Oh Canada!

Yesterday was a travel day.  Interesting people  were met along the way; a guy on my flight from Charlotte to Buffalo I thought at first was deaf as he used his hands so much when he spoke.  It turns out he was just a jerk.  One of the passengers told him to pipe down after he got a little noisy with his seat mate, a man I felt entirely sorry for during the entire 1 1/2 hours to Buffalo.  The gentleman was from India and the jerk made such a big friggin' deal about it, it was embarrassing. 

That was the only strange thing that happened during travel, as I met some very friendly people from Chicago to Charlotte.  The plane was full and I had a hard time finding a place for my backpack in the overhead.  The guy in the seat next to me actually got out of his seat and helped me find a place for my pack.  When I later dropped my water on the floor, he retrieved it for me.  I gotta say, Jackie has told me about southern hospitality and now I really believe it exists.

I arrived in Buffalo, New York at 11:45 p.m., picked up my rental car and found the hostel in Buffalo, but had a few problems with parking as the hostel does not have its own parking.  Finally found parking a few blocks away, but found out this morning I needed to check the tag a little better....I paid $5.00 for 5 minutes of parking, instead of 24 hours....don't know how that happened, but it did.  I came out in the morning and found I owed another $8.00.  Dagnabit!  I'm going to complain when I get home, that just isn't right.

Caught a few hours sleep and headed to the Canadian border to Niagara Falls.  This is the second time I've been to Canada and all I can say is I want to be a Canadian!  This city is beautiful!  Very much like Vancouver as there is lots of green space and a very park-like atomosphere.  Lots of places to walk, and believe me, I sure did walk, along the Falls.  The falls are gorgeous!  Imagine beautifully clear water rushing down hundreds of feet and a mist rising out of the whole thing.  It is breathtaking and I took tons of pictures.  I was on the Canadian side, but got some pictures of the American side also.  After I took pics of the Falls, I wandered up and down the boardwalk all afternoon, stopping along the way to sit in the shade and people watch.  There was a gentleman there who was walking his three dogs, two smaller and one HUGE dog, Isen.  Isen looks like a small horse.  I sat under a tree and watched as crowds of people would stop to admire Isen and then have their or their children's picture taken with him.  With children standing next to Isen he looks like he could take the kids in one gulp!  I, too, have pictures of Isen and will share them when I return home. 

I finally found the Niagara Falls, Canada hostel and thank goodness, the room has air conditioning.  It is hot, hot, hot here.  Tonight I may just stay at the hostel; I've been told they have a bonfire outside tonight and I may join them.

I'll write more tomorrow before I leave Canada.