NIAGARA FALLS

Hey guys, hope you have been reading the blog. I love to read comments. So please comment on it. Whatever you think counts. Well, today (May 15/2008) is another wonderful day. We spent our first camping last night in St. Johnsville in between Utica and Albany in New York. The camping site was by the river canal with a wonderful landscape. When we got there around 9 pm nobody was there. I think it is a little bit early to camp in May but the weather was not bad at all. A little bit of rain, windy and train noise many times throughout the night.

After we got there, we started immediately assembling our tents assisted by Avi who is a camping expert. Camping fee was ten dollars. It is fun to travel with Avi , so generous and he enjoys helping others. Avi fixed tea. Since we haven’t started yet cooking we had subway for dinner.

As usual Andy woke up before us. He is a very organized person I ever know. He took a shower, came back and told us to wake up and start heading to Niagara Falls. This place was one of the best places in my list to visit since I saw it in travel channel since 2005. It is among the wonders of the world. I watched also documentaries about this fall about the first expedition in seventeen hundred’s, the tribes, worship, and the first woman who went through the fall in barrel with her cat were among others.

When we hit Niagara Falls around 2 pm there was beautiful weather. Wow!! It was amazing. Some visitors ride a helicopter or a boat downstream side of the fall. Others approach from the bottom to feel the pressure, the vapor and the beauty. The rest of the visitors walk around the fall on the upper side, cross the bridges and enjoy the falls in different locations. There are all kinds of adventures. Since this river is a border line for US and Canada, there is also beautiful scenery across the river on the Canadian side.

Our plan is to spend the night in Ruthven a small town in Ontario, Canada. We have to drive four hours to get there. We finished our visit at 4:30 pm and crossed Canadian border. Canada is pretty much similar to US. A good landscape, rivers and lots of lakes which takes my attention most wherever I go. We crossed Ontario Lake driving to Ruthven.

Here is another interesting part of today’s trip. The couple we stayed with are Barbara and Bill. Barbara was maid of honor of Andy’s mom, Christina. Their two year old grandson Mathew was also visiting for the weekend. We got there around 9 pm. Bill and Barbara lived in Tanzania for seven years and in Nigeria for three years teaching. Bill is feeling Tanzania as second home. He visited also Ethiopia ten years ago. Both of them also have been to Israel. So we have a lot to talk about Kenya, Ethiopia, and Israel. Barbara welcomed us warmly when we got there in front yard. They have a beautiful house on a 25 Acre property. They built it in seventies. Andy and I grabbed beer, Avi and Barbara grabbed wine and started walking around the property. It is quiet, birds singing, ever green and one of the best place ever to live in.

Canada is the second largest country Russia on top. The population of Canada is 33 million. I asked bill where the closest city from Ruthven located. He answered Lemington 15 km away which has a population of 15,000. A population of 15, 000!!! Guess how many people are living per sq. km or sq. mile. Ruthven is located in the heart land of agricultural area which is on southern part of Canada. Northern part of Canada is mostly covered with snow and swampy.

Thanks for Barbara and Bill’s hospitality. We had dinner together. We talked about a lot of issues mostly about Kenya, Ethiopia and Israel. I slept very well. Hope Andy and Avi too. We woke up in the morning had a wonderful breakfast in a beautiful dining room. Thanks to Barbara and Bill and enjoyed our stay there until 4 pm. Today, Friday may 16 we are heading back to US – North West to Detroit then we are heading south west toward Notre Dame which is in the northern part of Indiana. If you keep on reading and looking at pictures, I will keep you posted.