T'is
the summer, and that means a
reduction in course
work... the new-found freedom after a gruelling Spring semester found
nine
of us banding together on a trip to the Niagara Falls. More of a spot
decision
than any carefully planned initiative, we found ourselves at our
confused
best in our efforts to rent cars and book accommodation at a motel near
the Falls. After a tense half-day of suspense, however, we found
ourselves
on the road. Two cars with four "seasoned" drivers were soon speeding
along I-90 West at 2:30 PM on Saturday, the 1st of July.
The trip was a long one (eight hours of
non-stop
driving that was prolonged to about ten hours due to frequent stops on
the way). But the cool breeze and the scenery (and the excitement, of
course!)
kept us all up and awake until we reached the Falls at around 12:30 in
the night. And what a sight it was! Walking between all those trees,
we rounded a bend and found ourselves staring at the largest waterfall
we had ever seen! The colorful lighting from the Canadian banks made a
terrific sight, and we all went click! click! click! with our cameras.
After we had clicked to our hearts' content, we walked around a bit
before
it dawned on us (literally!) that we better catch some sleep before the
sun rose too high into the sky. That was when the adventures began.
Having followed I-90 onto 290 and then 190, it
was
assumed (by consensus) that getting back onto I-90 and driving to our
motel
at Rochester would be a piece of cake. As it turned out, we went from
190 to 290 to 390 to 490, before we huddled together in the middle of
nowhere
in order to marshall our resources. It helped a bit that there was a
cellphone in each car, and we soon untangled the matter. 4:00 AM saw a
drowsy bunch stagger into the motel and promptly collapse into a deep
sleep.
Not bad for a long queue! Within about 40 minutes, we were the proud possessors of tickets to the ride. Having donned the flimsy plastic sheets that were passed off as raincoats, we jumped onto the boat, and were soon on our way. As we ooh-ed and aaah-ed at the sight in front of us, we currently felt the force of the winds, and the reason for the "raincoats" soon washed over us (literally). There were only two things on our minds now: (a) to catch as many eyefulls of the falls in front of us, and (b) to save our cameras from all that water (we were all a little unsuccessful with the latter, as we desperately tried to snap a few more at close range) Click! click! click!
The boat turned around the horse-shoe shaped cataract. We had a last glimpse of the falls in its entirity, as we headed back to shore. A little rock-climbing brought a few of us close to the top of the falls (not TOO close, though!), and more clicking was resorted to. On getting back up on firm ground, we strolled onto the observation deck jutting half way across the lake. Click! Click! Then off we went to target the "caves of the winds".
As our luck would have it, the tickets were sold out. We squatted on the grass while we waited for a few of the remaining to fetch our cars. A Madras mami immediately buttonholed me, and we chatted on for about half an hour about this and that, before waving farewell to Niagara.
A repeat of the onward journey followed, and we were soon whizzing along the interstates, catching some shut-eye (while the more wide-eyed drove!) and waking up only to hunt in our wallets for the necessary tolls...
Reached Cambridge, MA around 5:00 AM, and dreaming about the "fun" school day ahead of us, plopped onto our bedzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
