Alright, this is overdue. My parents and I went to Niagara Falls for my birthday, which was August 22. Here is a recap of the trip...

Wednesday, August 20

 

- Drove to Niagara. I love car rides and never get bored. I downloaded the Jonas Brothers new CD, Conor Oberst's CD, and the last Bright Eyes CD. Oddly enough, I was only truly pleased with the Jonas Brothers... I think the other two will take more listening though.
- Got to the hotel. We were "upgraded" to a bigger room, but with one queen bed and a pull-out. I thought I'd be okay on the pullout. I soon discovered it was not my cup of tea.
- Walked around Clifton Hill. Reminded me of a giant exhibition town.
- Caught a brief glimpse of the Falls. Beautiful as I had imagined.
- Went to Ripley's. 16-year-old behind the counter assumed I was a child, 12 and under. Come on now.
- Had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, just to say I had. It was nice to see it, but the food was expensive and average at best.
- Went to see fireworks at the Falls. Very cool.

Thursday, August 21

- Had breakfast at a small diner, which generally have fantastic breakfasts. You had to pay an extra dollar for homefries, and they looked and tasted like something that came out of a McCain bag. I wasn't impressed.
- Did Maid of the Mist. We were at the very front of the boat so got amazing views of the Falls. When we were right in the horseshoe falls, I was afraid we wouldn't turn around though I can think of worse ways of dying than in the Niagara Falls.
- Took a walk through a Niagara park that was very peaceful.
- Did Journey Behind the Falls. This is definitely a must-see in Niagara, though I don't think it's as popular as Maid of the Mist. There's one look-out where you're literally next to the Falls. It's fantastic. I'll post pictures after.
- Did this cute maze where you have to find four landmarks, get stamps there, and then find the exit and it's all timed. My dad won.
- Went to The Keg for dinner. Got salmon, as per my usual dinner, but regretted it after I got a bite of my dad's steak. I'm generally not a steak eater, and never trust restaurant steak to make a steak as well as my dad makes mine. This steak wasn't as good, but it was pretty close.
- Went to Build-a-Bear and made Matt a Batman bear. So cute. I named it Batman, surprise.
- Went to Louis Tussaud's (apparently, Madame Tussaud's great-grandson). His wax figures weren't very spectacular, but I was excited just posing next to a wax celebrity. I now know I'll be quite starstruck when I meet an actual celebrity. I was hugging and kissing everyone of them when, halfway through our visit, one of the employees gets on the intercom and says, "Just a polite reminder to our patrons to not touch the figures or their accessories." Eff that, I'm a rebel.
- Went to the criminal wax museum. This really freaked the shit out of me, not going to lie.
- Soaked in the jacuzzi in our room while my parents got drinks. I made the bathtub unbearably hot so I couldn't stand it more than 10 minutes. Oh well.

Friday, August 22

- My birthday!
- Went to the butterfly conservatory. This was exponentially better than I had expected. I was the first person to have a butterfly land on them. It was a giant butterfly whose wings were brown on the outside, made to be a mimic of tree bark or dead leaves, and a brilliant blue on the inside. It actually got stuck in my hair, eventually.
- Saw the botanical gardens. Very pretty but I had forgotten to wear sunscreen and was beginning to feel the side effects of this.
- Went outlet shopping and was surprised by a pretty decent selection of stores and cheap prices. Halfway through and too much money later, I was getting full-fledged heat exhaustion so I had to hang out in the car which didn't help anything because it had been sitting in the sun and was practically a sauna.
- Came back to the hotel where I layed down. Saw the news and heard about listeriosis and got paranoid.
- Went for Chinese food because it's a birthday tradition. It wasn't bad but it was nothing like Ottawa's Chinese on Somerset.
- Did glow-in-the-dark mini-putt. I loved it, actually.

Saturday, August 23

- Went to the Toronto Zoo, the most anticipated part of the trip.
- Watched family dynamics of an orangutan family for half an hour and was fascinated.
- Saw the cutest little lynx.
- Watched a hippo submerge itself in water.
- Saw a bear who was such a ham to the visitors. He was swimming in the pond in his living area and was floating on his back whilst doing a backstroke. He also later scratched his back up against the branch of a tree and all I could think of was, "It's just the bear necessities, those simple bear necessities..."
- Looked for wolves but they were hiding.
- Got to pet multiple stingrays at a special exhibit we were lucky enough to visit. They felt very slimy but were beautiful.
- Saw tons of other animals, all of which I loved, but it would be pointless to name them all.

Tomorrow I'm having a family/close friends birthday party. It's kid-themed because I love kid's birthday parties. I'm getting the beginnings of a cold so I'm trying to nurse it away with echinacea.