Labor Day Weekend

I decided to do the pictures in an album format so I could include a few.  I hope you'll take a minute to view them and see the wonderful sites of the Shrine, the Whirlpool, and of course the Beach Boys.  I also had to add the two young guys in the crowd... who would have thought you'd see them at the Beach Boys!?!

The weekend was absolutely beautiful.  The sky was blue with little puffy clouds, the temps in the high 70s low 80s.  Perfect weather for the last weekend of summer.   

My friends made it in fine on Sunday.  We spent hours chatting at the kitchen table.  We enjoyed a great dinner and then moved into the living room were we chatted and laughed until well after 1.  We decided we better hit the hay or we'd never be able to get up and get our early start as planned.   

We were able to get up early had a nice big breakfast to fuel ourselves for the long day ahead.  We drove up to the Fatima Shrine and spent a bit walking around the grounds before heading to Niagara Falls for the concert.  The grounds were beautiful!  We found this hanging basket that looked like a huge strawberry hanging from a tree.  I will admit the hot summer took it's toll on the grass and some of the flower gardens, but it was still gorgeous! 

On the way back we stopped off at a look off point at the Whirlpool Gorge.  This is on the lower level of the river a bit from the bottom of the falls.  If you look close at the picture you can actually see the whirlpool.  I've been on tours and much closer - when you're near you can actually see the 'bubble's' of disaster rise in the swift moving current.  We decided we didn't want to get that close today!   

By the time we got back to Niagara Falls we really didn't have time before the concert to actually 'visit' the Falls.  We weren't too disappointed as we have all seen it 100s of times.  Besides we could see the crowd building for the main event.  It was a free concert outside the Casino.  There were chairs and bleachers set up for the many visitors.  The sun was hot and there was a slight breeze so we decided to stay on the upper level and sit in the bleachers.  We wanted that breeze!  We made a great choice as the folks in our section were wonderful.  We danced, sang, and had a great time enjoying the sounds of the Beach Boys.