Oh Niagara, how we missed you...

The Niagara Tourism Board has been wondering where the Etherington’s were… so we packed up our bags for mother’s day and headed to Niagara Falls (well, actually it was the weekend before mother’s day, but  semantics really.  The weather was much nicer the weekend we went!)

Our trip to Niagara began in the same place as always – Margaritaville!  During this visit I became quite fascinated with the giant blender of bubbly green liquid (as seen in the photo above).   I asked our server if I could have a drink from the blender and, having watched videos of people swimming in these jimmy buffet blenders before, mom puked in her mouth a little J  Although, for the record, it might have been because of the birthday party the night before…

After our tradition-based overpriced lunch we walked down to the falls.  Dad’s customary family photos ensued shortly thereafter.  I decided to take a page out of my dad’s book and snap lots of pictures of water and random scenic things around the falls… all of which were so brilliant that absolutely none are featured in this blog entry J

After the stellar photography session, we went for a quick tourist shop.  Grandma had given me some money (and a cool wallet) during my last visit to Windsor and I was anxious to spend it in Niagara.  Not surprisingly I found the only gun in the store.   

Even less surprisingly it was a wooden musket from Fort Erie and when you shot it a cork on a string popped out.  Everyone in Niagara that day was invading enemy troops and they were dealt with accordingly. 

Even though I was busy defending Niagara from her enemies, we eventually we found ourselves hiking up and down the strip at Clifton Hills.  And when we saw a massive sign that said ‘Cosmic Bowling’ we all collectively agreed to stop.

We were having so much fun bowling, we played three whole games.  Dad and I battled for the top score while mom was… well… totally…. terrible. Once again, it might have been the birthday party the night before. 

After her humiliating defeat, we managed to console mom with some ice cream and a lovely nature walk. She also had a short nap before getting ready for a nice dinner which helped in her recovery.

Again, as is customary in Niagara Falls, we took pictures of all of us in front the window in our hotel suite.  This was our fabulous view from our room.

 

And here we are!  Just like déjà vu from the last 1,000 Niagara blog entries before this one! 

Dinner consisted of a copious amount of delicious meat, followed by lots of sugar.  Mmmm, mmmm.

Since it was a mother’s day trip, Dad and I let mom have free reign over our Niagara activities/plans. Unfortunately she took it to heart and when she announced what we would be doing the next day Dad and I both cringed and through weak / forced smiles said ‘Are you sure about that????’

It took us 30 minutes to drive to our destination and throughout the whole ride mom received much grief and was given the option to turn around at any time…. any time mom, really, any time…

We even re-questioned her decision making abilities in a last ditch attempt to get her to change her mind as we pulled up the driveway to ‘Horse Play’ riding stables. But she was strong in her resolve that we WOULD go horseback riding. And we would LIKE it.

 

The time finally arrived for us to hop on our designated horses.   My horse was obviously the best (according to me of course) and his name was Ace.  I also got to ride at the very front of the pack.  Both of these things were most acceptable to me.

Dad’s horse was named “Tiny”. Tiny was anything but tiny, in fact he was the largest horse easily weighing an incremental 500 – 1,000 pounds versus the other horses in our little caravan.

Mom’s horse was named “Durango”. She thought this was quite fitting as the last time she could remember being on a horse was when she was a teenager and she likely had enjoyed a few Durango Wildberry Coolers either before or après riding or both (note: mom does not condone drinking and riding… teenagers just aren’t very smart).

 

And while Dad and I initially complained about being mounted on horses and led through the wilderness, our moods instantly changed once we got going. In fact, I had a huge smile on my face the whole time and wouldn’t stop chatting away with the nice horse lady who was in charge of our group.

The horse lady’s name was Debbie and she was very sweet and took lots of opportunities to teach me about horses… what they ate, how much they weighed, their summer and winter coats, how they ‘worked’ hard like the rest of us…

All Debbie’s information was well and good, but what I really wanted to know was how you train horses to go into battle. For instance, I asked her ‘what was General Brock’s horse like?’ Upon hearing this question Debbie was a bit confused and looked to mom for some assistance in the matter. Mom gave Debbie a quick lesson on the war of 1812 and Debbie did her best to fill in the blanks on what horses in battle would be like. Her answers were acceptable but only because I didn’t have a real point of reference.

Most of the time the horses kept a speed of a leisurely stroll, but every 10 minutes we got to break into a canter for approximately a minute, maybe two. After I received my initial taste of some speed, all I wanted to do was canter and repeatedly begged Debbie to pick up the pace. Dad was happy that I was having so much fun, but did not like the idea of any more canters… as every time the horses trotted with increased pace, mom could hear dad silently moaning about his ‘peppers’

 

When our Wild West adventures finally came to an end, I was sad to say good-bye to Ace.  But then mom bought me a cowboy gun, handcuffs and spurs and Ace was quickly forgotten. 

Since mom had led us into the middle of nowhere to go riding, we took the scenic route back to Toronto.  We even stopped at Port Something-Or-Other for a bite to eat.  While we were waiting for our fish and chips lunch we decided to draw pics of our horses.  Not too shabby, eh? 

With Father’s Day around the corner, I am sure that we will be seeing the Niagara region again soon… and Dad’s picks may be a little different – but no doubt equally as fun!!