Road Trip: Niagara - No Excursions, Hard Conversions

Sadly, I left my family today. Mom, Dad, and the 6M's. Goodbyes are only made easier when you know you will be back soon. And after being away for 2 years, I will be back soon.

After spending the weekend being enchanted by my nieces, I took off from Greenwich, CT feeling buoyant and ready to enter my road tripper paradigm of seeing what I've never seen before and doing things I might never get a chance to do again. But as I sped through the state of New York, I only glimpsed the beauty of the surroundings.

The meandering drive through Northwestern New York had me looking through the windshield and watching the change of seasons as the northern direction passed from early to late Autumn. I saw the changing colors of the leaves in full bloom turn to barren branches. I paced myself by the faster drivers, and I made great time. I figured I would be staying in the Buffalo, NY area for the night, but I arrived too early.

Of the 3 paragraphs in the Road Food book describing the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the only relevant fact is that it is the birth place of Buffalo Wings. My first steps into the parlor attacked

my nostrils with the epitome of spicy wing sauce. I sat at the bar and ordered a pint of Labatts Blue Lite and 10 wings.

My idea of the perfect wing was exactly what the Anchor Bar served up...the wings were cooked through and through and just a bit more; they were juicy and crispy; they were spicy hot. And the celery and blue cheese were fresh. I would affirm these wings as the holy land of wings were it not for the price. The bill showed that my 10 piece of wings cost 11 dollars. A worthless scrap of chicken should cost no more than 2 bits.

10 miles north of my 10 wings and I was at Niagara Falls. I am experienced at entering interesting topography, but I messed up, and before I knew it, I was in the entrance lane for Canada. During the drive across the bridge to Canada, and along the Falls river drive I saw incredible views of the river tumbling and the mist rising. I wish I had gotten out and felt the power of the falls, but about ten miles after passing the Falls, I realized I missed it and didn't feel like doubling back.

I began careening through southern Ontario with no real direction. Having no direction is what I am good at, but with the GPS going blank for Canada I was frequently heading in the wrong direction.

Canada (of course) seems not much different than the States. But while driving past houses you know that its' occupants are foreigners and they might even speak French. Canadians seem to be a bit more patriotic than Americans as they are more apt to be displaying their red maple leaf flags.

I guess one of the biggest differences driving here is the metric system. When a sign says a city is 120 away it is Kilometers, not miles. When the radio reports that the temperature is 11 degrees, it is in Celsius. When it is 96.9 cents for gas and the speed limit is 100 it sound goods, but it is for just a liter of gas and it is kilometers per hour. I had to keep doing faulty calculations to try to determine how long it would take to get somewhere. The only easy conversion is that the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar are about equal so if something costs $10, I can pay it in either currency.

After a couple hours I decided I would check into the next hotel that crossed my path. But after 100 miles of non-highway driving I hadn't seen a single one. Exhausted, I pointed due north to intersect with the one major highway and ended up in a hotel in London, Ontario, Canada. The Road Trip finally went international.

Had I stopped at Niagara Falls, I could have taken a picture like this: