"A Footnote"

So, we had a little family excursion to Niagara Falls today. It was tagged on to our trip to Buffalo to attend Matt's HS graduation pig roast which was Saturday. Sadly, Gwynn got sick that night, but, being that we were already in Buffalo, we stuck around since it was a closer drive to a hotel than 2 and a half hours home, in the car, with a puking kid. She only threw up, really, once, so Sunday we woke to a beautuful day and thought "How can we make this trip worth while and also tolerable for all?"

Bring on the $20 day in Niagara Falls.

Now, you have to know, there is a backstory to this. When I went to New Orleans in 2005, just before Katrina hit, it seemed each of us that traveled there made our "$20 contribution to the city." I can't quite recall what Marie's contribution was, but know we laughed about it at the time. Kristyn paid $20 to be able to join the piano bar singers at "Howl At the Moon" bar, and Patti and I got conned out of $20 EACH to have our palms read in Jackson Square. As I have traveled other places since, I have joked when the $20 price point comes up, as it so often does. There are two incidents that come to mind right off; one being $20 cab rides in San Juan, PR, and the other being the tacky photoshopped family photo atop the CN Tower in Toronto that Devin insisted on bringing home with us. Each time that type of thing happens, while frustrating on some levels, I remember that in the world of travel karma one has to make their $20 contribution and move on.

Today, I felt a karmic return. I mean, how does one get out of Niagara Falls on $20? In particular when parking alone cost $10? Looking back, one reason is that food was not an issue. We had stayed at a Hampton Inn and their hotel breakfast that was actually GOOD and filling. Then we parked for $10, which seemed a lot, but being that the American Falls area is a NYS Park made it feel a little bit OK. Next we walked all along the American Falls, somewhere I had never been as I had always seen the falls from Canada, taking pictures, laughing, talking and brushing up on NYS history. After all I will be teaching it again this year in 4th grade. We decided against the "Maid of the Mist" and "Cave of the Winds" due to our little sick girl, but did sit for a while under a shade tree, watching the magnitude of the falls, and making a strategic plan for how we could come back another time, including scoping out the hotels that looked the nicest over on the Canadian side. We walked up to the visitors center, and paid $4 to go out on the observation deck, and then just gave the kids some quarters to put in those binocular viewers. They were happy as clams.

At that point, Gwynn's energy was waning, and we were pretty much done. I was a little sad to leave when there was still more to do, but also had to admit that, all in all, it was a really good day. I thought we'd do a ton of stuff, but was expecting bad weather. While we did little, we had a gorgeous day to see a natural wonder. Realistically, we put this trip together last minute, and I had few expectations going in to our day. But as often happens, with fewer expectations, all of them were met. I enjoyed my family, I saw something beautiful, and then, as karmic payback perhaps, I did it all, actually, for UNDER $20! Thanks be to the travel gods!