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Today I have managed to spend some time online. Recently I haven't been on; though, vacation isn't the only cause.

The week after we got home from Levittown was spend doing laundry and getting everything around for our trip to Rochester on Friday (the fifteenth). My dad took a halfday and we headed up to Rochester (with me driving), at first, around 1 PMish. But Philip forgot his hat, so we came back before I got us out of our neighborhood/ward. The second time we left, we got all the way to Milan and my dad remember the he had left the Six Flag tickets on his dresser. For those of you who don't know, that's a 20 minute drive back. But, due to road construction, it took even longer.

After that little situation, my dad was on edge so I refused to drive with him and pulled over about a half an hour before Elmira and made Phil drive. Of course, we ran into even more traffic and construction and Phil didn't last long in the driver's seat. There was this point along the highway where the second lane ended and this man was determined to stay in it until the very last moment. He was just chatting away on his cell phone cutting people off left and rigth. It was scary. After that, Daddy drove.

We arrived in Greece at dinner time, of course, and ate dinner with Rob and Karren. My Uncle Rob drives me nuts, but he makes amazing food. They had to run off to a viewing for Karen's friend's diceased father, so we drove into Rochester (5 minute drive) and walked around the waterfront. They have a fast ferry that takes you into Toronto and every time we're on the docks, we watch it come in and go out.

As stupid as this sounds, I am always amazed at how flat the state of New York is. I guess that's what I get for being an endless mountains PA girl. I mean, even in the valley, it's not flat. The valley is only the valley because of the mountains that you can plainly see from any position.

Anyway, whilst my father dragged my brothers up and down the boardwalk, Caitlin and I sat under the trees and I played The Urbz on the gba. We almost had icecream at Abbots, but decided against it and returned to Rob and Karen's house.

I became hooked on that game and played it all night long. Caitling and I shared Karren's son's bed because he was staying at a friends house. Usually we sleep in her daughter's room, but this time her daughter was at Rob's house as apposed to staying with her father.

The next morning we had a hearty breakfast and left for Six Flags Darrien Lake at 10:30ish, I think. Now, every year I always see Max and Kasidy at the park, but this year I saw they pass us on the highway on the way to the park. We found that amusing ... You see, they probably ended up beating us to the park by 20 minutes or so and when we had pulled into the parking lot, it had begun to storm... which means that they had already entered the park and had to hide in some store or something, waiting for it to stop pouring... whereas, we had driven the speed limit and pulled into the parking lot just as the rain started pelting our vehicle.

We sat in our car for close to half an hour, waiting out the storm. Caitlin and Kevin had ridden with my uncle and his girlfriend and they had left way after us so we were talking to them on the cell phone telling them about the storm. The rain had come so fast the the water in the parking lot came up to the bottom of the doors. The flaggers who were telling people where to park, were playing around in the water: jumping; skidding water bottles, umbrellas, and occasionally, themselves; and just all around goofing off. It looked like fun, but the last thing I wanted to do was parade around in knee deep water.

By the time Uncle Rob and Karen had arrived, the thunder had reduced to a distant rumble and the parking lot had drained enough to let us out. We didn't stay long at the park, though. Every year, I always just sit around the pool with Karen, reading and talking and relaxing. Unfortunately, due to the storm, the pool area wasn't going to open at all. Then, after Karen and I had trudged all the way out to her car with everyone's pool stuff, we saw people on the highest water slides, and had to take everything back. By then, the pool area was filled and we didn't get to claim any of the beach chairs they have set up around the concrete area.

So she and I just layed out our towels in the grass, beneath the soft pine trees that seperate the pool area from the rest of the park. Of course, we weren't there for long either because it started thundering again and we were evacuated. After that, the boys were ready to go home as well. They had gone on their rollercoasters (the one's that hadn't been shut down for the day) and we all decided that the rest of our day would be better spent in Canada.

We left around 3ish, following my Uncle Rob the whole way. I believe we got to our hotel at about 5pm and it was absolutely amazing. The door to our room was on the 14th floor observation deck but the room was on the 13th. When you first entered the room there was a nook with a convertable couch, a television, and a window looking out over the streets of Niagara. Behind the couch, the was a stairway going dow into the bedrooms. There were two bedrooms, with two queen-sized beds each and large telelvisions. Oh and the bathroom was wonderful as well. It had both a huge steam shower and a jet tub. I had wanted to use the jet tub but never found the time. The best part about the rooms was the view. It was so beautiful I can't even put it into words. The windows in the bedrooms faced the falls and you could see both the Horseshoe and American falls. Because the Falls Road is down the bank from the hotels, the only other thing in our view was the scenic walkway and the trees on the bank. It was perfect.

Oh and the men in the hotel were drool-worthy. Mwaha. You knew it was coming.

Well first of all, there was the hott bellhop. He had slicked, short blonde hair and was wearing a cute little bellhop uniform. Daniel wanted to get a picture of me with the bellhop, but 1.) I hate having my picture taken and 2.) I get way too nevous around extrememly hott men... though looking back on it, I really regret not getting that picture to show all my friends. Man, that would have been something great to show everyone at band camp. blaugh I had decided that maybe the next day I'd let Daniel get the picture, but there was a different bellhop and he wasn't as cool.

Then there was Darren. 4laugh God, where do I start? You know, there is one solution to figuring out where I should start... and that is to not start at all, but I can't do that, because he was very much a part of my Canadian experience.

