We took a weekend getaway guys!!! We ventured up to New York and explored Niagara falls which was gorgeous even though it was freezing and gloomy, it was so worth it. I've been told a few times don't wait till its warm to explore Niagara just go in different seasons to see how amazing it is all year around, so that is what we're going to do we will go back in the spring or summer not sure if we'll risk driving up to New York in the winter, it was cold enough in the fall but the next time we go we'll spend some time on the Canadian side.
TRIP PLANNING and rambling...
Rich and I had been talking about taking the kids to Niagara Falls NY sense summer but time got in the way and his work. So me and my spontaneous thoughts looked at the calendar and noticed we had nothing planned for the up coming weekend, and I must give it to the hubs he is always down for a trip even when I throw them at him last minute. So as soon as I got home from work Monday I started searching for hotels I personally like to use Bookit.com for local trips or weekend getaways they always have good deals especially last minute! I was finding them for around $125 a night an even though that was a good deal I was trying to stick to my budget of under $300 for the weekend which sense we were driving for about 5 hours and staying for a night we upped it a little. When I first sprung this trip on Rich it was the beginning of the week and here before I knew it was Thursday and I was still being a cheapy looking for a hotel room, I ended up finding one Thursday night for $84!!!! Woohoo!!! It was a nice room with two queen beds and a twin bed, about 5 minutes away from the falls (forgot to take pictures of the room,bare with me guys I'll get better at this!). Friday came and after I got off work and right before Richard went to work I filled our gas tank up he checked the oil and tires and all that jazz that goes with making sure your vehicle is ready for a long drive, Rich went off to work and I went to prepping for our early morning drive.
I'm a big packer when it comes to food and as you know, 4 kids! I like to save were I can, so I packed pop-tarts and garnola bars with some fruit and chips and a case of water. Richard got off around 2ish that morning and we left around 5am. I of course drove. We stopped at the gas station about 2 hours in and I was close to a half of a tank so I filled back up (spent $30 filling it back up) and woke the kids and Rich up for a bathroom break and then we were back on the road. We took the no tolls route to save money and it was less traffic also 35minutes faster. The kids slept most of the way so we were able to eat the food I packed on the way back home from the trip.
Niagara Falls
Once we got to New York it was around lunch time we spotted some pizza restaurants on our way to the hotel but decided to check into our room and then head to the closet pizza shop, the one we found was so really nice it had different names for each pizza, I don't remember the one for ours but it was a chicken bacon ranch pizza, we got one large and added a few baskets of fries and a pitcher of soda, the kids loved it. (spent about $35)
Sense our belly's were full we were ready to head to the Falls we were having a hard time finding out how much it cost to get into the falls when we did random google searches we either couldn't find it or found prices around $35-45 or so. Which was way out of our $300 budget, but we said we'd figure that part out when we got their. Once we arrived to the falls we were shocked, it cost us $10 for parking and to see the falls and the other scenic parts of the falls was FREE!!! So we saved like $250 and was able to stay in our budget.
The weather was in the 50s but because we were so close to the water it was so cold! Felt like 25 degrees, the wind was blowing so the water was blowing so bad it looked like it was raining (hints why were soaked in the pics) but I've probably already said this, it was so worth it! it was such a great experience! The kids kept saying how beautiful it was and that it was breath taking! Which made the trip a zillion times more worth it!
We spent sometime but not much cause it was cold, walking around the falls and just enjoying the scenery. When we left the falls we went to the Niagara Mall and shopped and ate, they were having a big sale in the mall so we actually didn't spend much.Xzavier and Na-Shira got sweatshirts from Champion and Luna and Kyra got a toy they wanted, I got a new winter coat and Rich got some cologne. After window shopping and actual shopping for a few hours we were finally beat! We went to a Walmart near by to grab a few more snacks and things for baby Luna and then headed to the hotel. The kids watched movies and I passed out with the baby.
The next morning we got up and ready and went for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (the kids choice) which was perfect because I had coupons! We then road around checking out the town for a while and then went to our next adventure.
LAKE ERIE
So Richard came up with this grand idea to venture off to Lake Erie on our way home which who isn't going to be down to go to a lake! We were about an hour into our drive home when we pulled off to a gas station to find out how far away it was from us, we were in luck it was around 30 minutes away from us. I never knew that Lake Erie was so beautiful! It looked just like a ocean, There was some broken branches and sand holes from the storm that happened the week before but it didn't deem how nice it was. I'm counting down till Summer to take the kids their for a weekend getaway! We took lots of pictures and then headed home it was a fun filled weekend, I think when we go back and have better weather we will do more but weather considering we had a great weekend!
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