Day Tripping To Niagara Falls

At The Falls

7:07

Eary Birds

It's 7:40 and a Saturday morning, with a few flurries falling.  The ice fishermen are out in full force, at least twenty so far on another gray and cold 24º morning.  We are not sure what today will bring other than dinner at our friends, always something to look forward to.

Niagara River

Yesterday was a different day, finally, as we thought about visiting Niagara Falls Thursday evening because the weather report suggested it would be sunny in Buffalo most of the day.  We were in no hurry to get off but by 10:00, we were on our way, an hour and a half drive to the Falls.  We crossed two bridges, to and from Grand Island before we arrived at Niagara Falls State Park.  When we pulled into the parking lot, we were surprised at how few cars were parked.  We thought we had made a good choice until we stepped outside and the 20-30 mile an hour wind gusts hit us and the temperature was hardly in the 20's. Now I know how to define bitter wind.  

We walked to the Visitor Center, which was basically closed except for the restrooms.  We then braved the cold and wind, walked down to the turbulent Niagara River but avoided parts of the walk because they were slippery from the fall's mist.  We then walked out on the viewing bridge, where we could get the best view of the falls.  We were joined by a few other hardy tourists but none of us lasted more than four or five minutes out there to take a photo because of the cold and wind.  We then walked along the river, across the bridge spanning the Niagra River, towards Goat Island but again, it was too uncomfortable so we decided we had enough of Niagara Falls for the day.  We were probably out for just under an hour.

View Of Canada 

We drove back to Buffalo and stopped at our major reason for going to Niagara Falls, a stop at Trader Joe's on Niagara Falls Boulevard.  It's in a major shopping area with all the major restaurants and stores so it was tempting to hit a few but we resisted, Trader Joe's was enough shopping for a day.  We walked in easily but by the time we left, TJ's,  there was a line of at least 15 shoppers waiting with carts to get in.  We timed it perfectly,  On the way home, we stopped at Mc Donalds in Fredonia for something to eat and browsed Tuscany,  our favorite deli/grocery store in Fredonia.  We picked up one thing, a cherry pie, something both of us had been wanting.  

Blue And Yellow

We were home by 4:00 and we both collapsed on couches, whipped from our day.  I almost immediately fell asleep while reading and napped for a half hour.  We then relaxed with a seltzer until it was time for dinner.  We had picked up the top dinner item from Trader Joe's according to shoppers, chicken in mandarin sauce.  We were excited to try it with rice but were disappointed because it reminded us of chicken Mc Nuggets from Mc Donald's with an orange sauce. We watched a Colbert then a decent but not great movie starring Jon Hamm called Beirut.  It's set in the 1980s after the Civil War that destroyed much of the city.  We spent a week there in 1972 when it was called the Paris of the Middle East.  Not anymore as the destruction of this great city was tragic, the result of the division between Christian and Muslims, as well as PLO and other radical groups.  Could something like this happen in the United States?  I thought it a ridiculous question until January 6th, 2021.