“The cool thing about being famous is traveling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff.”
The day is so very still, a typical August summer day. Nothing moves in the heaviness of the humidity, and I expect it will get even more uncomfortable if the sun, a here and there sort today, decides to hang around for the duration. Yesterday afternoon I turned on the air-conditioning as the humidity did us both in, the dog and me.
Early this morning, Gracie rang her poochie bells at four and again at 6 to go out. It is rare for her to ring them once let alone twice. I don’t know if she needed to go out or heard something in the yard. The second time I didn’t wait for her and left the backdoor open and went back to bed. She joined me in a bit. The dog door gives us both freedom.
Nothing much to do today. I do have to go to the grocery store later, one of my least favorite places, but the list is small so I should be in and out in a heartbeat. I’m thinking an afternoon nap will give me the strength to face the aisles and the hordes of carts blocking my way.
We went to Niagara Falls when I was about fifteen. I figure my parents must have saved a long time. I imagine my mother added another budget envelop labeled vacation at least a year before we left. It was the first time we ever stayed in a motel, and we went out to eat for dinner more than few times, a rarity for us. I remember we stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s, also a rarity. Usually my mother packed a picnic lunch for the road. We stayed on the American side, and my favorite memory is Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. My dad tried three times to get the cashier to give him tickets, but she ignored him the whole time. Wax figures do that. He was flustered and embarrassed when he realized. We all roared. The chamber of horrors was my favorite part. We walked along the falls that night so we could see it lit in all those beautiful colors. I still remember thinking I hadn’t seen anything so beautiful before. The roar was loud and amazing as the water cascaded over the falls. We went to the Canadian side the next day. It was my first foreign country, and I was disappointed to think it looked exactly the same as the United Sates. They even spoke English. I wanted it to be exotic.
6 days and counting.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusicTags: Canada, Madame Tussauds, Niagara Falls
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
August 21, 2011 at 11:52 am
When my family moved to Dallas from NYC in 1953, I had an uncle who lived in El Paso Texas. My immigrant grandmother said that since we would also be living in Texas we could visit my uncle often.
My mother, who was ignorant about geography, bought train tickets so we could visit my uncle and aunt while my dad was out of town on business for a couple of weeks. The train trip took 18 hours each way because El Paso is about 660 miles from Dallas. Texas is a big State. The train stopped in every little town along the way and sometimes just stopped for 15 or 20 minutes in the middle of nowhere among the West Texas tumble weeds.
My uncle was living in Juarez Mexico, across the border, because my aunt was a Mexican national and they were waiting in Juarez to get her legal immigration status. An idea that has since gone out of style. Juarez was truly a foreign city from El Paso just across the Rio Grande River.
Not only did the people speak Spanish but the entire culture was very different. In those days crossing the border was a non event as Mexican workers crossed into the US daily to earn money or shop and American tourists crossed the other way to enjoy the food, the night life (alcoholic beverages were banned in Texas) and some went to see the bull fights. The cultural difference between the two cities was dramatic and fun. Unfortunately, no sane person would want to visit any of the cities along the Mexican Northern border. They have become a war zone of the drug cartels. These drug gangs make Al Capone’s gang look like a boy scouts.
Can you guess the weather forecast for today in Dallas? Yep, another dry, 100 degree plus day.
August 21, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Bob,
I was in San Diego a long while back, and we made the trek to Tijuana knowing what we’d find, but we figured it was part of the San Diego adventure. We did stop for drinks at a few bars and I bought some bottles with worms for my brother, more for the novelty than the alcohol.
I would have loved to visit at the time of your family adventure. It would have seemed like a real trip to Mexico. I love trains but I’m not so so sure I’d have loved that one.
August 21, 2011 at 1:15 pm
PS I’m so sorry that the heat persists. Here I am complaining about the humidity, and you’re roasting alive.
August 21, 2011 at 12:04 pm
It has been a nice day over here, just enough warm with both sunshine and cloudy skies.
It must be much like going to Norway over here. They almost speak the same language 🙂 But going to Denmark is a bit different because they do speak rather strange, almost swedish but it sounds like they have porridge in their throats 🙂 🙂 🙂
Soon very soon You´ll cross the ocean 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
August 21, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Christer,
I love your description of Danish. I have been to Finland and Denmark but that is it. I was lost in Finland as the second language was Swedish and Finnish is really difficult to pronounce. I just carried my translation book and pointed to the word.
6 days!
August 22, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Finnish is impossible to understand and to talk 🙂 🙂 Finns are also absolutely lousy in english so it must have been tough getting lost there 🙂 🙂 🙂 You should have passed the ocean over to us instead, everyone can speak english if we like to 🙂
August 21, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Growing up in Buffalo, Niagara Falls was where we dragged visitors off to. Driving up there in a crowded car, past the Bell Helicopter plant and endless and stinky chemical factories, was the price you had to pay. But it was all rewarded with the cool mist of the Falls on a hot, muggy day. My favorite stop was a place where they had the barrels and other contraptions daredevils had used to go over the Falls. A childhood friend of my mother’s made a stop at a pharmacy on the Canadian side to buy medicine one could not purchase in the U.S. I want to say it was called something like McGillicuddy’s something or other, but wouldn’t swear to that. The trip was usually topped off by seeing the Falls lit up with colored lights at night and dinner at a fancy restaurant where I had the rare chance to order a coke with a cherry to go along with an enormous shrimp cocktail on ice. Good times.
August 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Bill,
I have to think that the falls got old hat after a while, but I do get the cool mist on a hot day.
I figure, though, I’d go for the night walk and the dinner at a restaurant. It would make any ride worth the trip!
August 22, 2011 at 12:11 am
This? http://buckleys.com/index.html
Cheers
August 21, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Was your quote from the mind of Britney Spears? I think I remember her saying something like that. But no matter – she’s my favorite. no matter what.
Best of luck and happiness on your trip! We’ll be thinking about you!
August 21, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Mark,
Indeed, it was from the brilliant mind of one Britney Spears.
Thanks! I am really getting excited to go.
August 21, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Did you take that boat that goes under the Falls? I thought that the most exciting part. Of course, I fell for the postcards of a guy going over in a barrel. My father thought me nuts to buy five of those cards. Well I thought my friends at home would laugh. I loved the nightlife at the Falls too. All lit up it looks like a fantasy world.
August 21, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Z&Me,
No, we did the walk in yellow raincoats around and under the falls. It was wonderful.
I would have sent postcards too as no one else I knew had ever been there.
August 21, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Any of you that go MUST do both the Maid Of The Mist, and the Cave Of The Winds tours. I never use this word but…..
They’re both exhilarating.
p.s.
Just don’t take the tour the guy in the photo I posted in the next thread took. Yes, it’s free, but – you get what you pay for.
August 21, 2011 at 6:19 pm
From our last trip to The Falls:
August 21, 2011 at 7:30 pm
John,
The American side was so different when I went, but the falls are still spectacular.
August 21, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I forgot to ask, have you been back to The Falls since that trip 45+ years ago?
August 21, 2011 at 10:23 pm
No, I haven’t, John
I was close when I went to a wedding, but I didn’t take the time to go to the falls. It’s funny but I hadn’t thought of them in years until today.