Niagara Falls

It has been so long since I've felt that I have had a few minutes to do something other than do Christmas type things, work, or plan for the trip.  But now that we are home safely and I still have two days before going back to work, may be I can put down some of the thoughts that have been swirling in my brain.

But before thoughts, come photos.  We packed our bags -- real luggage and then just bags of stuff --

 and left Toronto this morning at 9:30.

After a few days of relative warmth, the arctic front had moved in and it was cold out.  Not the best day, perhaps, for visiting Niagara Falls, but what can you do when this was the one shot at it this year.  Traffic moved at a steady pace and I think we were at the Falls around 11:00.  It was 17 degrees and neither one of my guys was much interested in getting out of the truck.  I made them.  And then forced them to be in photos.  I'm such a cruel mom/wife.  We asked a passer by to take one of the three of us. She took two, the second one where we didn't block the dramatic back drop.

And then we did the selfies with not as much success.  I had trouble holding the camera, my fingers were so cold.  For some reason, in my haste to get in and out of the truck quickly, I left my gloves inside the cab.

I've never seen the Falls in the summer.  I imagine the sound must be different than in the winter, when so much is frozen.  There is a beauty to all the ice, but we did not linger and go from look out spot to look out spot to see which had the best vantage point.

I took a ton of photos on the Rainbow bridge as we crawled towards the US boarder crossing.  I might or might not have been making the other motorists nervous with my telephoto lens. But I did get some cool shots.  I kept thinking that you would not catch me on this bridge to nowhere, no-how, no matter how spectacular the photo opportunity.

We pulled into the driveway, exactly 11 hours after we left Toronto.  We drove through a few snow squalls, but otherwise, we had perfect conditions.  We high fived each other as we opened the front door -- so happy to make the long trek without incident.  I'm so grateful that we could make the trip, see the new baby, reconnect with family, and get back home.

First thing on tomorrow's to-do list: fix the flat tire that I drove home with on Thursday.  I wondered why my car did not have the tight control on the road that it usually has.  Good thing I have an observant hubby who inquired how long I had been driving with the flat.  "Oh, a flat?" I replied, "that must have been the problem."