We headed back to Niagara from Rochester on Sept. 6th, expecting to get in early and have some time to do some touristy things. Unfortunately, the Canadian border was not kind to us. We had been stopped at the border at Port Huron and they inspected the truck and the Airstream which took a little time, but nothing bad. We know that having a Texas license plate is tantamount to declaring yourself a terrorist, but we also know that we don't carry guns in spite of what they think all Texans do.
First thing that happened at the Canadian side was they asked us if we had any firewood.
Well, we did. The park guy at Hamlin Beach had brought us some extra he had cleaned out of some of the weekenders' spots. The Canada guy told us we had to go back to the US and get rid of the firewood. He also made a big deal about how we needed to make sure that we didn't have any guns. According to him, about 90% of all Airstreams from Texas have guns, and if we get caught, many nasty things can happen to us.
So we made a u-turn and went to the US. They told us we had to take the firewood back into New York. So here we are driving around trying to find someplace to dump about 6 pieces of firewood. We finally found a guy who had some tree clippings left out on his lawn for the trash to pick up, so we added our wood to the bunch.
Now, we head back to the bridge. Different Canadian at the border, he tells us to go have the trailer and truck inspected. We've been through this before, so we don't think much about it. We pull over and get out, and they begin to go through the truck. After a while, it seems likes they are taking much longer than Port Huron did. Eventually, they come over and get Jeff and take him around the corner and frisk him. They ask him again if he has any guns. He again replies, "No." Then, the immigration guy pulls out a small package and says, "Then, what's this?"
"This" was a flare gun that Jeff had put in the console of the truck ages ago and forgotten about. Jeff explained that it was a flare gun to be used for an emergency, not a GUN. They didn't seem too happy about that. They continued to search the trailer. After a while, the immigration officer comes over and tells us he will have to seize the flare gun. We said , "TAKE IT" and then he said that there is usually a $500 fine for having an undeclared weapon, but he's going to talk to his supervisor about waiving that. Well, we are flabbergasted. I am mentally assessing what's going to happen to our budget if we have to pay $500, and at the same time thinking - IT'S A FLARE GUN! GET REAL!
Eventually, he comes back and says he looked it up on the internet and it is a flare gun and he gives it back to us and we're allowed to leave. We're not feeling too touristy at this point.
But, once we get set up at the camp, we decide to go back to the Casino and have a good time with the slots again. We had a comp buffet they had given us because they had messed up Jeff's card the last time, so we had a really good meal and a fun evening.
The next day, we decided to drive to Niagara on the Lake.
 Niagara on the Lake |
 Downtown street |
Flowers are incredible!
 Jeff and flowers |
 Incredible colors |
We walked into the Prince of Wales Inn
 Prince of Wales Hotel |
 Tearoom in Prince of Wales |
We had a good time walking around the town - very touristy, but nice.
Afterward, we decided to drive down the Niagara Expressway and saw the Floral Clock at the Botannical Garden.
 Floral Clock |
