It was ultimately quite fun and relaxing, though. We booked some inexpensive rooms at a small motel down the parkway, upriver from the falls, and we picked and chose the sights we wanted to see. Gary, the owner of the Niagara Parkway Riverview Inn, was a great host:
Tough running a motel pretty much by yourself, as Gary described, with just a little handyman help from his dad. But the rooms were clean, the pool was clean and heated, and Gary makes everyone feel like they're staying in the guest room of his own home.
Niagara Falls Lessons Learned:1) If you leave early enough (7:30-8ish), you can beat most traffic in either direction, but any later than 10 and you're screwed.
2) Staying in any of the establishments in-town is a crapshoot; I heard tourists talk of cockroaches in better motels than ours.
3) There are inexpensive hotels just up the QEW in nearby towns like Grimsby that are less than 20 mins from downtown Niagara.
4) Dinner at the Skylon Tower was worth it, for the food and the view. The dinner show at the Greg Frewin Theatre wasn't, for the food or the show.
Maybe it's my age and having seen too many magic shows in my time and/or maybe we were just sitting too close so the tricks became obvious. But I got tired of the variations on disappearing people, even when the lion and tigers started appearing. Sorry, Greg.
On the other hand, I did like the close-up magic, the sleight-of-hand stuff. And the dancers were entertaining - worth sitting up close for! Plus the lion got loose backstage and didn't want to go into her cage, so that provided a little nervous excitement for everyone for a few minutes.
I guess it must be tough being a magician these days, with your trade secrets being revealed regularly on TV, competing with Harry Potter and special effects, and live crowds being overall tougher to impress. Kind of like Gary and his inn, competing with the chain hotels and online reviews by anyone who wants to dis your business. Two middle-aged guys, putting themselves out there for public scrutiny doing old-fashioned jobs in a hi-tech world - it's gotta be tough.
I actually had to make extra noise at Greg's show to get my section clapping and cheering, otherwise it could have been a much tougher room.
Sorry, no audio of me doing my Homer Simpson "woo-hoo"s.
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