The day we went over the falls.

With Chicagi at our backs and Cleveland in our sights we set out at about lunchtime to tackle the 4 hour drive. The scenery on the way was repetitive so we occupied ourselves with books, comics (I've been reading the all-time classic 'Akira') and movies (Rhys constructed a viewing apperatus out of a computer and a t-shirt which prevented screen glare). Cleveland was not so mentionable since we only drove through it to stay overnight in a suburb call Willoughby.
The only thing worth mentioning about our stay there is that we all went to see 'The Avengers' and holy shit. So amazingly good. I could rant on for a few pages about it but I'll simply say that it has kicked Kung-Fu Hustle out of my top three favourite movies of all time (I've now seen it twice).
The drive from Cleveland to Buffalo was also fairly bland.

To much dismay we discovered that the hostel we were booked to stay at was a 14 bed dorm which, fod me, meant security was an issue. Luckily I had my tsa locks to stow all my valuable shit away in or I would have worried. The place was also quite possibly an old hospital, which added quite significantly to the creepy factor it already exuded. The basement ('Social area') was tricked out with a wonky pool table, an old dart board (Where I practiced playing like The Blue Raja) and the finest collection of VHS tapes I had ever seen [/sarcasm].
Seriously, we were worried that we'd somehow driven through a distortion in space time and ended up somewhere in the 90s.

That night, after some heavy drinking (MJ and I had left at about 12, this story takes place at about 3) Rhys blustered into the room after, we assume, he guessed the door code since in his state he probably couldn't have accurately punched a large turtle. He was angry about something and pulled down my cave (I take the bottom bunk and drape blankets all around it) and spun in the blankets while grumbling. Containing my sleepy anger, responsibilty took precedence and I half pushed, half carried him to the bathroom to check if his 'head was bleeding'. His head was fine but he'd definitely hit something. He cleaned himself up and stumbled back into the hall, trying to open the door. I told him he could be stupid in the morning, but now he had to be quiet. He complied. As he was on the top bunk he jumped at the bed and desperately tried to pull himself up but no amount of leg swinging could complete his goal so he gave up. Resorting to plan b he picked up his pillow, placed it on the top of his head and basically headbutted the ground. Trying my hardest to contain my laughter I checked if he was ok. At first he didn't respond but my second attempt yielded a weak but relieving 'Ouuuuch' and with that I covered him with a blanket and went back to bed.
Good times.

The next day, after a significant recovery period for the two drinkers, we set of toward the famous Niagara Falls. It was only about 30 minutes by car so we took in the sights on the way and pulled into the American side at around 1pm. We crossed the way from the parking lot and walked into a Niagara merchandise shop where a guy asked if we wanted to join the last tour of the day. We all decided it would be a good idea to gave a guide so we psid the 80 dollars and jumped on the bus. We were greeted by an eccentric toud guide named Ricky who, it turns out, was an ex-dj who ten years earlier overdosed on a drug cocktail and died in a pool from a brain anyerism (pretty sure I spelled that wrong) and when he awoke he 'found jesus', deciding to become a tour guide. Eccentric indeed.
Our first stop was the 'Whirlpool Gorge' where science tells us is where the actual falls were 12,000 years ago. Turns out yhe falls rapidly destroy themselves and, until recent conservation measures had been implimented, they moved back over 3 feet a year. Thd gorge was, as the name suggested, a giant whirlpool with rapids feeding into it which produced waves nearly 20 feet high. This is also where the spanish cable car dealy is situated. We headed from there onto 'Goat island', the land seperating the American falls from the Canadian Horseshoe falls and we ventured down to my favourite part of the tour the 'Cave of the Winds'. Interestingly enough it's not actually a cave but more like a walkway actoss the front of the American falls. They decked us out with a shoddy rain poncho and some sandals then we took the elevator down to brave the water. It was a relatively hot day but the water was very cold. As soon as we got into the mist my hands and toes stared going numb but I didn't care, I wad too busy running around with my arms outstretched screaming 'Wooooo, this is awesoooooome'. We climbed up to 'The Hurricane Deck' where you could literally reach out and touch the falls. With the right amount of luck we were splashed with a huge slosh of water which drenched most of our panta and seeped in the front of Rhys' coat, soaking his chest.
We left the cave a few pounds heavier and continued on to view the American Falls from the top as well as the 'Three Sisters' islands. After we'd braved the islands we jumped back onto the bus and drove all the way around to get our ticketw for the famous 'Maid of the Mist' boat ride which, for those playing at home, is a boat which drives you right into the middle of the Canadian Horseshoe falls. It was ok but we didn't go as close as we thought it would.
After the ride we drove up to see the Horseshoe falls from the top side and it was magnificent, seeing a 24 hour mist cloud was definitely weird.

After the tour we bid Ricky adieu and decided to go to Canada for the night. Canadian customs was fairly straight forward and we were in the great white north within minutes. Realising that we needed canadian money half way through dinner was pretty funny but we paid with card so we averted a crisis. The Canadian side was definitely a whole lot more interesting for a young person. Where the Americans had preserved the wilderness and only had dinky little merchandise stands, the canadian side had hyge casinos, pubs, clubs, funhouses, midways and DINISAUR MINIGOLF. After some pre-historic putting we took a walk along the Canadian falls side to see the water all lit up at night. It was an even better view from there. I'll never forget it and I'd reccomend any readers make the effort to get over here and see them.

We left Canada at around 12am after trying for 25 minutes to find the way out. The American customs dude was far less relaxed than the Canadian one and asked us a whole bunch of questions before he let us through. We drove back to Buffali and took a much needed rest so we could wake up to the 8 hour drive to Boston.

As always, hug yourselves from me.
Happy Travels.
Reece.