TWTW - The Birthday one in Niagara Falls

A day late and a dollar short for a weekend post, but let's do this! Friday my Mom and Rich came over to celebrate my birthday bearing gifts and also all courses of dinner: Mom's it's all greek to me salad which is awesome and  bang bang shrimp. She brought bread (I was out of butter...who am I?) and cookies too.

Saturday we were up and off early to Niagara Falls. That is an easy direction-wise but long ass ride time-wise. Eight hours there (rain and stopped to sit down and eat) and seven hours home.

We stayed at Sheraton on the Falls on the Canadian side, and I'm glad we did. We stopped to pee on the NY side and it was sort of seedy. We had a Falls View room (on my 40 before 40 list) and the view was astounding. You can even open a door and hear the Falls and feel the wind. I took a photo of me looking like a psycho so you can see this. You're welcome. The location of the hotel was excellent and the price was pretty standard. We were in walking distance to everything, right on to the corner of Clifton Hill, a block from the American Falls and a block from the Rainbow Bridge.

We checked out the American Falls and wandered around the town. It's like a cross between a carnival and the Wildwood boardwalk. Very touristy and kitschy but a lot of fun sights to see on Clifton Hill, both the attractions and also the people walking around. I hope they named Ellen & Clark Avenues after The Griswolds. That would make my heart sing.

We got something to eat at Clifton Family Restaurant and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. This whole weekend was a treat yo'self weekend food-wise so I felt no guilt ordering the traditional poutine and slopping it all up.

Saturday - my birthday! I'm always excited for my birthday so we were up early and had a quick snack at Tim Horton's (above right photo), which is open 24 hours. It was like we were the only people up in the town. We went down by the American Falls and had them to ourselves.

 A quick shower and a walk down to the Horseshoe Falls

Brunch at the buffet in the Skylon Tower - the food wasn't bad (I wasn't expecting greatness), nor was the price ($30 PP) and the views were wonderful. You got to go to the observation deck too (bottom series of photos) for that price so we killed two birds with one stone. MFD nearly got himself killed by having the entire restaurant sing to me.

We did the Journey Behind the Falls ($22/PP). Since the Falls were still frozen, you only really got to see rushing water from the one observation deck (pics 1-3 below), which was really cool. The information about the Falls that's down there is the same as the information that's on the top floor of the Welcome Center.

After a brief respite in our room, we walked over the border from Canada to the U.S. I love doing that kind of stuff.

We changed quickly and had dinner at Weinkeller. I was not expecting to have such an excellent dining experience in a total touron part of town. If you're ever in Niagara Falls, I hope this makes your list. The owner was awesome, the chef came out to talk, and our server was funny and knowledgeable. I loved the entire experience. Sorry for the crappy photos, they're from my phone. You see the warm winter salad with some pork belly because why not; then the fried goat cheese - I cannot describe how amazing this was with the rosemary honey truffle oil. I wanted to lick the plate; grilled pork loin chop with veg and an amazing butternut squash croquet thing that managed to taste like Thanksgiving stuffing; and NY-style cheesecake. They make everything in house from scratch, they even make their own water and wines. And check out MFD's cup for his espresso - so cute.

We capped off the night with a ride on the terrifying Ferris Wheel. I'm not sure why we did this since MFD doesn't like heights and I don't like enclosed spaces, but the view of the Falls lit up at night was pretty good from here.

I'm glad we made the trip - the Falls are truly majestic and better seen from Canada. If we lived closer, one night there would do. Given the drive time, two worked for us. It was a good workout too - we walked over two hours Friday night and probably for about six hours Saturday and the town is hilly in spots. I was really excited to see them with some ice still on them. That was cool as hell.

We'll finish this out with pics. Of us next to the Falls...

Of some wildlife and no shit signage:

And various, including MFD dressed up in War of 1812 gear because of course he would be. Why not? Ahem.

Thanks for reading a weekend post on a Wednesday. It seems wrong, doesn't it?

Please head over to Casa de Crews where I'm sharing some spring hausfrauing tips today! Click here.

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending