This weekend was Columbus Day weekend. Thus I have Monday and Tuesday off from school (well actually I have one night class tomorrow at 6:30PM). So what does a girl from Oregon, with car with this extended weekend? Grab another girl, from Hawaii with the same name and road trip it to Niagara Falls, Canada! Since neither of us have seen the falls we thought it would be a good opportunity. Plus, we got back Sunday night so we still have Mon/Tue to relax and catch up on homework. Here is a break down of our weekend:

Friday - Peaced out of campus around 10AM and drove for 8 hours (really 6ish hours - we stopped for gas, stopped for lunch - our first Big Boy hamburgers, got a speeding ticket - my first one, and stopped for bathroom breaks as well). Crossed the border, we got questioned because of our passports being from the West Coast and had to do some explaining - but no real problems. Once we checked into our mad sketchy hotel room. For $50/night (no heart shaped jacuzzi, although all the hotels around us had them), you get a rush stained bathtub, bugs, stuff hanging from the ceiling and dirty sheets. We went and checked out Clifton Hill (aka mini Las Vegas). We checked out the falls all light up at night and got Indian Food (Jenna N's first time).


Saturday - We got up early and headed to Marineland, where we got to see killer whales (my favorite animal), feed and pet beluga whales (my highlight of the trip), check out other cool animals, go on a couple of rides, including the Sky Screamer which launches you up 175 feet and then drops you. But you get an AMAZING view of the falls for like 7 seconds, where you are suspended up in the air with building fear of being dropped. I bailed out the first time, got all harnessed in and then asked to be unharnessed. But I made up for it and did it to more times. We got caught in a thunderstorm so was drenched but warm (82 degrees). After Marineland, we did the Maid of the Mist - which is a boat that takes you into the mist from Niagara Falls, it was pretty intense. I had "How Great is Our God" singing in my head the whole time. We headed back to our hotel room changed into clean clothes, grabbed some dinner, and then took a nap. We headed back to Clifton Hill to do the Sky Wheel (mini London Eye) which was beautiful and went gambling for the first time. We had no idea what we were doing and ended up loosing $5. Big spenda I know.

Sunday: We checked out of our hotel, crossed the border. The US side isn't nearly as nice as the Canadian side, "who's overpriced, Swedish car is this?" Is that really necessary for homeland security? I don't think so. (I have my parent's/brother's Volvo this year at college!) And went to church with a school friend who lives in Buffalo, NY. Then headed back to school.

All in all an amazing road trip!