Last Friday was our 10th anniversary, so my hubby and I celebrated with a trip to Niagara Falls. This is the first trip we’ve taken on our own since honeymoon, so it was pretty darn exciting. =) And a truly wonderful, fabulous time.

The kids went camping with my parents and also had a great time, freeing us up for the 6 hour drive. All went well and relatively uneventful on the way up (other than one instance of Google maps directing us down a dead-end road that did not connect to the highway it was aiming us at! LOL), though we discovered that PA/NY 219 has very, very few restaurants on it. We started looking for a nice place to eat breakfast . . . and ended up eating lunch at Burger King two hours later.

Once through Buffalo and across the Niagara River, our first stop was the American side of the falls. Where I discovered why everyone recommends the Canadian side. It’s beautiful still in the U.S., and you get to feel like you’re at the falls, but you never really get a great view of them. 

One of my favorite things while still in NY was the series of little tiny falls that led up to the main ones.

After exploring for a while, we crossed over into Canada (happy to report we weren’t detained or strip-searched or anything, LOL) and checked into our hotel. Which gave us this awesome view. Yeah, gorgeous, huh? I don’t think we ever closed the curtains.

That night, being our actual anniversary, we went to an Italian place across the street from our hotel, which ended up having live music that was a lot of fun. We didn’t realize it when we picked it, but we ended up in the front row out on the patio. The band was great and funny, and dedicated a song to us. Then we got a kick out of the members of Latin Heat–who looked the part–coming over and saying, “It’s a nice night, eh?” in the most typically Canadian accent you ever did hear. =) It made me grin, and we couldn’t get over how nice everyone was!

After a walk down to visit the falls, we called it a night, and got to watch a fireworks display from our hotel room. How’s that for celebrating your anniversary??

Saturday we did all the usual tourist things (plus a 3-mile walk uphill after a full day walking already–oops) and crowned it by getting all fancied up and going to the rooftop restaurant at the hotel, which was sooooooo nice.

Sunday we took one last walk down to the falls and then packed it up and came home. Other than the customs guy asking, “What in the world is maple butter?” we had no problems on that border crossing, either, LOL.

All in all, it was a super fun weekend, and we’re planning on taking the kids up that way in a couple years, when Rowyn’s just a little bit bigger. For anyone else planning a trip to Niagara, here’s my insider info: most folks aren’t out up there in the early morning, so if you crave the view in solitude, just be out by 7. And be aware that things open up there about an hour later than they do here. Or at least my “here.”

And there you have it. Our adventure at Niagara. =)