Mississauga & Niagara Falls

Argh, I am so behind in my writing!  I've been pretty good about loading my photos to my laptop each night, but really bad about writing anything down.  I thought I'd get better after I got over my writer's block about Des Moines.  Now I think I have to get over my laziness.  :(

I'm writing this on Thursday, July 21, but won't be able to post it until Friday or later.  Which means I'm a week behind!  So, back to last week... After leaving Sault Ste. Marie, I spent the night in Sudbury, Ontario, which looked like a dump, so I left it fast the next day and drove to stay with friends outside of Toronto:  Linda and Jim, and their daughter Mia.  I originally knew Linda and Jim and Dracka and Biffocles in the World of Warcraft.  We met each night while attacking Eastspark, for those of you who know anything about the game, and they were always around to get Omegamoo out of a pickle!

As with other stops along the way where I got to see friends, Mississauga was very fun and relaxing.  And it was extra nice that Linda and Jim, who'd never really met me before -- and even thought I was a guy for the longest time -- invited me to stay at their home and cooked me more than one tasty meal.  Friday and Sunday, just being half days with them, were just spent around the house.  But Saturday we went to Niagara Falls, which I hadn't seen in... oh, I guess about 25 years!

Proof that I'm really there.

Linda and I both love this view, because you get an idea of how much water is pouring over the cliffs.

They are still as impressive as I remembered, maybe moreso.  It was pretty busy that day, so we decided not to make the long waits for the Maid of the Mist or the tunnels, and I was content just to watch the falls from up top.  On the U.S. side, you can get very close to the falls, but you can't see the view so well, so I'm glad we were on the Canadian side.

Mia explains how someday she'll go over the Falls in a barrel.

Next we drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a little town maybe 30 minutes from the falls, which is very quaint with cute shops, and is therefore completely overrun by tourists.  But we had a nice lunch, Linda & family found a pretty trinket for their yard, and Mia had the best time of her day playing in this wading pool that attracted all the kids.  Apologies to Linda and Jim for failing to take any photos of that!  I think I was too preoccupied watching the kid with the terrible sunburn, and wondering how badly he'd hurt the next day.

I did remember to take photos of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Cemetary!

Oh and just for lulz:

He just had to stare at it, and the prints engraved themselves.