Niagara Falls, New York
Back in the United States of America, and I guess that is cool. I miss Canada already and have all but made up my mind that I must live there one day. I think that my revelation came when I got a chance to sit down and read the newspaper on our free time after the rides. They were full of news that Canadians find relevant -- a wonderful melange of progressive debates about health care, the feasibility of urban roof-top wind turbines, and focus pieces on the most environmentally friendly way to poop at your summer cottage. Yes, this may all sound very boring and/or mundane to most of you, but to me it is a welcome change to what one finds ad nauseum in the American media. I cannot stand to hear another editorial from Bill O'Reiley or Anne Coulter or any other disagreeable pundit -- they just piss me off and confuse me. Anyway, to recap: I am going to emigrate from America and it is all because I loathe the mainstream media -- it is a classic example of what a geographer would call a "push factor."
Anyway, I digressed right off the bat and now I hardly know what I was going to say about all this bicycling trip thing.
Yesterday's ride out of Canada was fine. The weather was good and the winds were favourable once again. We crossed the border sometime around noon without much incident. The border patrol guy was very impressed that we were biking across the country, but failed to inspect my bike for anthrax. We saw the falls, checked into our hotel, got lunch, and did all of our other normal things. I took some time to do a comparative analysis of the two sides of Niagara Falls, the American and the Canadian, and I have come to the conclusion that the American side just cannot hold a candle to the view or the attractions provided by the Canadian side. There are places on the American side that seem genuinely economically depressed -- the building next to our hotel appears to be fully condemned.
The one major attraction that I took the time to see was the Casino. I had never been to a casino as a legal adult before -- it was such a thrill. I played some slots and some video poker and some texas hold'em, and in the end I walked out of the Casino up about $6. That stat is pretty good considering that I went in there prepared to lose up to $100. At one point I was even up on the house about $120 or so, but then I ended up blowing most of that on bad hands. My casino buddy for the night was Paul (T-Rex), he didn't fare as well. T-Rex lost about $60 playing craps -- a game that he tried to explain to me that I don't think that I will ever be able to understand. But regardless of whether you won or not or whether you understood the games you were playing or not, the drinks were free. Score.
After the Casino we came back to the hotel. I found dad and after spending some time at the bar with Fritz (who always buys the drinks, I love Fritz -- his story of the night was how he represented the Wrigley family in the early 1960s; the same Wrigley family that owned the Cubs, he met/represented all the players of the time), Dad, Paul, Brian, and I went to watch the fireworks over the Falls. Brian and Paul went over to the Canadian side where as dad and I were happy to watch the fireworks from the bridge. It was a good show.
Anyway, now we have a day off and I am going to spend it working on some school stuff. It should be fun and rewarding... at least I am not biking.
Footnotes for August 1st:
Anyway, I digressed right off the bat and now I hardly know what I was going to say about all this bicycling trip thing.
Yesterday's ride out of Canada was fine. The weather was good and the winds were favourable once again. We crossed the border sometime around noon without much incident. The border patrol guy was very impressed that we were biking across the country, but failed to inspect my bike for anthrax. We saw the falls, checked into our hotel, got lunch, and did all of our other normal things. I took some time to do a comparative analysis of the two sides of Niagara Falls, the American and the Canadian, and I have come to the conclusion that the American side just cannot hold a candle to the view or the attractions provided by the Canadian side. There are places on the American side that seem genuinely economically depressed -- the building next to our hotel appears to be fully condemned.
The one major attraction that I took the time to see was the Casino. I had never been to a casino as a legal adult before -- it was such a thrill. I played some slots and some video poker and some texas hold'em, and in the end I walked out of the Casino up about $6. That stat is pretty good considering that I went in there prepared to lose up to $100. At one point I was even up on the house about $120 or so, but then I ended up blowing most of that on bad hands. My casino buddy for the night was Paul (T-Rex), he didn't fare as well. T-Rex lost about $60 playing craps -- a game that he tried to explain to me that I don't think that I will ever be able to understand. But regardless of whether you won or not or whether you understood the games you were playing or not, the drinks were free. Score.
After the Casino we came back to the hotel. I found dad and after spending some time at the bar with Fritz (who always buys the drinks, I love Fritz -- his story of the night was how he represented the Wrigley family in the early 1960s; the same Wrigley family that owned the Cubs, he met/represented all the players of the time), Dad, Paul, Brian, and I went to watch the fireworks over the Falls. Brian and Paul went over to the Canadian side where as dad and I were happy to watch the fireworks from the bridge. It was a good show.
Anyway, now we have a day off and I am going to spend it working on some school stuff. It should be fun and rewarding... at least I am not biking.
Footnotes for August 1st:
- The Washington Nationals mercifully won last night. Dad and I were going to watch the game on the MLB.TV subscription service that we got, but we could not get service. This was the millionth time this happened to us which prompted me to cancel the service. I do not recommend MLB.TV to anyone. Stupid baseball.
- My sandal broke last night while walking to see the fireworks. Dad was worried about me stepping on glass with my bare feet -- but luckily disaster was averted and I came away unscathed.
- According to America By Bike, we have officially rode 3,077 miles. That puts my yearly total of miles biked up to 3,100.
- Only One week of biking left.
posted by Len Burman at 8:39 AM
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