I paid 50 cents to get back into the US

in true Alumni Hall style 4 of us girls set off to Niagara Falls, NY yesterday afternoon for a little spontaneous road trip. an hour and a half after leaving Chautauqua and hitting the open road Jillian style (i.e. in the fast lane - the whole way) and rocking out to Shannon's sweet tunes we arrived at what some might call one of nature's many wonders or what is also be deemed as one of the world's largest tourist traps.

lucky for us the weather held up and we basked in the late afternoon sun with our picnic dinner and indulged in some of the typical tourist shenanigans. the falls themselves are truly amazing - never before have I seen so much water pouring over in one spot. (nor have I ever seen so many Asian tourists convene on one American tourist spot like they did here.) let's just suffice it to say tour guides waving opened umbrellas in gift shops while barking orders on a loud speaker is not exactly my cup of tea. after some strategic bobbing and weaving we emerged from the gift shop only to stumble upon tragedy of tragedies - a wedding party. yes, ladies and gentlemen - we're talking bride, groom, bridesmaids and flower girl all decked out at the falls. I guess they weren't kidding when they hyped this town as a hot spot honeymoon destination. there's something kind of terrible about spending your wedding day amongst sunburned tourists in cutoffs and wifebeaters... but maybe that's just me!

the tragedy ante was upped a couple notches after our foray to the gift shops boasting everything from "Dutch" candy, wooden shoes and clocks to Niagara apparel and "real bugs" (bugs preserved in plexiglass). we then took a chance on Homeland Security and decided to walk across the bridge to the Canadian side, which reeked of tourists as well, but in a different way. while the American side has grown up as a town around a tourist attraction Canada's city of Niagara Falls seemed more like an established town boasted the likes of Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock and a Hershey's store (who knew?!) being surrounded by mass humanity starts to get to me after a while and this did exactly that (I mean who knows what 4-D movies are anyways?!). I don't know if I'm just numb to all of this tourist stuff but I can't appreciate it like some. for me it's more of an opportunity to sit and observe all walks of life. there's something to be said for the business investors who single-handedly create cities and towns like these that attract so many people to its restaurants and attractions. it certainly was a profit-seeking spectacle where people control the riverbanks and waterways so only paying customers can experience the falls up close and personal. how that works is beyond me.

our day ended wonderfully and thankfully Homeland Security let us back into the US with only our driver's licenses as proof of citizenship. we were not looking forward to calling any of our parents or editor to let them know we were stuck in a holding cell on the US/ Canada border. that would have really put a damper on the rest of the summer. it probably would've made a pretty hysterical story in the end though.