After only 2 hours of sleep, I was feeling like a Mac truck had hit me, and then backed over me just for spite. But the ill feeling in my belly and the minor aches that what constitute a hang over for me were no match for my excitement and desire to be a true tourist. there had been so much I wanted to see and that I had planned to do. And there wasn't anyone or anything that was going to stop me. Muah-ha-ha!

We stayed in two main groups. The casino people- those who merely went to donate to the Casino in Niagara Falls, and the Tourist groups- those of us who wanted to do more than donate our hard earned cash to the Canadians.

I was a tourist. We missed breakfast, so being that it was after 10 a.m., we all started at the Casino and split up from there. My group headed straight for the Hard Rock cafe for lunch. That place was pretty cool. Smaller than I expected. But the food was good. Their chicken noodle soup by far is the BEST i have ever or probably will ever have. I have even had dreams of eating huge bowls of that soup long since I have been home.

After lunch, we hit the striup and started walking. tara's sisters and I saw some photo ops so we stopped and took advantage. Somehow losing half of the group in the process.So we continued on to the Hershey store as planned and still no luck finding them. Soi we (Tara's sisters Tonya and Tina and Tina's hubby Steve and I) became a group. We never saw the others again until dinner.

Hershey's was awesome and oh so yummy. Then we hit Planet Hollywood. After doing our major shopping, we decided to wander down towards the falls. They convinced me, kicking, whining and fighting mind you, to trek down to take the Maiden of the Mist Boat Tour. I am severely, deathly afraid of heights and I saw how far down we had to go to get to the boat. We walked down what seemed like miles of winding ramps before reaching and elevator terminal that took us almost to the bottom. We finally got to the load point. We donned our complimentary blue see thru trash bag parkas and boarded the ferry style boat.

My goodness, how close we came to the falls. The views took my breath away. The cool mist was so refreshing. The rainbows were out, sometimes two at once intersecting. I was in heaven. Truly. I am so glad they talked me into going. I would have missed out on a spectacular part of seeing the Falls.

And the best part, the elevator actually took us up to the gift shop. YAY.

We were running late for their 4:30 p.m. dinner reservations, so I stood ont he corner trying to hail the many non-existant Taxi's. When all of a sudden they yelled at me. They had one. I don;t know how they did it. And I was even more shocked to find Larry (one of the lost party) in the front seat. He was headed back to the Motel. He too, had been seperate. The irony.

Once back at the motel, most everyone else went to eat at the Skylon. A HUGE sky needle type building with a restaurant waaaay at the top that revolved to give you different views of the Falls. Sounded fancy, fine and all. But the elevator cars were glass and there was no way in hell I was going.

So Tara's Grandma, Aunt Rosie and Uncle Pat and I stayed behind. We walked down to the Denny's right on the corner and brought take out back. We had a nice dinner and fun conversation.

When everyone was together again, we decided to have a night out on the town. Once again we broke into two groups. Casino goers and drinkers. But the funniest part was this:

Laura has a full size 7 passenger van. There were 21 of us. We all tried to stick together... so 17 of us all piled ourselves into the van. The rest took another vehicle. We pulled up in front of the casino and I hoped out, as did Tara's Gran. Then they started jumping out one by one. the Valet's jaw hit the ground as he went to close the door after the first 10. I told him tow ait, there were more. Sure enough, a few more piled out and then I opened the very back door and the rest hopped out. People stood staring. Many remarked about the SUV commercial taht is something like what we pulled. We all just laughed.

Then we went into our 2 groups. Some going into the casino. the rest of us hitting the bar. We started at Planet Hollywood. Then we hit some spots and museums on the strip.

My fave place was the Wax Museum of Stars. The was replicas sucked. Most didn;t look anything like they were s'posed to. Marlon Brando was good. But right towards the end, they had a spot where for a medium fee, you could make a wax replica of your hand.

They start by dunking your hand in freezing cold water, then lathering you in hand lotion. Then you dunk ever so slowly into a pit of hot wax. You put your hand in the form you want and slowly continue dunking. It feels wierd and my face showed it. The first time you dunk, it feels like a small, tight and wet hole. One that you gradually slide into. I'm sure you can imagine where my mind was. In the end, they dunk you back in the freezing water. Then she slowly in slow gentle strokes, massages the wax glove from your hand. Then they fill it with wax and wallah. A wax replica. Pretty nifty, eh?

When all was done, I was chuckling to myself when one of the guys asked what was so funny. I told him that I was officially a lesbian for 5 minutes. And it was damn good. We all broke into fits of laughter. My hand was giving the finger. I gave it to Shawn as a gift. I told him that was for not missing me. We both laughed.

After that, a few of us hit the LBCO. One of the only stores you can buy alcohol at. You can;t get it anywhere like 7-11. Only at that place and the Beer Store. And only until 11 p.m. (Sucky sucky!) SWo we caught a cab, picked up Tara's sisters van and raced to the store with only 3 minutes to spare.

We got our beverages of choice and went to the motel where we drank late into the wee hours of the morning. I was drunker than I ahve been in quite some time. I was so funny! I was on a comedienne kick for some reason. they swore I should've done stand up. And I swore I wasnt taht funny usually.

We were up 'til 5 a.m. before we clambored into bed and slept. We woke up barely in time to pack and make check out. I grabbed as much as I could and hauled it out to the van. When I got to the van, it started raining. When I walked towards the motel it stopped. I had forgotten somethign sdo I walked back to the van and it was rtaining again. Odd. I looked up. Not a clud in the sky. I was freaking. I was still drunk! Man, did I panic. I have never hallucenated before. i started wondering if someone had slipped a hit of acid into one of my many, many, many drinks. Then Aunt Rosie came out and she noticed the same. We were in awe and wondering what was up when someone informed us it was the mist fromt he Falls. Boy, did I ever feel stupid. Who would have known, eh?

So we finally packed up, dawdled a bit then hit the road.

The trip was fantastic. Well worth going. And restored some hope in me. I got away. I was happy and damn it, I had FUN!

Oh Canada... how I love thee...

I will be back!

Sara

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