One day in Niagara Falls, New York

Finally, an adventure outside Colorado! Starting our 10-day tour of New York state, including Niagara Falls and Manhattan. Had a great time at the Lennon’s wedding party last night. James and Katie looked beautiful and very much in love. Dave and Jody, the happy parents of James, couldn’t have been more proud. Congrats!

But, before the wedding, me & the Misses spent the night in Niagara Falls, just because. After a small glitch at the Denver airport, we made our flight and arrived just about 20 minutes late. Not a big deal. All we needed to do was drive 2.5 hrs from Syracuse to Niagara Falls, check in to the Hyatt and find dinner. So the massive backup at Denver airport that caused more than 25,000 people to jam the walkways didn’t really have much affect on getting here, just on our nerves.

So, the Falls. In a word, nice! I’ve not been here before but Collette and her family have been, way back when Niagara Falls was just Niagara stream. Much bigger nowadays. We decided to take a walk and find a place for dinner. Not much around the hotel, mostly food trucks, hamburger stands (take-away) and a pizza joint with outdoor seating. There was the Hard Rock cafe right next door to the Hyatt but it closed at 8pm, 8pm on a Friday night! What? So on with the search.

After 15 minutes or so, we found the Red Coach Inn. Neat place, although somewhat in need of a good carpet cleaning. Built in 1923 as a B&B by then owners Charles Peabody and William Schoellkopf, the inn offered a warm bed and delicious choice of hot meals, such as calf’s liver and bacon (only $1.15), creamed chicken on toast ($1.10) and, of course, Filet Mignon ($2.50).

That was in 1900, today the place serves crab cakes, chicken wings, along with fish and steaks. They are very proud of their steaks, prices start at around $35. We elected to eat light due to the late hour and had a couple of appetizers, artichoke dip and crab cakes. Oh, and a nice vodka-cranberry to round out the meal.

The Rapids

Niagara Falls, Canada (For our friend Janine)

Yes, I AM smiling!

Finished our fine fare and took the walk back to our hotel through Niagara park, right along the river rapids. What a beautiful area! Colored lights accent the American Falls with the night lights of Niagara Falls, Ontario as a backdrop. Really a must see if you’re there during the evening or night.

That’s it for the first day. Plenty of thrills for us, not so much for anyone who reads this but hey, it’s been over a year since our last post, need to sharpen the ole writing skills. Tomorrow we back on the river with the Maid of the Mist so MTF (more to follow for you non-coders).

Cheers.