Fun in Fort Erie (part one)

Nic emailed me last week or so and told me about a Chinese restaurant that she had heard about and invited Dolores and Shawn, her friends Kim (who she works with) and Don, and Josh and I to get together for dinner last night. We had planned to meet for dinner at 6:00, so Josh and I got in the car at around 1:00, with the full intention of going to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake since we were going to be there early. Well, plans don't always work out the way you want them to...

Since I hadn't had lunch and we were stuck in some nasty traffic around Oakville (it's always bad at that point), we ended up stopping along the way to get something to eat. After that, it was closing in on 3:30 so we decided since we had about an hour more to drive, we ended up just heading into Fort Erie and explore the bustling metropolis. *snort*

I swear it looked like a bomb hit the 'downtown core' (if you can call it that). It looked like every business that existed there had been shut down and/or boarded up. I gather that the area had become depressed as most businesses would have moved to Niagara Falls or Niagara-on-the-Lake...but this was *sad*. The only place that was open was the convenience store.

I do wish I had brought my camera, we passed a few store-front businesses whose names made Josh and I giggle. I'm not sure if they were legitimately funny or we were just giggling because we were hot. There was the lawyer named Paul H. Ennis (and I just HAVE to know what his email address is), give yourself a minute and think about that one. After that we passed Crawford, Smith and Swallow - Chartered Accountants, and then Rasch and Chambers - Land Surveyors.

We then decided to walk along the waterfront and enjoy the spectacular view. We did some people watching and sat while this gentleman attempted to fish. I say, attempt, because the only thing he was catching was seaweed...and I'm sorry, but roly-poly men with more back fat than belly fat, should NOT go topless. I repeat, they SHOULD NOT GO TOPLESS!

We tried to put that image out of our minds while we watched the water and the boats go by and we waited for the others to show up. Dolores and Shawn got there first, soon followed by Nic and Tim. We went into the restaurant and waited for Kim and Don...