memorial day weekend | Niagara Falls + Canada

We are back home from our second summer trip away. We came home extremely tired and needed a days rest. I am going to finish up our Memorial Weekend adventures now.

Since we were about 45 minutes away from Niagra Falls we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience it. It's a huge tourist spot so there were a lot of people around. I always have these high expectations when I am traveling to famous tourist-y parts of the world. When we traveled to Memphis Tennessee I was super excited to see Elvis' estate. I pictured it to be surrounded by trees with lots of land and gardens all around.  Maybe we'd have to drive through a gate down a long windy road with apple trees along it. Well as we were drivng down the main thoroughfare David kept saying, we're pretty close, it should be coming right up. I thought, "What? How could that be?  We're surrounded by hotels and restaurants and all kinds of ugly stuff." Then it came up on the left side of the street and it was right in the middle of this vegas-like strip with ugly stuff. I was disappointed.

I kind of had the same feeling for the Niagra Falls area. The Falls were beautiful and I really enjoyed experiencing them but I was expecting a more natural atmosphere rather than some shabby city scene.
I hope Yellowstone doesn't let me down!

The Canadian side of the Falls wasn't as bad as the American side. It was much cleaner and nicer, and more organized. Definitely more colorful. It has a more carnival-like atmosphere with all kinds of hall of fame museums, wax museums, and haunted houses. Not really my kind of fun. David, Angel and I crossed over without Julian because he doesn't have a passport yet. He stayed in the US with family. We had lunch there and bought some souvenirs. Angel collects t-shirts from all the places we travel to so she bought a Canada t-shirt. And I got myself another magnet to add to my collection of magnets from all the places I've been!