UPDATED: February 11, 2021
This is the 11th of a series of posts dealing with
my fourth trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.
Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to
add further clarification. These are
indicated by “NOW”. After I booked the trip I unexpectedly had to move and was
staying at a friend’s place at the time of the trip, so I was already pretty
tired before the trip back.
This morning I walked to the falls via
Clifton Hill, then I returned to the hostel for breakfast before walking to
Niagara Square. Future Shop wasn't open so bought my replacement camera at
Walmart across the street; last one left. I used a 103? bus (Niagara Transit)
to get me part way back to the hostel, where I dropped off all but my new
camera and grabbed some $US.
[NOW: As noted below, the hostel is ACBB
Hostel Niagara, now closed. Future Shoip is also closed/]
I walked through Cliftton Hill and
crossed the Rainbow Bridge (it's grey) to Niagara Falls NY; midway someone
helped me get a photo of myself at the International Boundary Line.I walked along Main then Pine and got a
drink at Rite Aid, had lunch at McDonald's and bought some DVDs at Family Video
before backtracking. I went to Goat Island and got some photos of the falls,
mainly the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls. I
found a small Statue of Liberty so now I've technically been to a Statue of
Liberty in NY but...
[NOW: Family Video is now closed. I likely also visited the now-closed comic shop House of Fantasy.]
The path to Luna Island (best place to
see Bridal Veil Falls) was blocked off. It was to reopen in a little over an
hour, but I had lots I wanted to do today so reluctantly passed on
waiting. I walked to the Observation
Deck ($1) before returning to Canada. The Customs guy seemed to type quite a bit
before letting me back in but he finally did. Pedestrians pay 50c to enter the
US on foot but Canada is free.
[NOW: The Observation deck is now $1.25. I think the toll to cross the border is now 75c.
After a visit to the Hershey Shop I
walked to Clifton Hill. I couldn't find the MGM store; the seeming entrance led
to an arcade instead. I bought a Fun Pass and used it at
Movieland Wax Museum of the Stars (which has a small house of horrors at the end),
Ghost Blasters 3D at the Great Canadian Midway Arcade, and the SkyWheel. I left
Clifton Hill and walked to a 7-11 where I got money for the hostel, ACBB. I
passed through Clifton Hill en route back to the falls, which I took quite a
few shots of.
[NOW: Had things been less chaotic
before the trip, I’d have bought the Fun Pass online and thus gotten a second
use of the SkyWheel.]
I returned to Clifton Hill and had dinner
at the Burger King with the sign of the Frankenstein Monster holding a whopper.
I went to Dinosaur Adventure Golf but just took photos, not played. Near there, there is a man dressed as a gold
robot who for $2 will drop beads, normally getting them over your head like a ring.
If he misses you keep the first beads and he tries again.
[NOW: He is called Golden Elvis. After
returning to Clifton Hill but before dinner I visited the XD Theatre and played
a couple arcade games, as discussed at the bottom of this blog entry.]
I checked out some souvenir shops and
returned to ACBB. I was told that there
are fireworks at 10 and being on the Canadian side they will be brief. So I’m typing
this pre-fireworks. Will mention any interesting aspects if any tomorrow. I chatted
with another of the owners and returned to Clifton Hill to type this.
[NOW: The following paragraphs were
written the next day but relate to this day or earlier.]
Forgot to mention: when I arrived at
ACBB Hostel I could have had lower bunks or the one single bed in the room. I
opted for the bed and probably got the best sleep I had this trip. Five beds to
the room.
On a non-trip aside I keep wanting to
note the passing of prominent radio announcer/voice actor Casey Kasem. He was
the voice of Robin on Super Friends which would in most cases be one's most
prominent voice role. However, he was also the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo,
and this is undoubtedly what most people will remember him for.
Forgot to mention yesterday: at Clifton
Hill before dinner at Burger King I went to the XD Theatre at the Great
Canadian Midway Arcade. They changed the
story with the motion simulator from a space roller coaster to a safari. The
space roller coaster was more fun. That and five Midway tokens came with the
fun pass and I quickly used up for of them trying a short game I wasn't too
good at twice.
So as noted in my last trip report there
were fireworks so I walked to the Falls from Clifton Hill, bumping into the roped off
area because the rope was pretty invisible in the dark. As with the day before
the American and Bridal Veil Falls in particular were lit up different
colours. Prior to the rope incident
there was one test use of fireworks. The fireworks proper were nice and I got
some decent shots before passing through Clifton Hill en route to the hostel.
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