Homesick (Although this place was never really my "home")

When we were kids, my dad would go to Europe for two months and our mom would take us to Niagara Falls, Ontario. She grew up there and we would our two months having fun in Niagara Falls.

We would drive from Pikesville to Niagara Falls taking somewhere between 8 and 12 hours. The more we did it the more efficient we became and knew exactly where to stop. We would almost always see one strange thing on the trip up or back. One year, I saw a completely naked man hanging from his window. Or a small town in Pennsylvania, where there were about 8 teenagers who hung outside the gas station because that was the only entertainment in town. The trip was fun in its self. Like Catie coining the phrase "why is your face such looking like that" trying to insult Michael (she has never lived that down, and it is still tossed around today). Or when we were trying to give a peace offering to the Peace bridge (the bridge between the US and Canada) and Michael threw his gum out the car window and it got stuck on the side of car.

Once we would get to Niagara Falls, we would be there for quite a while. I am sure we would be a nuisance to our grandparents but we had so much fun! One year, the Hay girls and the three of us watched Richie Rich so many times, we had the entire thing memorized. I went back in December and watched it and it was not nearly as good as I remembered. We would go to movies, play games, have sleepovers with all the cousins and generally just do things.

We would a family get together every summer as well. This was awesome because we would get to see everyone. All of my mom's siblings and their families would come into Niagara Falls for a night or two and we would have lots of good food and we would swim in the Hay's pool and play in the McDonald's play place Big Mac that they had in their backyard. It used to be an essential part of the Mcdonald's play area in the mid 90's.

We even did some of the touristy things. We did the behind the falls, one year which was interesting and I would love to it again. We did the Maid of the Mist boat that takes you around at the bottom of the Niagara Falls. The Skylon Tower, where you can go to the top and look out over the entire Niagara Falls. We have done attractions like Clifton Hill, a place where there are many restaurants, arcades, Ripley's Believe it or not museum and many other tourist trap type places. In recent years, we have even gone to the casino. That is always an interesting experience.

These summers were always so much to fun!! I was thinking this week how much I want to take Ian to see all the sights when he is a little bit older (Believe it or not in his one year of life, he has already gone there twice). But when he is older and can appreciate the touristy things as well as the local entertainment, like the tribute to the Battle of Lundy's Lane every year, I really hope he will get to experience all of it again with me.



Here is some things for your enjoyment:

"National Anthem"

"Everyone Loves Marineland"

Molson Canadian "I am Canadian"