Niagara Falls bound... Day Two

Saturday morning came early - no sleeping in on vacation for us apparently - sleep hadn't been thoroughly restful for me but with good friends to egg you on, there is no excuse for feeling tired!  We started off the morning with the classic Saturday morning fare - TV... and what did we find?  An old classic - He-man... wow... i hadn't seen him since i was young but that square jaw is totally unforgettable - sadly, the show holds none of the draw that it did when my brain was slightly younger and less developed!  Heehee.. but it was funny to see! And then our stomachs reminded us that it was morning... and they were empty after their feast of last evening, and so we answered the call and joined the hordes at the massive breakfast buffet - it was almost silly how much food there was - so decadent!  There was even a "make-it-the-way-you-want" omelet guy... who seemed to be able to remember people's orders so well - we were impressed...

Lots of variety to fuel us up for the day - if we eat a good breakfast, we wouldn't have to buy lunch!  Smart eh?

Apparently we had enough food left over from which to make artistic arrangments... pretty talented ladies i'm thinking!

After a more than satisfying brekkie... we headed back onto the shuttle bus and back down to the falls to take some pics of the ice covered trees and see the falls... we really didn't have any ambitious plans, just to enjoy the day together!  The sun was bright and clear and the sky was a brilliant blue, just beckoning us to take pictures - and we obliged excessively - we all remarked on the joys of having digital cameras to be sure!

Praise God in the sunshine...

Funny picture that Laura took of me taking a picture of Carina who's taking a picture.... Must have been influenced by all the oriental tourists hanging around...

Our hotel - we were on the 15th floor looking over the falls, right next to the Kentucky Fried Chicken hotel (that's what it reminded us of...)

God sculpts the trees and covers them with coverings of ice and snow...

Being destructive - somehow i had this crazy urge to knock icicles off, but had to be careful that i didn't impale myself or any other unfortunately passersbys...

I just love this picture... so pretty!!!

Clothed in ice - super neat how this all develops!

Everything becomes beautiful and sculptural at this time of year - i do like winter for that reason!

Looking down over the falls - things were starting to melt, but not too quickly for which we were happy.

The three amigos - kinda cold but having fun!

Not actually sure what Carina's doing here - but she's sure pyloning in on! heehee

 After our little photoshoot, it was time to head back to the hotel; we had managed to arrange a late checkout time on purpose to give us lots of time to lounge around - and so we took the shuttle back and played a few more games of Settlers...

I thought it would be fun to ride at the back of the empty bus, but our full stomachs had objections after we hit every single pothole in the city of Niagara Falls and the resulting jolting and rattling around didn't lend itself to feeling so supreme.... Sorry girls - nostalgia sometimes doesn't have remembrance of the bad things!  I thought we'd be the cool kids on the back of the bus!

 

Apparently there was a little mishap on the board - perhaps a little frustration on the part of the losers??  No, couldn't be... probably just a localized tornado ripping through the land of Catan!   Ooops!

Who me???  I didn't do that... what are you talking about?  I'm innocent!  (with sadness, note the extreme lack of blue pieces on the board... yep, i'm no match for the masters!)

 By one o'clock, we had our bags packed, we were brought back to our car by the valet service and we were on our way back to real life in Hamilton... with a few stops along the way.  We spent a bit of time poking around the Book Depot in St. Catharines - no big huge deals for me today but Laura did well!  It really is a huge huge place - we had to call each other on cell phones to find where we were!  (well, it wasn't that bad but the idea is fun!)   Our last stop before hitting the Hammer, was the Grimsby Dutch Store - fun times there and as it happened, we could still squeeze in a fresh croquet for an afternoon snackie!  Yum yum!

And so the epic (well, not quite - we didn't exactly trek the Himalayas or ride the Amazon in a birchbark canoe or cross the Sahara on camel-back... but we did have a nice little break, a nice chance to catch up with each other and to relax in the company of good friends.  I can't wait til next year girlies!!!