VACA--DAY THREE

Day Three, we got up fairly early with plans to ride Maid of the Mist (http://www.maidofthemist.com/) and to tour Journey Behind the Falls(http://www.niagarafallslive.com/journey_behind_the_falls.htm). I was very excited about Maid of the Mist as this is supposed to be THE thing to do in order to get a full appreciation of the falls themselves.

We made our way fairly quickly to the line for the boat. We were handed ponchos and told not to put them on until we were ON the boat, as they were worried about heat exhaustion. So, naturally what did people start doing? Putting the ponchos on and taking pictures of themselves, of course! Will and I were a good girl and boy and did as we were told.

When we boarded the boat, I realized pretty quickly that we had a problem. I am barely 5’5” and there was no room left on the boat to get up front. It was standing only. I am sure I ruined most of the trip for Will as I complained non-stop about not being able to SEE. I really couldn’t! Most of my view was comprised of blue ponchos! I was so upset! You’ll notice a bit of disappointment, in the pictures, hidden in my smile. As we got closer to the falls, though, I got quieter and quieter.

As we reached the nearest point to the falls, the announcer yelled out, “THIS IS NIAGARA FALLS!” and all 5 of my senses were very aware. It was truly amazing!!! I wont be able to describe it here. It is just something you have to experience for yourselves. We sat there about a minute with our mouths wide open and nobody was saying a word. It was, as if, we were inside those falls.

As we started backing up to go back in, I must admit I complained a little more and Will promised that we would go again and I would get a front row seat. (side note—we never went back on it, but I was being kind of a brat..I said kind of...;D)

We then headed to find some lunch. We found a place near the falls and took the food outside. When we were finished, I started feeding these little birds my hamburger bun. Soon, I had a small flock around me. Yes, I have become THAT lady. The one you see in the city parks on TV with all the pigeons. Well, I would just feed one and then feel sorry for another because he didn’t get a piece, and so it went.

During this feeding, Will noticed a woman inside the restaurant who he said was either sleeping or passed out. I watched her a second, then noticed the alarm on her family’s face. Nurse Vandervort took over from there and next thing I knew I was standing over her. She apparently had a stroke. Myself and another nurse did what we had to do until rescue arrived. It was sad and I wish I would have gotten an e-mail address or something from the family so that I could follow-up. There was no time for that though.

A bit shaken up, we headed for Journey of the Falls. It is a series of underground tunnels that take you out to different areas that are very close to the falls.

We found out pretty quickly that it is not for claustrophobic people. Thankfully, neither of us have this condition.

We were given yellow ponchos this time, instead of blue, to use on our “journey.” It was pretty cool, but wasn’t quite as awe inspiring as the boat ride and we were still a bit shaken up. We still managed to take a few good pictures.

We headed back to the room for some R&R before dinner. A well-meaning friend of mine mentioned that we sure have a lot of pictures of us sitting at restaurant tables. LOL! I guess that is a true statement. What can I say? We love to eat and love to eat at different places. That night’s dinner was at Fallsview Rainbow Room (http://www.niagarafallscrowneplazahotel.com/dining-fallsviewrainbowroom.php).

We had a very nice dinner, including some great coffee and dessert with a window view of the falls. Believe it or not, you never tire of the view!

Ok, so this is where the trip sort of fell apart. In a major way. We had obviously been saving for months for this trip. I called our bank ahead of time and informed them that we would be travelling out of the country. They advised me to use ATM machines to withdraw money from our account. That way the money would automatically be exchanged into Canadian currency and we would not have to carry a large amount of cash. That worked great with the first ATM machine.

The ATM machine we used after our dinner was located in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Rainbow Room is on top of the Crowne Plaza Hotel so we thought nothing about using this particular ATM machine. We put our card in, put the amount we wanted to withdraw, and we received a note on the screen that said, “Error.” Ok, ok, ok…this will be fine we thought. We did not receive a receipt or any sort of paper that said anything, including money! All we had was an error message that was on the screen that quickly disappeared and went back to its main screen.

In a slight panic, we phoned our bank. We were informed that $500 was taken out of our banking account. We informed them that we did not receive any money. They informed us that we must file a paper dispute which might take A WEEK to investigate. Oh so not good.

Not only were we out the $500, even temporarily, but we were afraid to use the ATM card in any other machines. We got the hotel manager and asked him to make an out of order sign as other people were trying to use the machine and I was stopping them. Will had a very not so friendly conversation with our bank for an hour.

We finally left feeling very much defeated.

It was very disheartening and the whole process ended up being a complete mess. We did, in the end, get our money back. However, we used our credit card the remainder of the trip and, as a result, were charged with lovely foreign transaction fees.

We were a little broken hearted as we headed back to our room. We didn’t want the night to end this way. I noticed that we were near the Niagara Skywheel (http://www.cliftonhill.com/attractions/niagara-skywheel). I suggested to Will that we ride it as a way to end the night on a lovelier note. We did and it was very nice, although a little scary at first. Ha, ha.

It was an enclosed seat, with music playing overhead, lighting that you could control, and classical music playing. And, of course, the view of the city and the falls were amazing.

We made it back to our room, worked on some paperwork that had been faxed to us by our bank, and prepared ourselves for Day Four!