Today's Adventure

I renamed this blog "Mine to Discover" in anticipation of discovering my new province. I have done that, but I haven't really posted about it. Today I had a slightly more exciting than normal day so I'm going to try and capture it. I had the day off work and my next exam isn't until Wednesday so I decided to go for a drive. I fly out of the Buffalo Airport next Thursday and since I've never so much as crossed the border here, I decided to go do a "dry run" today. I left around 9am and just followed the "fastest route" according to the GPS in my phone. I crossed in to NY State at Lewiston and promptly ran into a toll booth that only takes cash. Good to know. Next time I'll be prepared!


I found the airport fairly easily. With the border wait it was close to three hours door to door. Again, good to know. It's easier to plan now. After that I just wandered around. I hit Target (which was surprisingly quiet for the last Saturday before Christmas), Walmart (where I didn't buy ANYTHING) and Cracker Barrel for lunch (I had a craving). I also went to Starbucks because the American ones have the chocolate mint brownies and we didn't get them this year :( My discount worked though! That's exciting LOL I also got gas. Really not exciting but finding a station was a bit of an adventure so it's worth noting.


On the way back, because I didn't care about the time, I veered off my path and came back through Niagra Falls. This was my first time visiting the American side of the falls and my first time in the winter. I've only actually been to the falls once and that was over ten years ago so it was nice to go back...even if it was *freezing*. I absolutely love the thunder of all that water pouring down. I forgot how invigorating it is just to be that close to it. It makes my heart thump! Here's a few of the pictures I took, including one by a German tourist who was taking her own self portrait. I offered to take her picture and then had her take mine :)
Coming back across the border the guard asked the standard questions, where I lived, how long I had been gone, the purpose of my trip (I just said shopping because it was easier to explain) and the value of goods being brought back. I didn't buy a lot so he questioned "you drove all the way down there for $45 worth of stuff?" "Yes" "Pop the trunk please ma'am" LOL Obviously he didn't find anything there and I didn't have to explain the convoluted reason for my trip.

Coming back I wanted to get off the 403 aka Queen Elizabeth Freeway aka the ugliest road in Southern Ontario. Seriously. It's horrible. So I asked my GPS for the "shortest route". Of course it's short distance wise but I wound through (what I assume was) Hamilton, and then went cross country towards home. The roads were dry so it was a good day to go exploring. I called my parents while I was on the way and Dad asked where I was. My answer? "I dunno, halfway between where I was and where I'm going?" I love that I can drive around here and not know exactly where I am at all times! That's my adventure for today. Hopefully I can have more soon!