Well, when we had first gotten there, Caitlin and Kevin went down to the pool with my father, Phil fell asleep on the couch, Uncle Rob fell asleep in the room, and Karen and Daniel went around looking for one of Daniel's bags which had gotten lost in the shuffle between our vehicle and Rob's.

I was sent down to the pool area to ask Caitlin, who always knows where everything is, if she had seen it. I hate elevators, plain and simple. If it's only a couple of floors, I'm generally okay. But the elevator at the Oaks was really jumpy and the back wall of the elevator was a window, looking out over the streets of Niagara. Plus, the hotel didn't have very good air conditioning for the hallways and elevators, so it was steamy hott. And I was supposed to go from the 14th floor to the lobby level, alone, in the elevator. I spent alittle bit of time looking around for the stairs but then decided to face my fears and make the elevator ride alone. However as I walked onto the elevator, one of the maintenance/housekeeping type guys ran up and got on. He smiled at me and walked to the back of the elevator while I stayed in the front, by the button pad, trying to hide the fact that I was clutching at the railing. For some odd reason, when he had entered, he pressed the buttons for both the 10th floor and the 4th, but at that time I just sort of looked past that.

Anyway, he walked to the back of the elevator and looked out over the streets of Niagara and said in the cutest Canadian accent I have ever heard, "It's funny how the streets fill up as soon as the sun comes out, eh." Then, not only was I extrememly uncomfortable in the eleavtor, but I absolutely stunned by his adorable accent. Those of you who know me, know that I just stood there with a dopey grin on my face, nodding in agreement. Those of you who don't... well, I just wanted to tell you that that's how it went down.

Anyway, the elevator ride went way too slow, not only did it do that little lurching jump at floors 10 and 4 but also at 8 and 7 where people came on and joined us. At one of the stops, the guy's radio went off and told him to go to floor 2... and by that point in time, I had had more than enough of that blasted elevator and darted out and down the hall. The guy then followed me and asked me if I needed him to show me where the staiwell was. I know I was being stupid; it was only one more floor on the elevator, I could have made it. But part of me doesn't regret fleeing from the elevator.

And that wasn't the last time I saw him that night. After the missing bags were found, Karen, who is a room service addict, called for things right and left. First it was towels (which, she had called for before the elevator incident). Then it was to get the air conditioner working. And after that, it was the pizza we ordered for dinner. So yes, I saw alot of him. And each time he would smile and say something.

She also called for a corkscrew when dinner came and the awesome bellhop was the one who brought it up. Karen had to show the poor guy how to use it.

There was also this one time I was walking Kevin back down to the pool (he promised to hold my hand the whole way down the elevator) and we walked by a little janitors closet/room/thing. And I heard my guy talking with some other guy. The other guy asked him what he was doing, haning around the 14th floor so much and I heard my guy say, "There's this really cute girl...." before Kevin and I had ventured out of ear shot. 4laugh

After dinner in the hotel, we went out that night to walk around and look at the falls. There was a small mall just down the path from our hotel and we roamed through there. At the center of the mall was a huge fountain that put on a light and water show every hour. We caught the show coming back and also saw this really awesome performing guy. He was really muscular and wearing nothing but a gold sheet around his waist. He stood on a pedestal and made no movement, except for a few pectoral flexes. *girlish giggle* He was a cute brunette. The one we saw the next day was blonde and wasn't as good as the first one.

We returned to the hotel at around 10 and then the adults went off to the casino leaving the rest of us to go to bed. I took a quick shower and changed into my pajamas but I just couldn't get to sleep. Caitlin and my father had claimed the bed by the window and Kevin and I had the one by the wall but after I got out of the shower, I sat by the window looking at the falls.

At night the light on the falls are so awesome that I slipped a pair of jeans over my pajama pants and wandered up onto the observation level. The lights are dimmed slightly at night so that you can see more clearly out the window and I sat down on the couch on the observation hall with nothing but my journal and the sight of the falls.

I sat there writing about our trip and what we had seen and done and just as I got to the part about the guy I heard someone walking down the hall way. I looked up, hoping that it was someone else staying on the floor and not my father. I bet you can guess who it was. He caught my eye, smiled, and stopped at the room two down from mine. He dissapeared inside and came back out saying, "Is that thermostat really that hard to figure out?" I giggled (I couldn't help it, his accent was so darn cute) and closed my journal.

He came over and sat on the arm at the far end of the couch and we started talking about anything and everything. He had asked about my journal and joked that he was relieved I was writing a book on the ills of the hotel's service. And we talked about Canada and Pennsylvania and books and movies and *sigh* everything. Well, almost... because he had to clock out at 11:30.

The next morning we had to check out by 11 and switched hotels so that we could spend an extra night and get to see the fireworks. I unfortunately never got to see the guy again. His name was Darren. Darren something. He did say his last name once, but I've forgotten.

The second hotel we stayed at was an Embassy Suites and they had a valet service. So I spent the second day watching all the hott men park cars... though it just wasn't the same. Now I most definately want to be a Canadian.

Anyway, we hung around Niagara all of Sunday and that night, after Karen and Uncle Rob had returned to the US, we went down and claimed a spot by the falls to watch the fireworks. An hour before the fireworks went off, a band set up and played a bunch of oldies that everyone knows the words to. It was very touristy-like and I enjoyed myself immensly. The fireworks were beautiful and the night was perfect.

I guess it's experiences like that that allow one to fully appreciate their family.

We drove home Monday afternoon and I spent Tuesday doing post-vacation laundry and just lounging around the house.

..More tomorrow...

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