Learning with a Splash!

Amish vehicle.

Even though I only slept for a little over two hours today, it didn't matter for I was too excited for the Niagara Falls trip today. I set my six alarms up for times around 6:00 AM of which, the third alarm had the avail of waking me up. I decided I wasn't going to try to jog this morning and therefore slept in until 7:05 AM. From there my fear of being late instinctively got me out of bed and I went into my regular morning routine. I came to the RPCC lobby and found myself there shortly after Chan-Law arrived. Not too long after everyone arrived and then we all began our long trip to Niagara Falls. 

We all went to the Starbucks in College Town first, where most of us got caffeine into our systems to start the day. Traveling to the western edge of New York State is a slow and rather interesting process. Sure it's a long ride, but it is full of history. Among these things are seeing the old buildings of the towns we pass by such as Waterloo, the abandoned farm houses of the country and even Amish people riding their stage coaches. 

Bridge one.

Bridge two.

Coming up prior to the city of Niagara Falls, we passed by the cities of Rochester and Buffalo New York, which in reality are incredibly rural cities. Right before we entered Niagara we had to cross over two bridges which spanned over wide rivers that feed into the waterfalls themselves. Once we got there, the traffic was completely horrible and comparable to that of the SF Bay Area. Then again, it was a major holiday today--4th of July. Therefore it was near impossible to find parking there and our cohort decided to walk around the vendors while Mr. Chan-Law looked for parking. We were also hungry and decided to eat at Hard Rock Cafe where we ordered some great American food. I ordered the "Legendary Burger"--as I believe it was called, that basically was a humongous cheeseburger that I amazingly could not finish in one sitting with a side of fries. 

The vendors in Niagara Falls.

My food at Hard Rock Cafe.

After eating there, we got into the 45 minute line for the riding the Maid of the Mist (the ferry that

maneuvers underneath Horseshoe Falls). The line moved pretty fast and we had a lot to look at, therefore we never really felt as if the line was too long. Right before we actually got onto the Maid of the Mist, we were all given plastic rain ponchos that were blue. Right across the river was the Canadian side of the river where instead of giving blue ponchos on their rides--red ones were given. 

Talking about the ride itself, the boat wasn't too crowded but still was densely populated. It was comparable to riding a subway system for it could easily knock you from your feet if you didn't have a sense of balance. Moving on, when we did go underneath the fall, we all got drenched--but it was refreshing. Right after the ride was over, we all took the 45 min exit line and after, decided to watch a movie that explained a few thousand years of Niagara Falls. The film itself was very intriguing because it literally began with the creation of the waterfall from the end of the last ice-age, talked about how Europeans discovered it and began visiting it in mass droves and finally ended with a story about how the Maid of the Mist happened to save the life of a young boy that fell over the falls. It was amazing how they managed to compact this much information into just 30 minutes.

Foreign land.

Immediately after watching the movie we all left the theater and went back to the vendors (mainly to buy shirts) and then we all went back to the Ford Expedition and decided to head on "home" because of the long drive that awaited us. When we finally got back to Ithaca, we were of course hungry since it was dinner time and we needed sustenance. Mr. Chan-Law luckily had plans on where to go and this time chose Zaza's, which is an Italian restaurant. I ordered the white spaghetti with seafood and it was delicious. It came with sauteed calamari, scallops, shrimp, etc. all cooked in white wine with a variety of spices--with an exceptional sauce. 

As for desert I had the vanilla gelatto with expresso on top, in order to keep me up for the rest of the night. By "keep me up for the rest of the night", I mean so it would keep me awake during the Risk game I would be playing with my floor mates which still hasn't ended as I am writing this blog--again a prime reason as to why this blog was not created/published earlier. 

Well I came closer to winning the game this time with me controlling half the world and then I was deceived by a weak ally who managed by luck to receive the correct cards. Either way, the Niagara Falls trip was very fun and was a good way for our cohort to come together again as one more big celebration before the last week of school. It eased our nerves and exposed us to different parts of the nation. Lastly, happy 4th of July again despite it being the 5th as of a while ago and I believe I will sleep in and dedicate my Saturday to purely homework.