Bemidji Trip - Day 10

Took the scenic route to get to the Falls today. Before driving to the waterfalls, we made a side trip into Niagara-on-the-Lake (AKA Old Niagara). Nicky and I had visited before (see JUN 1997) and we really liked the area. Nicky visited several stores: one called "Cute Shop" for souvenirs and clothes (1255L), one called "The Prospect (1305L) and one called "Just Christmas" for nice ornaments (1330L). As we drove out of the town, we stopped at a few wineries to see if we could buys some ice wine, which we tried and liked last time - but it has REALLY skyrocketed in price! It's a shame, since we wanted to take some home. I was not going to pay $50 a bottle, though... We then continued to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls - and found it to be extremely crowded (things sure have changed since our previous visits)! I dropped Nicky off so she could pick up some souvenirs at the Skylon Tower (1530L) - we couldn't even get a close parking spot this time! When she came back, I gave up trying to park and we drove over to the New York side (no problems at border). We learned this evening that Niagara Falls State Park (1700L) is a pleasant, quiet and less busy place to view the waterfall. The kids were impressed by how close they could get - we threw leaves and sticks into the water and watched them fall! We had dinner in a State Park restaurant ("Top of the Falls") - from our perch, it still looked very crowded on the other side... It wasn't dark when we departed - and we got on I-90 without much trouble. Got some gas in West Henrietta, New York. After that, we continued east for the rest of the evening until we were only about 35 miles west of Albany. Found a hotel (Rodeway Inn), just off the Interstate, in Palatine Bridge, New York (2300L).