Friday, April 6, 2007 - Montreal to Niagara Falls, Canada

Having already stayed in Montreal and spent some walking time in the city, we didn't spend much time walking around - just dinner the previous night.  On this day we simply mobilized early and checked out of the hotel at about 9:30am.  From there we made a beeline to the Biodome.  We arrived there at 9:51am.

Biodome

Maria had found the Biodome on the web, and it had also been recommended to us by people we know who have been there.  But we had a long day the previous day so we did not have time to get there with the energy and time needed to appreciate it. 

Our road trip this day was to be at least six hours not including stops so I was a little reluctant to do anything but travel to our next overnight stop.  But in thinking about it overnight, I realized that if we got a good early start, and if we didn't waste time getting out of the hotel, we could visit the Biodome first thing in the morning and still get to our next stop at a reasonable hour. 

So the night before I laid out the conditions - that everyone needed to get ready smartly in the morning and move out.  This had happened so we were able to visit as we hoped.  Once we found our way through the cavernous parking garage to the unassuming underground entrance, we sat down and had breakfast in the cafeteria.  It was OK though not the most impressive breakfast we had on our trip.

Tom managed to drop his glass bottle of juice before we paid so we left a mess behind us on our way to the table to eat.  With breakfast out of the way we went into the Biodome.  Like the CN Tower, the price of admission was staggering, so we took the ticket option that skipped the tram ride and some of the side extras.

Once inside the kids got busy right away with the interactive displays.

There is a joke in our house, at my expense, started by Tom's god-father Cliff, about Moose.  Well to make a long story short, it would appear that the Biodome is in on the conspiracy to promote the Moose as some sort of Canadian icon.  Come to think of it, the CN Tower has a moose character as well...  Cliff...?

From the static displays, we moved into the rainforest environment.  There were exotic birds and a variety of primates as well as hot humid air.

We passed through an aquarium that contains tropical fish.  There, as big and bad as I imagined them as a kid, was a school of Piranha!

Poison frogs...

Primates...

Alligators and Tortoises...

More birds...

And an area that is familiar to me...

Let's not forget the kitties...

Then another, large aquarium...

An interesting bird diving underwater, hard to get a good photo...

A high nest and sleeping/hiding bird...

Click the small pictures to see the bird that is well camouflaged in the pebble stones...

Then we went to the tidal water exhibit.  This gave people a chance to see the kinds of sea life that live in tidal pools among the rocks.

Star fish...

The exhibits are nicely done with realistic, though small spaces.

The sea bird exhibit was pretty good...

And of course, the penguins...

We spent some time in the gift shop.  I found some more little souvenir cameras modeled after the Spotmatic, this time with neck strings instead of key chains, and with Montreal pictures instead of Québec.  Then we set the course of the Starship Commander for Niagara Falls.  We got on the road at 12:55pm

We stopped at 1:55pm and had lunch on the road at a McDonald's in Lancaster (exit 814).  This was another breakdown in our meal plan but everyone was hungry and there wasn't anything better in sight.  I was surprised to see that Filet-O-Fish are not on the menu in Canada.  But then at KFC there are no mashed potatoes, only poutines - or fries with gravy and cheese (?) on them.   I'm mostly Canadian - I'm supposed to know this stuff...

We finished lunch at 2:30pm and fueled before we left.

We stopped for coffee at Brockville at 3:34pm.  More donuts!

We stopped at the U.S-Canadian border at 4:13pm.  We crossed out of Canada at the Thousand Islands.  This area was a sight to see.  It looks like it is a destination all to itself.  the bridge that spans the water gives a view to (doh) thousands of little islands, many with one or two small camps on them, and many with nothing at all, but perhaps a fire ring.  It's a fascinating place that we might want to visit in the future.

We stopped at the Skydeck at 4:17pm.  As it was not yet tourist season, the observation deck was closed, but we stopped to take a quick picture of it anyway.

Along the road we saw giant bird sculptures at this location.

The picture does not do them justice.  Keep in mind that the metal fence near the birds is about four feet high...  These birds were very large and visible for several hundred yards away.  The visual effect as you get closer is curious because you instinctively think they are small.  So far away I just thought "Oh, some black birds."  But as we got closer and they got larger, and the surrounding things appeared disproportionately small, it twisted perception until I realized that the birds must be a lot bigger than usual...  Yeah, I was getting punchy...or dumb...

At 5:16pm we stopped in Pulaski for gas and snacks.  It's a circuitous route to get back to the highway.  We needed the break and there was nothing wrong with the gas station or the convenience market, but regaining access to the highway was not very convenient.  The signs suggested going back and my GPS suggested going forward so we chose forward.  Either way I imagine you will get back on the highway.

We stopped for dinner at 7:57pm at Fuddruckers at Clarence Service Center.  It had been so long since we had been to a Fuddruckers it was like going home!  It was an express version of what we know, but it was still pretty good.  The people working there seemed like they'd just woken up from a deep sleep but we got what we ordered and everything tasted great.  We seemed to be the leading edge of a flow of patrons that came through just as we arrived.  It's hard to say where everyone was coming from or going, but it didn't matter.  We had a quick bite and hopped back on the road.

We got back on the road at 8:37pm.  Our route took us southwest and then into New York and south of Lake Ontario.  We reached the border again at 9:11pm and crossed back into Canada over the Rainbow Bridge.  It was quiet so there was no line and we went right through. 

We reached the Fallsview Marriott at 9:21pm and checked in.

I parked the Jeep in another outdoor parking area and walked back to the hotel.  We arranged in advance and got a room with a spectacular view of the falls.  Everyone was pretty tired from the road trip so we called it a night.  But first we did spend some time looking at the falls, with the colored lights and the spray.  It was very pretty though I could not help but wonder what it might have looked like to aboriginal people before all this tourist stuff got built around it.  It must have been incredible.

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