Vamos a Niagara
Freshly picked Strawberries
After a long and hot strawberry picking season we always like to take the Mexican workers out for a treat, to thank them for all their hard work and long hours in the strawberry patch. Strawberry picking is definitely one of the most grueling and seemingly endless jobs on the farm. They spend many hours a day on their knees picking flat after flat of delicious strawberries. A reward is well deserved.
Guys at the falls
For the last couple of years we have taking them out to the casino for the buffet dinner. But this year we decided to change it up. The idea came from them, really. For several years well picking along side them they have asked me about Niagara Falls and what it is like, how far away it is and so on. After being ask about Niagara from several of the guys each year, we decided this year instead of going out for dinner to take them down to see Niagara Falls. After all some of the guys have been working in Canada for 12 years, they should see our natural wonder.
Yesterday we all piled into 2 hot vehicles and headed east to Niagara. The traffic was good going, but just after we hit dead stop traffic in Burlington heading over the bridge. There was a transport truck broken down in the center lane of the bridge. After about an hour of creeping along we eventually made it up and over and were clear sailing again into Niagara. The guys definitely enjoyed the scenery and some didn’t know that Lake Ontario was so huge.
Group photo at the Falls
Once we got to Niagara the first stop was Burger King for a lunch stop of hamburguesas and papas fritas and of course Coca-cola. You could already see the guys faces light up with all the things to see on the main strip. There is a lot more going on here than in Port Perry. From there we headed down for the first glimpse of the falls. They were all very impressed by the falls and right away started taking pictures of themselves in front of it. I lent them my digital camera for the day so they could have photos to take home to there families. Many snap shots later we headed down to the Maid of the Mist. We got our group photo together and then got our blue rain ponchos and headed to the boat.
On the Maid of the Mist
The maid of the mist was definitely the highlight of the day. You get an impressive view of the American falls first and then as you get closer to the horseshoe falls the mist really starts and this is about the same time the “little boy” came out in each one of the guys, they were smiling and giggling as their ponchos blew around and we were getting rained on well they were taking pictures of themselves. It was perfect because my camera is waterproof so they were able to take all kinds of pictures in the mist of the waterfall. It was such a fun event to share together. After such a long time of just working together it is really nice to spend some time playing together too. We had a riot on the Maid of the Mist and were the last people to get off the boat because we were having so much fun. Then we gave them the afternoon to explore Niagara themselves.
Good times had by all
At one point we were inside a restaurant and saw a group of them on the street with big smiles pointing up and laughing and taking pictures. For us this was really nice to see that they were clearing enjoying them selves and having a good day off the farm. These smiles made it worth it for us to sit in traffic on a sweltering hot “day-off”. The ride home was quicker with good traffic and it was fun to talk about the day with them. They now want to come back every weekend if they can. One even suggested maybe he could buy a car and drive them all down. Well I think Niagara was a hit and looking at the photos they took of themselves. I think they will be taking some good memories home to share with their families.