Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Adventure Days 20 and 21 – # 35 A Girls Weekend Away!

Adventure Days 20 and 21 – # 35 A Girls Weekend Away!

I am officially making my recent activities #35 on my list (as I only actually listed 34 items) - to go on a girls weekend away. I’ve wanted to do this for a little while and had even thought of it while making my list but didn’t know who I’d ever be able to find to go on this excursion with. Then last week I got an e-mail from Sista (that I work with) asking if I’d like to go with her (as well as her sisters, mom and her mom’s friends) to Niagara Falls from Saturday to Sunday. Her mom is getting remarried in the fall and wanted to have a ladies weekend away to celebrate – sort of a bachelorette party. I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t so sure, since I really didn’t know Sista that well (I mean we’d be sharing a bed) and I definitely didn’t know her family and their friends. However, I’m all about living so I thought ‘Why not?’ As did my dear Wally, so off I went Saturday afternoon with a bunch of strangers to the Falls.

We drove up with Sista’s sisters, the older one and the younger one. There was certainly a lively family dynamic and one you only see in a family of three girls. I totally cannot identify with it but find it very entertaining to watch. The oldest sis drove, and the younger sis dryly poked fun while Sista and I sat in the back and chatted. We arrived around 7:30pm at our hotel (or where we thought our hotel was), checked in, picked up our key card and proceeded to take the elevator up to our room. (Of course all of this was done AFTER we helped ourselves to the free fresh baked cookies in the lobby). As the oldest sis unlocked the door and walked into what we THOUGHT was our room a man jumped off of the bed and quickly declared his ownership over what we thought was our evening abode (there was a woman in there too).

Younger sis quickly phoned her mother and asked what our room number was supposed to be and indeed we were at the right number. Lil’ sis told her mother that unless she was a middle aged man with a beard she was NOT in our room. Then it occurred to someone to clarify which hotel we were to be at and we soon realized there was two of the same chain in town, and of course we went to the wrong one – oops! We quickly high tailed it out of there and found the right hotel (which I might add, did not have freshly baked cookies) and the right room. There was only about five minutes to ‘freshen up’ before we had to be at the Medieval Times dinner theatre we had reservations to. We made it in perfect time and were greeted by an old lady dressed up in costume (that was truly not made for an old lady) and an older gentleman also in some medieval attire (tights and a tunic that was a bit too finely tuned).

Just to give you an idea of what our little crowd looked like: we were 12 in total and mostly women in their 50’s (I’m guessing). Can I just say that women at that age are a breed of their own? Do not dangle a good looking man in front of them because they get all crazy (they had the front desk guy to enjoy, of course he was probably only in his late 20’s or thirties – apparently they didn’t notice that he could have been their son).

We went in and sat through a two hour, five course meal with no utensils, and a lot of crude humour and audience participation (myself included). It was tolerable for sure but man did those actors take every opportunity to tell less than clean jokes! The food was delicious and the beverages to choose from were: red or white whine, or ale (beer). Once they filled your large mug up, you never saw the bottom of it – they filled them continually throughout the evening. I’m sure I ended up having two large, full mugs of ‘ale’ and was never warned about the effects I would later experience on my bladder – however it was a fun experience to have had.

We didn’t leave the show until around 10:30pm (a bit too late for me to have a full stomach) and then headed over to the Casino (after a brief visit back to the hotel). There are two big Casinos in Niagara Falls and of course it seemed to be our luck to have to go to both to discover the one we were actually looking for, but I suppose it added to the fun … I think. When we finally go to the one we meant to go to we split up and Sista and I took a few dollars and tried to gamble a bit. I say tried because it really consisted of us putting a relatively small bill into a slot machine pressing the same button several times and then leaving with out anything to show for it. After 15 minutes we were done. The only thing was we weren’t meeting our ride for another 45 minutes. We had some time to kill.

We ended up visiting in the lobby where we took to some people watching. We observed how many people kept their children (toddlers even) out well past midnight (at a casino no less!). We saw many different outfits on display, most of which revealed more than they concealed. At one point a young couple walked by us in there ‘night on the town’ clothes and the lady’s bottom was literally hanging out of the dress (I’m sure it was very drafty). I made some comment without yet looking over at Sista, then I heard her laughing and looking at another lady looking at the young couple. This lady’s jaw was hanging open (could have totally caught flies) and her eyes were barely still in their sockets. She noticed our reactions and then she vented her thoughts on the subject. She wasn’t’ mad just in shock over some of the things we were seeing people wearing. She said her 13 year old son was there too and had commented earlier on the ‘gold mine’ they had found. I guess you had to be there, but her reaction was priceless.

By 1:30am we had arrived back at the right hotel and chatted away before shutting the lights out at 3am. Then it happened! At 7am I woke up to use the bathroom, then I could barely hold it in until I went again at 8:30am, then again at 9am. No one had warned me that beer makes you pee (maybe it’s all alcohol, I don’t know). Oh well, I guess I learned something new. By 10am we had gone down for our breakfast and were on our way to the most important place to visit in Niagara Falls…no, not the water. The Hershey Store! I was definitely in my element there. I picked up some chocolate and a couple of their giant cookies (some to share with Wally) and realized that number 1 on my list was so far gone – maybe on the next list!

Within 24 hours of leaving we were home, unfortunately though, Sista’s car does not have working air conditioning and we were experiencing one of the hottest days of the summer. We decided we would stop off at a Wendy’s restaurant for something to eat on the way home. As we got out of her scorching hot car and entered the restaurant I commented on how damp I felt that my legs were. I really felt like I was sweating. Well folks, that’s because I was sweating – a lot!! As soon as I spoke the words she noticed that my behind was visibly wet and we quickly returned to the car to go through the drive through – I guess my fancy pants weren’t the best idea on a hot summer day). We decided to go to a park to eat before going home.

All in all my very brief weekend away was a good experience. Sharing a bed with my co-worker (whom I haven’t known that long), spending time with a bunch of total strangers (being women no less!), and just taking a chance on having fun last minute was all new to me and I was glad I did it. It’s easy to cop out on doing things with people you don’t know very well (or at all) but sometimes it’s good to stretch your social circles and go ahead. If nothing else you’ll come away with some funny stories!