Chicago-Niagara, OT, Canada

In 1901, when a 63 year-old school teacher from Michigan became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, trains and horses brought several hundred visitors a summer up to the tiny burgs in upstate New York and Ontario, Canada, that share their mutual names with the geohydrological wonder they encapsulate. Today cars and RVs clog the two-lanes and bridges spanning the Niagara River, bringing hundreds of thousands to the hotels, casinos, tourist traps, and of course, the falls, in a world far different from the turn of the last century.



We arrived close to 3 am; straight from Chicago running late as usual, we tore through Michigan and a bit of Ontario with our usual gusto. We had planned on camping at the local KOA in Niagara, Ontario, but as it had been raining for nearly a week, we found our tent site to be a mudhole any piggy might enjoy. Standing there, in the drizzling hours before dawn, contemplating the chances of finding a room nearby within our price range, we decided to chance it and leave the KOA. Passing "oriental massage" parlor after parlor, we found our way to the strip, of sorts, filled with neon and concrete. After 8 hotels, we finally found a room at the local Hojo's, which while staffed with some of the nicest Canadians one could find, had not been redecorated since 1981. We crashed, sleeping heavily until noon.


The "short walk to the falls" that all the nearby hotels professed was wet, long and steep. Past an exceptionally dismal horror house, a wax museum and many little holes-in-the-wall eateries we jogged through the drizzle with the giant CASINO sign as our guiding star. A quick bite in the deli there, and Andy went out to explore the falls while Emily and Moose tried their luck in the casino. The day was spent that way, Em and Moose racking up and paying out, while Andy wandered near the falls, finding good photo spots and a botanical garden hidden away from the tourists.

We ended the evening with nachos at a small pub just off the strip before retiring to our glorious suite at the Hojo's to prepare the following drive to Camp Dudley in Westport,NY.