Reflections of My Travel

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Slept in until close to 11:00 this morning. Mike had to work again so we three headed to the falls. We walked around the American side first, then drove over to the Canadian side. We then drove around the Greater Niagara area of the Canadian side to pass time so that we could see the falls all lit up at night too. We went to the whirlpool area and watched them for a little while. We then drove around the Old Niagara area, which was very pretty. Drove by the Prince of Whales hotel and dropped our jaws at it. We saw the falls change colors a couple of times and headed back to Buffalo.

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Today we actually slept in a little, which was very nice. Mike went to work around 10:00 so the three of us decided to go out in search of foliage. We headed south toward Ellicotvile, NY (Jenny had been informed about a big fall festival going on there. We stopped in on it but it was mostly venders so we didn’t stay long.). We then found some little back roads and made our way down to Allegheny State Park. We saw some absolutely breathtaking foliage! On the way out, we came upon several cars stopped on the side of the road, which I decided meant there was a bear. I was correct. We stopped and got out and walked back to the car behind us and there he was – an enormous black bear (boy guessed appx 300lbs)about 30′ away and walking toward us! He stopped at a tree about 25′ feet away and looked at us all for a minute before turning and walking back into the woods. I got some pretty good video, and one decent still shot. We weren’t too worried because we figured for sure we could outrun the old people who’s car we were standing at. It was exciting. That’s the second wild bear sighting I’ve had (the other was at Cades Cove in TN, stood under a tree with one big bear eating acorns up in the limbs and then saw a momma and two cubs walking along about 50′ feet away). We then headed back toward Buffalo. We had promised Jenny and Mike that we would pretend to be young and social (quite a stretch for us) one night while we were there so when Mike got home, we started getting ready. We went to some bar. It was about like a bar. My boy and I had one drink apiece to be sociable. We stayed there until about 02:00 and went back to their apartment for an unsuccessful (in that Randal and I abstained and Mike was upset over that) drinking game. We didn’t get to sleep until about 05:30! That’s like 7.5 hours past my bedtime!!!!

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We pretty much decided just to head back to Jenny’s today. We got up semi-early and drove/walked around downtown Detroit by the river. We then crossed back into Canada and headed toward NY. It was a nice leisurely drive and there were a few spots of nice foliage, but not much. We crossed back to the American side around 18:00 and called Jenny to let her know we were on our way. I’m pleased to say that I even found our way through Buffalo back to where she lives (NEVER ask Jenny for directions anywhere!). Mike was still at work so the three of us went to Anchor Bar – home of the Buffalo Wings – and had a very yummy dinner. They were very good wings, and huge, but they would have been so much better with garlic tnt. So it goes. We stayed up and talked with Mike for a while when he came home and then we crashed on the living room floor.