Niagara Falls (the Canadian side)

We debated whether or not to actually go here, since the Maid Of The Mist ship that takes you to the bottom of the falls stopped running in October. But in the end we decided that it's still worth the trip. Our information told us that the Canadian side is much nicer than the US side, so we crossed the border into Canada once again.

This time it was much less hassle, we didn't even need to get out of the car and there was virtually no wait. The Canadian border patrol person just asked us the standard questions and where we had been in the US, cause "you sure didn't come to visit Buffalo, right?" Hehe. Yeah we drove through Buffalo on the way to the border bridge and it didn't look like much. There are four bridges you can use to cross into Ontario, Canada at Niagara Falls and in summer there can be considerable wait time. But for us we could almost drive straight through.

Our hotel was a little bit away from the actual river side and falls, maybe a mile or so. The area around the falls and river is totally screaming "this is a tourist destination!", there are chain restaurants, souvenir shops, arcades, kids places everywhere. I don't think it would be very enjoyable in the summer season when this area is packed with tourists. There were still a bunch of visitors here but very manageable and you don't have to wait to go anywhere or do anything.

The two falls themselves are really cool and you do get a better view of them from the Canadian side, as you can view them front on. The US side only allows a side view and they had to build a special platform to get a better side view.

The main falls are mostly covered by a constant, 24h mist, created by the water crashing onto some rocks and spraying upwards. During the day the wind blows this mist onto the road and footpath, so there are sections where you get completely soaked in a matter of seconds. During the night without winds the spray just goes straight up and you get to see more of the falls.

Pics.

From behind the main falls.

River leading into the falls on the left.

Fall colours!

The smaller falls on the US side.

US falls with the viewing platform on the left.

The main falls.

The Rainbow Bridge :)

One of the tourist attractions in the tourist district. Upside down house!

Panorama shot of both falls!

I didn't take any photos at night as we just basically did a slow drive by. But the side of the road where the grass and footpath is was decorated with lots of lit up christmas and tourist displays, looked really nice at night. The falls were lit up too by giant spotlights from the road.

So even without the Maid Of The Mist tour this is well worth going to, we spent a couple of nights here. We then crossed over to the US side, the wait at the border was considerably longer and we were only asked a single question by the US border person. The US side is much more run down and less developed, but I had bought tickets to a concert in the area and I didn't want to have to cross the border twice to get there and back. So we spent one night on the US side of Niagara Falls.

The motel person was well dodgy, but we had no incidents and a good night's rest.

The Road To Dallas, Texas

The next big stop after Yellowstone was Dallas, with a short stopover in Denver Colorado to visit Cindy and to pick up Nicole.Some photos from the road to start with.

First stop just before Denver. A random pick because it was getting dark, and a cheap motel. But the rooms were actually really nice! Score.

In Denver, a diner we went to after I picked out one that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. This one is Sam's No 3 and featured some local stencil art.

Healthy veggies.

On sunday we met up with Cindy and Eric at Steuben's, another diner featured on the show, for lunch. Cindy brought along Rupert, her 9.5 weeks old French Bulldog puppy, who was very cute. He rocked his own motorcycle glasses too :)

I had the Maine lobster roll, and some grilled corn on the cob (I had my very first one 30 years ago in Canada if I remember correctly and I've been hanging out to "complete the cycle"so to speak.

Simone had the Benny.

Cindy getting strapped in so Rupert can ride safely in front of her.

We took a lovely drive through the mountains and stopped at the Last Shot. This place is awesome, it's dog friendly and dogs even get their own menu. The owner and everyone else was to taken by Rupert that everyone gathered around to have a pet and a cuddle. The owner, Roy, has 15 dogs himself and bought us all drinks on the house and gave us some T-shirts. What a friendly place, bikers are the best! :)

The dog menu. Roy ordered for Rupert, he just said "put the menu away, give him a little bit of rice and cut some slices of steak, make sure you sear them a little". So Rupert got a gourmet meal which he devoured very quickly :)

Apple pie for Simone.

Cindy and Eric's sandwich.

Everyone loves Rupert!

The trees changing colour, very beautiful.

Some better shots with the proper camera.

Rupert getting ready. Note the glasses.

After this lovely afternoon we went to the Hard Rock in the evening to grab a bite and some merch.

The next day we picked up Nicole from the airport and made our way to Mesa Verde. Some great scenery on the way. Sadly we couldn't make it to the snowy mountains, so Nicole will have to wait to actually touch snow. But at least she's seen some now :)

I pulled over at this valley lookout, it was spectacular. What a view!

The next morning we drove on to Mesa Verde.

Cliff Palace. The tour with the ranger costs a whole $3 and is absolutely worth it, you get to find out heaps about this place and you get the chance to ask questions.

A photo from the drive around, a natural arch on the cliff side.

After spending about half a day at Mesa Verde, we drove on to Texas.

We stopped at the Big Texan Roadhouse, where you can get a 2kg (72 ounce) steak for free if you can eat it within 60 minutes without throwing up. I did not take the challenge because that amount of meat is just ridiculous. Yet someone has actually finished TWO of these steaks in 60 minutes, and another guy finished one in about 7 minutes. Instead I had the anniversary 18 ounce steak, which was cooked to perfection and the baked potato was one of the best I've had.

Simone had the 8 ounce steak.

This is what you got to eat for the challenge.

Complete with indoor shooting gallery.

And candy store.

Once we arrived in Dallas the girls spent their time at the con, and I explored the city a little. I went to the 6th Floor museum, which is the book depository building that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from (if you want to believe that story). The museum itself is very interesting and well laid out, unfortunately you can't take any photos on the 6th floor but you can go up to the 7th and look through the window there.

What is "Youth English" and why is it a separate language?? "so, like, there was this guy, like, who had this, like, gun, and, like, he shot the president yo. YOLO." Haha. 

The view from the 7th floor window, exactly above the actual window a few meters below.

On the grassy knoll you get those who present a different view from the "official" story. It was quite interesting to listen to the guy.

The building, you can see the second window from the top on the right is open. That's the one.

The crosses on the road mark the spots where Kennedy was struck.

Personally I think all the evidence points towards a second shooter on the hill, and this would make it a conspiracy rather than the plan of a lone gunman. There are too many witnesses who said they heard shots from the right (the knoll) and even the people riding in the motorcade heard shots from that direction. Policemen ran towards the knoll immediately after the shots were fired. Why would they do that if the shots seemed to come from the building? Anyway, even the museum is open to alternative theories and conclusions and even investigates some of them. But the official story it presents is still that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and killed Kennedy by firing three shots at a moving target in less than 8 seconds from a bolt action rifle :-/

Afterwards I checked out the Hard Rock cafe, had a wander downtown. They had some sort of race going on where groups of people had to fulfil certain tasks, like taking a photo of themselves posing a certain way with a policeman or policecar. Quite funny.

On the sunday I went to the Galleria Dallas Mall nearby, which is a massive, 4 storey mall with a frikkin ice rink in the middle. I bought a suitcase so we could rearrange our stuff and give Nicole a suitcase to take home for us.

On our last day we went to In and Out Burger for dinner. Old school joint with good food.

Next stop: Austin, San Antonio and Houston.