Day One - travel and Niagara Falls, Canada

I wasn't able to post this while in Canada (WiFi was $9/day at our hotel), so I'll post it now. I hope you enjoy and that you live vicariously through me. Maybe it'll put a smile on your face!

            Usually, travel days are boring, but today was far from boring. Sure, the three or so hours in the air and the time spent in the airports weren’t very exciting, although they were made entertaining in unusual ways.

            Before boarding our flight, we had to go through security, which was of course backed up because the TSA agents decided to close two perfectly functional lines (guess they had a coffee break or something). After we finally went through the scanners, my 65-year-old grandmother was taken aside and patted down some more. Apparently she looks like an al Qaida terrorist?

During the flight from Little Rock to Baltimore, we were blessed with what had to be the world’s funniest flight attendant. Her announcements went back and forth between the typical safety tips and jokes. She informed us that there was no smoking on the plane and that the smoking section was “on the wing, where we will be showing Gone With the Wind.” She also told parents to secure their own oxygen mask before securing their child’s, and if you have more than one child, “choose the one that is most likely to help you at an old age.”

With a three hour layover in Baltimore, I burned time participating in one of America’s greatest pastimes: people-watching. The most interesting person I saw was a lady with one of the fullest mustaches I’ve ever seen, on a male or female. I’m not 100% sure she was originally a woman though- she had a very manly looking face.

The most interesting thing on our flight from Baltimore to Buffalo was a passenger. Unfortunately I didn’t realize it until after the flight, but Corrin Genovese, a freshman softball player at Missouri (a top 10 program) was on our plane. It could have been a cool interview opportunity, but I blew it. Oh well, there’s always next time!

After landing in Buffalo, we rented a car and headed to Niagara Falls. We are staying in the Hilton Hotel and our room overlooks Niagara Falls. It is an absolutely beautiful view. Too bad we only got to look at it for a few minutes before the hotel fire alarms went off, forcing us to get out of the building. As a safety precaution, the elevators shut down and we had to take the stairs, which wouldn’t have been bad…except for the fact that we’re on the 21^st floor. Luckily, I’m still in shape and it didn’t faze me. I can’t say the same for my parents and Granna though. They were dying. It’s a good thing it was a false alarm, because they were going so slow, I don’t know if we would have made it out safe!

They rewarded themselves for getting down by going to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville for dinner. I went too, but they all had a drink (legal drinking age in Canada is 19- so close!).

I know we didn’t hit any sports things today, but we will hit plenty this week, trust me! I hope to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, maybe see the Rogers Centre (where the Toronto Blue Jays play), and we will cap the trip in Cooperstown, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I’ve been wanting to go there for as long as I can remember- I can’t wait!