Mangoes, Marleys and Mermaids, Oh My!

Well, well, well! Little did we know when we decided to take a side trip to Niagara Falls with Ron & Jackie from Skelton Crew that we’d find everything we were searching for! Well…at least according to our blog name! 😉

We’d been in Buffalo since Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning we had rented a car for the weekend with our new friends. The main purpose for the rental was to make a run to Lowe’s to pick up the lumber and other supplies we’d need to build the cradles for the masts on both of our boats. We had no idea how we were going to get the lumber in/on a rental car, but knew we’d figure out something. Jim and I took the dinghy over to Canalside, where someone from Enterprise picked us up and took us to the rental place. They told us we’d be getting a Nissan Sentra. Hmmm….how to load four people and a bunch of wood in a Sentra… Then, we overheard the rental agent ask someone else if she knew where the keys for the Sentra were, and she replied, “No. I don’t even know where the Sentra is.” We get a little worried at this point, until the rental agent turns to us and says, “We don’t know where the Sentra is and I don’t feel like looking for it. Do you mind taking the Dodge Journey that I picked you up in?” Would we mind?!? Heck no! An SUV type vehicle with luggage tie down rails on top! Might not be so tough to get the lumber back after all!

Anywho…Now it was Sunday Funday, so we all hopped in and drove up to Niagara Falls, which has been on my bucket list for years. No way was I getting this close and not seeing the falls! We parked on the U.S. side and walked across to Canada on the Rainbow Bridge. Those of you who know me well know that bridges are NOT my thing, and I know this makes no sense, but I feel much safer walking across one than driving! If you’re going to the falls, and you’re on the U.S. side, I HIGHLY recommend crossing over to Canada, be it walking over the Rainbow Bridge or crossing over one of the bridges in a car. It is so worth it. The falls can be seen and appreciated much better from the Canadian side, but the parks and the landscaping themselves are just beautiful! I can’t believe we didn’t get a shot of the parks and all the flowers. Sorry!

All this walking was making us thirsty, so we decided to stop for a beer. There just happened to be a Margaritaville right across the street, so in we went. And it was here we found everything we were looking for. 😉 Jackie’s drink was made with mangoes, both a Bob Marley AND a Ziggy Marley song were played, they had a mermaid maidenhead and at one point there was even a mermaid on the television! Sweet!

Soon after leaving Margaritaville, we encountered a dilemma. Just a couple of blocks away we ran into the Niagara Brewing Company…What to do? Not only are Ron and Jackie a lot of fun to hang with, but we’ve discovered that we all have a thing for good craft beers. Three of us seem to always be on the hunt for a good IPA, while the fourth is happy to find something a little lighter, but flavorful. Also, there was a guy playing guitar and singing…and he was good. Guess there was only one thing we could do! The IPAs were good, the chips and guac were great and the musician was fantastic!