Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mom and Dad Came to Visit, Part III


It hasn't been very long since Part II, has it??? Nah... Just seems like it to you, maybe...

Before I start, some of these pictures are from Mom, so if they aren't the most amazing photography ever, don't look at me ;-)

After NYC, I took Mom and Dad up to the St. Lawrence River. We took a boat tour of what's called "Millionaires' Row". Millionaires' Row is what they call all the houses built along the St. Lawrence by millionaires when industry was huge. A lot of the homeowners were wealthy business men from New York City. This house is a good example of one:



One millionaire's house in particular is a gigantic home called Boldt Castle, built by the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel around 1900. If you want to read about it, Wikipedia has a pretty good article. The house was extremely ornate, in typical industry mogul style.






Can you even imagine a dining table for 20??? I get nervous having more than two people over. But I guess it's easier when you have an entire staff of servants, right?


I think Mom and Dad had a good time seeing the house :-)



A few days later, we decided we should go to Niagara Falls. Dad had never been, and Mom and Dad DID say that they wanted the whirlwind tour of New York, so I tried to make it happen.

All of the pictures are taken from the Canadian side of the falls. Sorry, America, but you really lost out on this. Your view is pretty lame. My advice, if you're ever planning to go to Niagara Falls, be sure to take your passport so you can get to the Canadian side!

We got there at night, so we got to see the falls lit up. This is the American waterfall.


The Canadian fall is pretty amazing, too.


In the mist, I found a double rainbow. What does it mean?!?!? (Sorry - if you don't follow pop culture, you're not going to get that one.)


See? I was on the trip :-) That girl on the left just wouldn't get out of the picture.



Mom and Dad had to squeeze in to get in front of a section of fence. That place was crowded!


There's a lot of water going over these falls! A picture just doesn't capture that.


We ate lunch at the top of this tower.


It had quite a view! See how small that huge Canadian fall is now?



Well, ladies and gentlemen, that wraps up the Mom and Dad Came to Visit blog series. Up next, what I've been doing all fall and winter. Maybe I'll get to it BEFORE summer rolls around?