Lately, I’ve had the itch. (Woah – that’s a weird sentence!) Not that kind of itch… I promise you. I’ve been dying (or itching, if you will) to just get out of the house and explore. I think the winter cold and short, dark days are finally wearing on me. Thankfully, we were able to get up to the house in WV a few weeks ago, which temporarily satisfied my carving. Obviously, it only put a Band-Aid on gaping wound since just a few short weeks later, I already found myself dreaming of getting away again.

On Thursday morning, Alex and I had a rare chance to grab breakfast together pre-work and began discussing the weekend. Should we stay home? Should we start a project? Are we just going to do the same old, same old? All of those options seemed mundane and oddly terrible.

This is basically how the rest of the conversation went:

A: “Maybe we should get out of town.”

M: “Yeah, maybe we should. Where could we go?”

A: “I dunno, we could go to Niagara Falls.”

M: “That sounds like it would be fun. Maybe we should invite Joe and Suzzette (our friends in NY).”

A: “Yeah, good idea. When could we leave?”

M: “I could take tomorrow off work. Do you want to leave this afternoon?”

So, there it was. Vague plans to travel up north. I called my mom to see if she would be able to watch our doggies and house (she’s a life saver when it comes to last minute plans ). I checked with my boss (also, amazingly understanding). We weirdly invited ourselves up to NY to stay with Joe and Suzzette for a night and asked them to come to the Falls with us.

Seriously… that was the extent of our planning. I booked a hotel, we grabbed some adult beverages to bring and we packed our bags (you gotta have your priorities in line). By 6 PM, we were on our way!

Another funny thing that I would like to add: Apparently, when you travel up north in the WINTER and it says that there is a 30% chance of snow each day that (obviously) means that it will snow pretty much the entire time you’re there. Sooo — the lesson of the story is that if you find yourself debating on whether you should bring the big four wheel drive truck or the car (that needs new tires soon) – you should choose the truck. If not, you’ll find yourself stuck on a mountain in the snow at midnight (oh! and with no cell service). That story’s called: now I see how Deliverance happens in real life.

Alas, we finally made it to their house in the wee hours of Friday morning. Since Suzzette still had to work on Friday (drat!) – Joe, Alex, and I decided to explore the Corning Glass Museum while she was working (they’ve been there before).

There were some really cool exhibits and information about Corning/Pyrex.

And then there were some reeeeally strange exhibits.

Yes, that is a bunch of glass knives hanging over a tiny little glass village. Nightmare central right there, folks.

Anyway, what stole the day was when we got to blow our own glass! It was pretty pricey so it’s not for everyone just wandering through – but it really made the whole experience!

Friday night we hung around the house, made a delicious dinner, had a couple drinks, and played Cards Against Humanity. Have you guys played this yet? (Again – it’s definitely not for everyone!) But, basically it’s a completely inappropriate, slightly vulgar (adult!) Apples to Apples.

Saturday morning we were off to Niagara Falls!

The town was pretty dead, which wasn’t surprising considering the lack of temperature outside. I was surprised that everything was pretty much in walking distance. We didn’t have to drive for miles and hike to the middle of nowhere to see the Falls. They were pretty much right in the middle of town and even the view walking up towards the Falls was beautiful!

At this point, you have no idea how big the Falls will be – all you can tell is that in a few feet, the river completely drops off.

Don’t let my shiny pictures deceive you. It was actually a ridiculously cold, grey day. Don’t believe me? Here’s one of my pictures straight off the camera (no editing at all).

I was pretty shocked to see how much of the river froze immediately after hitting the bottom of the waterfall. I thought with the constant movement, it would prevent freezing. Oh, how I was wrong! The ice at the bottom was probably ten feet thick!

I also couldn’t believe how close Canada was. The buildings on the other side of the river? Yeah… that’s Canada! I wish we could have walked to the other side, but someone (cough, cough ME) doesn’t have a passport yet. It was just so beautiful there. I can’t wait to go back in the summer to explore more of the activities when they’re open.

That evening we ate at Michael’s  which is an old-school family style Italian restaurant with the biggest portions I’ve ever seen, an incredible wait staff, and awesome food! I would definitely recommend checking it out!

Sorry for the blurry iPhone photo

We were pretty tired by the end of the day and hung around the hotel playing Cards Against Humanity again. We laughed all night, drank plenty, snacked on leftovers, and thoroughly enjoyed one another’s company.

The boys had a great time hanging out with their Grandma and cousin/nephew/uncle (my mom’s dog), Jake.

Now, we’re all back at work and will be recovering for a couple days!

A big thanks to my mom for watching our doggies and the house. Also a big thanks to Joe and Suzzette for letting us crash their weekend (and their abode for a night)!

Have you guys had a chance to break the winter blues? Dreaming of any weekend trips? Have you ever been to Niagara Falls?