Buffalo, NY - final thoughts and budget

Before traveling, I did a little research and discovered that you can take a combination of two buses from the airport to the Niagara falls area. from there, you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to, including into Canada. The buses are inexpensive and the walking toll to Canada is somewhere in the neighborhood of a dollar.. I made the decision to rent a car and drive, though because we would be lugging all of our bags and a stroller, on and off buses. Also, while the walks would not be unreasonable, you never know when the kids will conk out on you. As much as I enjoyed Chicago without a rental car, I did realize pretty quickly that despite trying to travel light, we have a lot of stuff. First off, there are the electronics to entertain the kids on the plane. Then there all the power cords for said electronics. Add bathing suits and a change of clothes and, of course, don't forget my cooler full of food and snacks. Well, we can pretty much fill the stroller leaving no room for a tired child.

I am very glad we did all of the activities that we did but wish that we had the energy for just one more. I would have liked to do the tunnel behind the falls on the Canadian side. I also regret not seeing the falls at night.

Big Boy said that they had learned about Lake Erie in school and if we were not in such a hurry to get on the earlier flight, we could have driven by the shores of the lake.

Gas was ridiculously priced in the US side (I didn't pay attention in Canada). I saw prices in the $4.16 range and I usually wince when I see our $3.49 per gallon at home.

The car rental was supposed to run me around $75 but a) we returned it a few hours early and b) upon returning he car, I whined about the fact that the cigarette lighter didn't work and it almost left me without a GPS and phone. The guy immediately took the second day off my bill. I love companies that empower their employees to keep the customer happy. I am very loyal to enterprise rental now for that reason and one from our next trip.

As much as we enjoyed our meal at Margaritaville, I wished we had instead dined at the Skylon Tower restaurant. I initially vetoed the idea out of fear that it was cost prohibitive but after it was too late, I discovered that the buffet was comparable to what we paid for dinner at Margaritaville.

And, it goes without saying that I wish I had walked out of IHOP before paying that obscene amount for breakfast.

Here is where the money went.

amount	category	note
$        99.24	accommodations	hotel
$          8.00	attraction	park entry
$          4.00	attraction	trolley
$        27.00	attraction	cave of the winds
$        18.00	attraction	maid of the mist
$        13.80	food	lunch at airport
$        11.40	food	lunch at airport
$        72.62	food	breakfast IHOP
$        20.20	food	Chinese buffet
$          8.00	food	two sodas one milk
$          5.47	food	milk at airport
$        68.03	food	margaritaville dinner
$        12.00	souvenir	souvenir currency
$        14.56	souvenir	shot glass and ornament
$          6.46	souvenir	shot glass and bracelet
$        16.00	transportation	parking
$        37.53	transportation	car rental
$          3.25	transportation	toll rainbow bridge
$          1.00	transportation	toll
$        16.00	transportation	airport parking
$      462.56		Total