Niagara Falls..

(part of the road driving up. we took back roads most of the way)

We had a great time in Niagara over the weekend. The drive wasn't as bad as we thought and it was so beautiful! We used the GPS (as in, Patrick's Christmas present) for the trip and it was so helpful!

We stopped at Outback Steakhouse in Buffalo, NY for dinner. I was starving and wanted a sweet potato and a salad (that's what a I crave. yum.). They had both! We enjoyed being out of the car for a bit and I thought Buffalo seemed like a great city - what you could see of it in the dark.

We rolled into Niagara Falls and checked into our hotel. We were SO blessed and surprised to find that Kent left us a gift certificate to help pay for the hotel (for an anniversary present!), that they couldn't change our rate (we booked at a higher price and the prices went down before we checked in, so they were suppose to give us the cheaper rate) so they upgraded us to a Junior Presidential Suite, and that we got a voucher for free room service! Score!!! It was so fun to have all of those surprises at once.

Our room was great and the view of the falls was even better! We pulled a couch in front of the window and watched the falls change colors (because of the lighting). We got a call to our room saying they were bringing something for us and when they arrived with a fruit and cheese platter (from Kent! Thanks, brother, for everything!), we were pretty excited. So, we sat on the couch watching the falls and eating cheese and grapes! Not to mention that they had fireworks over the falls... we watched those from the couch, too.(view from our room, in the morning)

Saturday was COLD, but fun. We drove over to the American side of the falls and enjoyed the view from there first. We walked around (to my dismay) and I took some pretty fun pictures. The big-ness of the falls is really fascinating. The water was deeper and ran much faster than I thought it would. It was quite fun being with a geologist because he knew a lot about what was going on, so I asked a lot of questions. The mist from the falls coated EVERYTHING in ice. It was incredible how such a fine little mist could turn so many things white and icy! Oh, the mist also froze the lens of my camera, which then broke. This was such a bummer.

We went to a visitors center to warm up and watched a movie about Niagara Falls. It was cheesy, but interesting. Patrick hated it and was so ticked off that we paid to see it. It wasn't what he thought it would be. The whole trip he would get started on how the movie was bad and such. It was actually pretty funny and we ended up making fun of it more than anything. Good times!

We walked around the Canadian side of the falls after lunch and then went back to the room to warm up and relax. It was nice to hang out and not feel like we had to to a thousand things while we were there. We made reservations for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Casa Mia, that was a little out of the way of tourism. It was incredible and small and the food was outstanding. Even Patrick LOVED his meal (he can be a food snob) and my was wonderful. My salad has this creamy garlic dressing that was so tasty. Dessert was so delicious. I love finding good restaurants!

Sunday we got up early, checked out and drove over to Niagara on the Lake. We did stop at Tim Horton's to grab some doughnuts. I have a friend from Canada that said we needed to stop here. They were pretty good. I don't really like doughnuts. We pulled into a park and ran down the Lake Ontario to touch the water (it's a thing we do, touch water in all the different places we go...). It was cold and I'm glad we weren't swimming in it. :)

We drove down the main street of Niagara on the Lake and we were sad to see that all of the shop were closed. The small town reminded us of St. Andrews, Scotland. It was quaint and quite, shops and cafes lined the streets. If we ever go back, we'll stay here. I recommend the same to you. It's only a 20 minute drive to the falls.

We left for home after our random detour and make it home in great time. It was nice to be home after driving so long! I love taking trips with Patrick. Each trip gets better as we know each other more and have learned to enjoy spending time together no matter where we are! This was a great anniversary trip!

Ice covered everything...

Like the ground and this little leaf.
We're cute in our snow hats, which people don't call toboggans around here. FYI

My favorite picture that I took before the camera stopped working.
Frozen berries and branches...
Me by a rock and the ice cold water. We were exploring and found this area. Beautiful! (Mom, these are the new jeans I got... do you like them?)My incredible husband! Isn't he handsome and rugged looking? I love that!

A little water fall that was on Three Sisters Island. The water was rapid like and so pretty.