***
Our trip through upstate New York was lovely. The leaves were ablaze with the colors of fall, and the tranquil scenery made the perfect setting for intimate conversation. Our first time prospecting was a success, and everyone we met along the way was quite friendly. Especially in the malls.
Have I mentioned how much EJ and I love taking road trips? We think we travel exceptionally well together. We generally have pretty good luck on the road, which helps, but above all we don't get those moments of hating one's travel companion that are almost inevitable on most long journeys. We keep each other's stress levels down, and reassure each other when things look a bit sketchy. When we're tired, we pull over. When we're hungry, we eat something.
We often end up stopping at a local version of a great American institution: the enclosed shopping mall. Malls reliably have bathrooms, food courts, and crap to look at while you stretch your legs a bit. Sadly, these wonders of human achievement and commerce are endangered. They are being killed off to make room for the currently popular entertainment megaplexes, which are fun places to spend an evening and a lot of money, but don't work as well for quick stops off the highway.
We stopped at one mall that was barely alive, but it ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. Half of the storefronts were empty, and there wasn't much in the way of popular chain stores. This left rents low enough that independent retailers and local clubs could afford the spaces. There was a toy shop with an incredible selection, but the woman working there seemed like she had no idea to deal with customers because they never had any. There was a huge gift shop with a zillion nooks and crannies full of the strangest crafts and collectibles.
Ever since we got together, EJ has whispered "elephant shoe" to me from across the room (because it looks like 'i love you'. awww.) so when we saw this...candy bowl? planter? ...we knew we had to take it home with us. They also had a whole wall of little yellow rubber ducks. Ducks with occupations, it seems. Identities on top of simple duckness. The best was the duck who was dressed as a farmer, in blue overalls and a straw hat, with a tiny pitchfork under his wing. Next to the row of farmer ducks on the shelf sat rows of the animals farmer duck kept on his farm. Goose-duck. Chicken-duck. Cow-duck. And the one that we just couldn't leave behind, Horse-duck. When we got to the counter to pay for our selections, they asked us how we were able to choose just one duck. All we could say was that Horse-duck was amazing, and they agreed. (photo coming soon? - Horse-duck is temporarily misplaced. oops. Horse-duck come home!!!)There was also a trendy Hot Topic-ish store with nifty imported goodies from Japan where I got a hoodie on clearance with video game controllers and laser guns on it,
and I bought EJ the most badass hoodie ever, which he wore pretty much constantly for the rest of the trip. It has a hilarious comic book print, thumbholes, and zips all the way up the hood with mesh eyeholes, just like the kids are wearing them now. The shop owner told us they are banned from high schools. ***
Eventually it was time to leave Utica. We had planned to take our time driving back and see whatever we thought was interesting. We raided the brochure racks to see what else New York had to offer us. We were enticed by photos of Niagara Falls, and neither of us had spent any time on the American side of the falls, so we decided to hop on the highway and head over there.
We thought we'd check out another mall and used the Garmin to randomly choose the Carousel Center. It sounded fun! It was not. It was everything the other mall wasn't - full of chain stores and angry-looking kids loitering. Huge signs hung by the entrance making patrons aware of the mall policies, mostly meant to curb the antics of the evil teenagers. We ran across a huge diorama of the mall and surrounding area, backed by walls with huge ads for the Destiny USA project, emphasising its innovation and green construction. A sign told us to take the elevator to the 6th floor observation deck to see the progress of the project. Obedient little monkeys, we hopped in the elevator and pressed the 6th floor. We went to the second floor, then back to the first. Some quiet and polite teenagers got on and we all pressed the 6th floor button again. We rode up to the second floor, picked up some other passengers, and deposited them back on the first floor. The teenagers pushed all the buttons, but we never got higher than the third floor. After riding up and down a few times, we bid adieu to the teenagers and hustled back to our car. If you're curious about massive mall complexes and the Destiny USA project, this blog entry may answer (or raise) some questions. Basically, Destiny USA = creepy.
***
i was just pretending to look sad because ej told me toWe got to the Canadian border, but didn't have proper paperwork to cross over. I tried not to be too sad about missing the chance to visit my homeland. (I was just pretending to look sad because EJ told me to) Since we were right next to the entrance to the park by the falls, we used the Garmin to find the closest hotels and called around. We managed to score a fabulous room with a
jacuzzi, fireplace, and killer view at a sweet off-season rate. Once we dropped off our luggage we walked towards the river.
We got excited when we saw the water.
And even more excited when we saw the boats.
Even this rock was pretty exciting.
I swore there was no way I was going on this observation deck.
The closer we got to the falls, the prettier the views got.
And then the falls appeared.
The views were gorgeous.
The American Falls seem rather unimpressive when viewed from the Canadian Side in comparison to Horseshoe Falls, but from up close the rushing water is just as mindblowing.
It felt like we were on the edge of the world.
Except we could still see Canada through the mist.
A nice thing about Niagara is that friendly foreign tourists will ask you to take a photo of them, then offer to return the favor.
We walked up the river and sat by the rapids for a while.
There was almost no one around, we were taking photos and cuddling and an older couple walked by and the lady said "awww" when she saw us and I was pretty damn happy.
By now, the sun was getting lower
and we decided to walk back through the park to our hotel to figure out where to have dinner. We discovered the entrance to that scary observation deck. Since it was the off-season, there was no admission, so EJ talked me into walking out there.
It was worth getting a little scared for this view.
We walked through the world's sketchiest international food court and found a scary river shark...
...and this! I had no idea EJ had his own fun center. He is a pretty fun guy.
and made it back to our hotel room to watch the very romantic sunset over Canada.
We were pretty hungry by then, so we opted for a touristy delight - the Hard Rock Cafe.
EJ's Chucks admired Marky Ramone's Chucks.
After a couple of fancy cocktails, we skipped back to the park to check out the falls at night. Niagara Falls rocks!
We walked back to 'our' bench in the park and sat at the edge of the world at night.
The lights on the falls are purty.
Finally, we made it back to our home for the night.
When we visit the mine again, we'd like to spend another day in Niagara, checking out the attractions that were closed for the season and exploring the parks a bit more.
We left the next morning and had a pretty uneventful drive home, and got right to work on the holiday retail season. It was a wonderful trip.
***
*A note about the Garmin - I never knew I wanted a GPS until my parents gave me one as a birthday gift. It has turned out to be incredibly useful, and awesome to have on trips. It is an amazing feeling to know that you can't get lost!
No comments:
Post a Comment