Strom Travel Diaries

Day 3 – Monday, October 17

We got up at 5:15. The train was scheduled to leave at 7:15 and we wanted to get there in plenty of time. We did stop at the Starbucks in the lobby so we could grab some breakfast to take with us. And we didn’t try to walk back to the Moynihan Train Hall. A very nice doorman helped us get a cab and we got to the station quite quickly. We checked in and were directed to the waiting room–we had coach seats for this part of the trip, so it was the regular waiting room for us! 

After eating our breakfast, we didn’t have too long to wait until we were called to the platform. We got onto the train and made sure to get seats with a window–Mom’s first choice didn’t have a window, which she didn’t notice until I pointed it out (it’s because I’m very observant). Of course, our seats were on the wrong side to look at the river AND were seated directly in front of what seemed to be the only 2 small children on the whole train. And the family didn’t seem to own any headphones for the slightly older child, so in addition to not infrequent crying, we were also treated to upbeat music interspersed with “Dinosaur!” or “Blue!” among other audible gems. For the whole ride. On the plus side, we did hear some juicy gossip from the 2 guys who sat in front of us on separate occasions. Some real workplace drama going on.

Otherwise, the train ride was mostly uneventful. We had a slight setback when we had to unexpectedly fix the engine in Albany, but otherwise it was smooth sailing. (Let’s make the police car PURPLE!) And the cafe car opened just before lunchtime, so we got some veggies and I got a sandwich. (Incomprehensible lyrics)

We spent most of the time napping, watching the scenery (Sounds of some sort of Power Rangers-style fight), reading, and doing our word puzzles. There were so many pretty trees! (Animated bird chirping)

We finally rolled into Niagara Falls, NY about 5:20 and we’re greeted with much chillier and drizzlier weather than what we’d had in NYC. But, we’d both worn sweaters, jackets, gloves, and hats, so it could have been worse. We got an Uber to the hotel and got checked in. The hotel reception guy recommended the steakhouse in the casino, but since we’d been to a steakhouse the night before and weren’t big on going into a casino for dinner, we decided to try our luck elsewhere. 

We walked up from the hotel a couple of blocks to a place called Wine on Third (because wine not?!). We shared a Caesar salad and a chicken and spinach pizza. I decided to be daring in my pizza choice and get something that wasn’t pepperoni. Mom was fully onboard. And since we were at a place with “Wine” in its name, we had to get some Cab Sav.

We had talked about walking down towards the falls after dinner, but it was colder and rainier, so we just went back to the hotel and warmed up. We went to bed relatively early, even though we didn’t have to be up before the roosters for a change.