TERRI'S TRAVELS: Niagra Falls

For my mom's birthday this year, I decided to take her to Niagra Falls! Waterfalls are pretty much her favorite thing (and I wanted to see it, too) - so we took a little mother/daughter trip!

We left after work on Friday and made the quick non-stop flight in to Buffalo, NY. Grabbed our rental car and headed for our cheap hotel close to the falls...

It was late by the time we got there, but rest assured, my mother still pulled out her travel size spray bottle of LYSOL and sprayed everything before I was allowed to touch, haha. She even pulled down my comforter - barely touching it with the tips of her fingers - and wrinkled up her nose at the thought of anyone using it. Ooooh how she would just DIE if she ever traveled in a third world country with me (or saw some of the places I've stayed...)

Mom got up bright and early on Saturday morning (I just took a little prodding to get moving) to go see the famed Niagara Falls!

And what was one of the first things we saw on our walk down to the water?? A helicoptor, of course. And of course my mom insisted that I go up in it to get the birds eye view. (She really is the best mom ever.) I didn't argue.

It. Was. AWESOME. Totally the coolest thing I've done in awhile.

The Indian girl next to me was VERY nervous the whole time...she was NOT intersted in smiling for my picture.

(I took about 100 pictures of the helicopter ride. Here are just a few...)

After that, the falls from the gruond were a little less exciting. Well, actually they were still pretty cool. Much more loud from the ground - that's for sure. We walked around to a couple of different spots, and saw a rainbow, which I would imagine is a pretty regular occurence there with al the mist in the air from the falls...

We eventually ended up the giant Maid of the Mist boat tour, which takes you right up to the falls. We definitely got wet - even with our expensive ponchos we bought. So naturally, when we got off, my mom bought me a Niagara Falls hoodie from one of the super expensive tourist spots where everyone goes when they are cold and wet from the boat ride. Brilliant.

Up next was the Cave of the Winds tour, where you get to walk down and kind of behind some of the smaller falls. It was a lot of walking and me not paying attention to the facts the tour guide was throwing out. I really just don't like tours and big groups. I would much rather sneak off to explore on my own...which is precisely what I tried to do on this tour. It was pretty cool. Another different view of some different falls.

The next day, we walked around some more, and eventually made our way in to CANADA for a few hours! It totally counts as being in another country, right?? I think so...