Good Friends, Falls, and Karaoke

So this is how you know who your good friends are - you call them up the night before and say you may or may not be arriving in a city that is 3 hours away from where they live the very next day.  They drop everything, despite having just flown in from Hawaii the day before and having to work the next day, and plan to meet you wherever you might be.  And they even have food and beer waiting for you when you show up 3 hours late.  SARAH AND MATT, you guys are AWESOME!!!

We got out of Ottawa as quick as we could after that fiasco (see our last post) and arranged to meet Sarah and Matt at Niagara Falls.  It was time for some fun!  We found a campground near the falls and got caught up over a few beers.  Then it was off to the falls to see them lit up at night.

Not a great pic but you get the idea

Matt, Sarah, Jocelyn, and Ricardo

Beautiful, but how long can you spend staring at rainbow-colored falls?  We wandered past the neon-lit tourist trap shops and restaurants, following the sounds of druken singing until we reached a cool outdoor karaoke bar.  There was a small crowd of brave souls toughing out the cold.  Oh, man, here we go...

We watched for a while, discussing the possibility of taking a turn on the mic, but no one brave enough to actually do it...UNTIL...Ricardo went to the bathroom and Sarah and I snuck his name in.  You all know he was secretly dying to get up there anyway.  Well, that started it off, and after Ricardo and Matt sang "Sweet Caroline", they of course put our names in and Sarah and I did our rendition of the classic, "Theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Air".  By the end of the night, the four of us were on stage rocking some Mumford &Sons and even performing encores requested by our dancing fans in the audience.  Look out American Idol, haha.

The next day after a big greasy breakfast we headed back to the falls to see them in daylight.  We took the Maid of the Mist boat tour.  After griping about the cost ($20 each) we decided to just go for it.  When in Rome, right?  It turned out to be lots of fun.  It was so windy that with the blue plastic ponchos whipping around everywhere it was difficult to get good camera shots. As the boat approached the falls, the boat starting rocking every which way, and we were getting drenched with water. Here's some pics from before I put the camera away:

After the boat ride, it was time to say goodbye to Niagara Falls, and Sarah and Matt.  Seeing them really lifted our spirits after having our car broken into.  We will be seeing them again on the west coast for some more epic adventures as we make our way into Mexico - can't wait!!