Niagara - Canadian style .... and Laundry Day with the Amish, Part 2

Following this post.

We diverted up to Niagara Falls, armed with the popular advice to view it from the Canada side.  The reason, which we quickly discovered, is because you can see it better.  Canada faces it.  Hotels.com happily assisted us in booking a reasonably priced room in a hotel overlooking the roaring falls.   (Btw, we learned that Hotels.com, Expedia, Priceline, etc. are all owned by the same company.  "They're all the same", said one chatty hotel clerk.)  When we checked in, the cute little gal at the desk offered us a free upgrade.

"We're not very busy." she said.  Then upon learning where we live, she said she used to live in Oregon and named a small town within minutes of home.  With that, she then offered us another upgrade for a small added cost.  17th floor.  Overlooking the falls.   Um, okay.......

BAM!  The view from our room:

There are actually four falls, two are too small to remember their names, then American Falls on the left, and Horseshoe Falls on the right.

 Thus we spent two days and nights gawking from our window, just below the Vanderbilts, or whomever happened to be hobnobbing in the penthouse suites above.  There were even fireworks the second night .... the last of the season before they turn off the lights, shut off the falls, and everyone migrates to Florida ..... kidding.

That's me, in the light-colored top, waving, and Dear Friends are three windows to the right.

Niagara Falls (the city) is interesting.  In front and on both sides of us was scenery beyond description.  Behind us, was this:

And this .....

Hmmmmmm.

And we were serenaded by this .... for hours ...... but he was actually pretty good.

But redeeming features of this city, were a just a head-turn away:

We ate dinner in that tall Space Needle look-alike.  The view, as you can imagine, was spectacular.

But back to the falls.

These boats were constantly toting about loads of tourists, cowering under rain gear.  

As we walked the half mile, or so, along the shore from our hotel to the top of the falls, we went from comfortably dry weather to chilly drizzle.  The mist threatened to inflict some serious frizz, so I was glad I had a hood with a draw-string.

Husband and Dear Friends

Now from noisy glitz to quiet simplicity....

Pennsylvania was not on our route, but we managed to find some Amish communities in Ohio.

We stayed in a lovely historic hotel in Millersburg.

The lobby

The next day we found quilts, antiques, pie .... and I found puppies.

Take a moment ....

We drove around seeing neat-as-a-pin Amish farms.  It was a Monday, which we all decided MUST be Laundry Day because everyone had their clothes drying outside.

There was a tiny town called Charm.   (I'm not kidding.)

Interesting fact:  Amish men grow a beard (no mustache) after they are married.  

I visited a store where they don't sell their crafts to tourists, but where they shop for themselves.

The men's department.  Plain and dark.

Fabric.  Solid colors only.  

I thought these little boys' overalls were adorable.  

I honor any religion that worships God and is respectful to others.  I don't know much about their theology, but I respect their simple, modest, hard-working lifestyle.  Should the "Grid" fail ..... and we lose power, the web, and fuel sources, and find ourselves panicked and disconnected from our lives of convenience -- we should all (somehow) high-tail to the Amish where I can imagine them rolling their eyes at us, and then inviting us in for a warm home-cooked meal.