A family trip to nowhere new, but one of the best trips we've had.

There are sometimes things that you don't expect to be absolutely outstandingly fun and memorable but then they turn out to be surprisingly fun and memorable.  A long-weekend trip to Niagara Falls, NY for some friends' wedding was just such a trip for us.

It was planned as taking Thurs, Fri off of work.  We were hitching up the camper and staying a couple nights near the falls (which is where the wedding was, too).  We then planned to move homeward and stop near Erie, PA and go to Waldameer Park as well as Presque Isle's peninsula fest.  Then home on Sunday.

We got into the campground in Niagara Falls, NY with some fanfare.  It was significantly off of the highway and the GPS decided to take us on the scenic route.  Nothing too bad though.  We were on what I would consider to be residential roads but there were still semi trucks!!! travelling the same roads.  Mostly, it was the construction that sucked.  The campground was nice enough.  GREAT location in proximity to the falls, but it was really setup for the big rigs and people who live inside their camper for the entire time at the campground.  For those of us that like to exist outside...it's not such a great value at roughly $45/night after 10% discount!  Although it was a full-hookup, I didn't connect to anything other than electricity because my water and sewer connections would have made it an uncomfortable stay for my neighbors.  I'm not sure why when in a park that is 50% empty that they put two of us right next to each other.  Anyway, great place to stay if you're going to be out touring the entire time.  Below, you can see the site we were on.  Yes, that is my neighbor's water, electric, and sewer hookups in the middle of my campsite.

The wedding doesn't have much significance to this blog, so I'll skip right to the touring we did while we were at the falls.  We decided to do the maid of the mist tour.  Very cool.  I advise getting there early.  You get right on and it's not crowded.  By the time our tour was over, there was a hefty line waiting for the boat.

Despite the fact that I've been humoring Andrea with wearing sandals in warm weather, she decided that we needed to walk to Canada.  I have nothing against walking.  Just not lots of walking in sandals which are flip-flops on steroids.  I was bleeding by the time we were done for the day, but at least I got some great poutine for lunch.

  

I didn't really have time for pictures, but we did a whirlwind tour of a couple local wineries back in NY.  In the end, an incredibly successful and fun day.  The falls, trip to Canada, Poutine for lunch, clean up for the wedding, then winery hopping, dinner, and back to the camper for some (inside) time relaxing.

The next morning was packing up and heading for Erie, PA.  We pulled into a slightly larger but perhaps more awkward campsite.  The campgrounds in the Erie area were packed full due to Presque Isle days.  We were put on one site of a set of "buddy sites".  Great if you're there with people you know.  Not so great if you don't.  We spent some awkward moments that afternoon chatting with our neighbors.  They pulled out mid-afternoon and the next occupant chose to park their camper "backward" to not face us since they had connections long enough to still hook up.  The other side of their site was a small yard and the campground road, so it's not like we were THAT bad of people :-)  We knew that Waldameer park was a destination for us, but Andrea put on her planning hat and looked up things good to do int he area with kids.  There was actually a family pack that you could buy to the local minor-league baseball team.  You got tickets, hats, and coupons for free meals at McDonalds.  So for me, this was going to be classic.  Andrea hates McD's.  I try to avoid the place, but only due to the calories and trditional fast-food; but I don't think it tastes bad at all.  So we bought the pack.  I expected the kids to give up after 4 innings, max.  Turns out, they stuck it out the WHOLE GAME!  A foul ball given to Mason by a generous fan in the row in front of us ight have helped, too.  Andrea's and my favorite beer was on tap as well, so it was a great trip.  We now have a greater appreciation for minor league ball teams and parks.  Not as much game action, but the prices are lower and seats are better.  They still do the same entertainment stuff.  I think we might be finding the Akron Rubber Ducks games a few times next year.

The last part of this blog post is a few pictures of our visit to Waldameer.  I last went here as a kid at least 28 years ago.  It's changed a bit, but I think for the better than I recall it.  It was, as I recall from so long ago, on the verge of closing up.  Maybe I was just there at off times of the year.  Although busy, we never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride, and I think that was only 1 such case.  Pretty much everything else was a near walk-on.  It was fun to see what I remembered and what I didn't.  Although Parker was eligible to ride the big coaster there, he didn't.  I rode it alone and I am pretty sure it would have scared him.  For me, it was awesome.  One of the best wooden coastrers I've been on.  I even convinced Andrea to ride it.  The boys loved the smaller, older wooden coaster there, though.

Although not picture worthy, it bears mention that on our trip home through northeastern Ohio, Andrea decided that a winery near Geauga on the Lake would be a great place to stop.  Sure...with Airstream in tow.  That turned into winery-hopping; 3 of them to be specific.  We were ahead of the crowds, though, so really it wasn't bad to get parked with the camper.  And we bought some great wine.  Why won't they ship this stuff elsewhere in Ohio where they ship all their sweet wine!  Grrr.