A Week Long Excursion Part Two: The Garden State and the Greatest Natural International Border I've Ever Seen

I've always wanted to see Niagara Falls and what better time to go than when already on the East Coast? I always thought New York was pretty small and envisioned one could drive from the city to the falls. Yeah, that's not really true if you're pressed for time. Turns out it's a 7 hour drive with a series of toll roads and frustration. Alright, plane it is, but before we left the country, it was time to explore Newark and Jersey City. I wasn't there long enough to confirm or deny the Jersey stereotype, but I will say it's not as bad looking as people claim. Newark is an industrial city - what can you do? Every industrial city looks (and smells) like that. If you ever do venture to NJ via NYC, definitely head down to Ferry Street in the Ironbound District. It feels like you're legitimately in Portugal and you can eat sandes de picadinho and pasteis de nata all day.

This farmacia is actually not in Lisbon, but rather New Jersey

We headed to Ontario via Newark and after a series of intriguing customs questions (Do you plan on visiting a farm while in Canada? Are you bringing any birds to the country?) and not getting the ever so sought after passport stamp in my expedited rip off lame new border rules passport, we made it. Once we were in Niagara, you could already feel the mist of the falls hitting your face from quite a distance away. Awesome! It was already dark by the time we got there so we end up walking around Clifton Hill and getting a quick bite at Wendy's. Yes, the red headed girl from back home whose establishment serves up baked potatoes and spicy chicken nuggets. What were our other options? Starbucks, Burger King, KFC, Domino's, Little Caesar's, and TGI Fridays. Hold up. It was at this point I had a very disappointing revelation: this place looks like America. < / expectations >I don't really know what exactly I was expecting from Canada, but I mean, some sort of culture? Granted, we were literally on the border of the United States and maybe if I ventured further (possibly towards Montreal), it'd be different but from what I saw, man, total let down. I'm assuming they maybe want to cater to all of the tourists, sigh, who knows. At least there was a Tim Horton's - that place rules. We spent the rest of the night at the casino and it was great because the age of majority there is 19 so Sameer was able to partake in the casino fun as well. He came out the biggest winner out of all of us and by big winner, I mean a whopping 20 dollars.

The view from the bridge (Rainbow) you cross between countries

Open the door and you will be home again.

The next blog-worthy event that happened was the morning we decided to weigh in on the Which side of the falls is better? debate. It was time to cross the border back into Niagara Falls, NY. Immediate reaction: the United States kept their side of it very natural. Niagara Falls on the U.S. side is surrounded by a fairly large state park. It's a great place to have a picnic, go for a bike ride, a quick jog, or just relax. It's very serene - a total contrast from the Ontario side. We decided while we were here, might as well take the Maid of the Mist from New York. Now, I always saw people in their crazy ponchos on a boat to get a better view of the falls on TV and what not and I always told myself I'd never do that it's kind of scary. That all changed when I told Michelle a few weeks prior to the trip that we were headed on a trip to the area. I told her I had no plans of going on the boat and she told me that it was an absolute must, because that's the most fun (if not only fun actually) thing to do while you're there and I'd regret it if I didn't. She was supported by about five others in our group who also agreed that it was their favorite thing to do there when they vacationed in Niagara, so I gave in. After reading about it online a little bit, I too was becoming very excited to ride the Maid of the Mist. I couldn't wait. I shall continue this in a later post.