakes on the first morning.

- saw no moose or elk, but did wake up scared one night. Thought I heard a wild animal but then realized it was just Rich's snoring. For all those out there who have claimed that I am loud, Rich is in a whole other class.

- got laughed at by all the other campers (who BTW were comfortably ensconced in their RVs) for having a monster tent

We then headed through Toronto to see Fort Erie and settled in Niagara Falls for the past couple of days. At least I thought it was Niagara Falls. It could easily be Las Vegas east, although I have only seen one casino. We are staying across from it, so every day I see the "coming soon" video board. Lots of the usual suspects that frequent Vancouver, but one entertainer did catch my attention. "An Evening with Sean Penn" is coming up. For $90 you can sit in the audience and listen to him talk about whatever is on his mind I guess. Maybe he watched the Charlie Sheen tour and thought "hey - I can do that....I have won Oscars". Unlike Dennis Quaid and even Kevin Costner (who are both coming to NF with their respective bands) who play music, this is just an opportunity to hear Sean Penn speak. Really? These guys make big money to act, and now they are doing the circuit making more $$$ for "sharing their thoughts and doing a Q&A." I hope someone asks him about Fast Times...

The Falls are really, really cool to see in person. Happy to report that the "Canadian" side is much more awesome than the American falls. Walked down last night to check them out and saw that we were just in time for the special holiday fireworks. Decided the hang out, then had to flee the scene as our dog decided she needed to warn everyone of the dangerous explosions by barking as loudly and as often as possible.

Today was our day for the "Maid of the Mist" boat tour, which took us down via boat to the vase of the Falls. This has been on the "must-do list ever since Chloe saw the "Niagara" episodes of "The Office"

So we got in line, received our blue disposable rain ponchos and headed out to "sea." It was so cool (and very refreshing on a hot, muggy day). We got soaked but it was so neat to see the Falls from the base, and hear stories about the 63 year old woman who went over the Falls in a wooden barrel and survived.


Now it's time to pack up again and hit the road for Ottawa...and then it will be time to finally escape Ontario!