I don't come visit too often anymore, but I always brag that I was the first person to post in a brand new Garden Party, though I had been completely hooked on the GardenWeb long before. Another couple, you may remember Robert from Alabama and Dorie from s. Carolina. "Officially" married on 5/25/02, we were 'wed ' at the Chicago get-together not too long after, lol. Of course, it was a grand double ceremony with Liz and 'Big Foot '. There were times that I laughed so hard that I peed my pants! My goodness, there were some funny, funny threads. Zin was Don Zimmerman; he sent us a bottle of his California Zinfandel. He was an amazing bonsai artist, too. Dorie....now from Alabama :-) This post was edited by rhizo_1 on Wed, Jul 17, 13 at 11:19

Thanks for looking! We did have a really good time. It was nice winning that big jackpot at the end, but we lost at least that much while we were there, so we didn't really come home "winners." But we don't gamble more than we can afford to lose, of course. DH considers it entertainment. I loved visiting the conservatory! This is the first time I've been there in the spring, so I took tons of photos. I posted less than half of them. The potting shed with the live butterflies in it was awesome! We didn't wander too far on this trip. We made it over to Rio, but decided not to bother with downtown. A few years ago we took a drive out to Red Rock Canyon, which was interesting. It seems like no matter how long we're there, we never have enough time to do all the things I want to do. But DH doesn't want to go for more than 3 or 4 days. I could spend two weeks there and not get bored. Of course, I'd put on about 20 pounds... I was amazed at the number of penny slots! Years ago you were lucky to find half a dozen. Now they're everywhere! Literally dozens and dozens in every casino! I'm already planning our next trip! We may go in November, for our 15th anniversary. (We got married in Vegas!) no, not by Elvis.

Hi all, My mother and I went to the Canadian side in June 2001. We enjoyed it, but the exchange rate was very favorable, and we didn't stay right at the falls. We stayed at a B & B on the lake, just east of Nigara on the Lake. I agree the boat ride is worth it and the portals are not, although some of the kids in the tunnels seemed to get a kick out of it. Some of the things we enjoyed not mentioned: the elevator down to the gorge and a short hike (it was way too hot to walk down) and the botantical gardens were stellar. We were there during the Shaw Festival and went to a play at the festival. It was kind of expensive, but we enjoyed it. The food was much better in Niagara on the Lake than by the falls. There's also a bike/walk trail along the river upstream of the falls, as well as a scenic drive. We walked a short way but mostly drove. We considered but didn't take the trip on the souped up rafts that go up the river to the huge hydraulic hole that forms downstream from the falls.

My favorite cologne, since I was about 17 is Revlon's Charlie. My Grandmother bought it for me; she like the moxie of the advertising. I still wear the original Charlie - not the white or red or any of the other spin-offs. I have four bottles in my lingerie drawer. I hope I never run out of it. I still get compliments when I wear it. I worn many scents, White Shoulders is very nice; I also loved Avon's Sweet Honesty, but Charlie is my tried and true. I also adore Channel 19; but I can't find it anywhere anymore. Channel 5 is nice, but it's too heavy for my tastes. My Grandmother wore Coty products, and I still search for their "dusting powder." Mom loves Youth Dew to this day. My great-grandmother had huge banks of fragrant, purple petunias in front of her porch. I also grow at least a large pot full of them so my porch can smell like hers. Back to Charlie and their advertising spearheads...read this blurb from Wikipedia about Revlon's Charlie advertising. - - - - - - - - Charlie, named after Charles Revson, was released in 1973. It was originally launched to compete with Estée, a fragrance released by Estée Lauder. Ad campaigns for the scent featured models Shelley Hack, Charly Stember, and, notably, Naomi Sims, making Sims the first African American woman in history to be featured in a cosmetic company's advertising. Television ads featured jingles sung by Bobby Short. Young, working women were set as the target audience, and the ads were said to represent the "new woman" of the era. Hack and Stember wore pantsuits by Ralph Lauren and were the first women to wear pants in fragrance ads. The response proved to be profitable for Revlon, as Charlie became the world's top selling perfume within three years. However, a later ad, showing a female model patting a male model on the backside, was controversial. While some praised the ad as being "playful" and representing "female self-sufficiency," others called it "sexist" and "in poor taste." Subsequent advertising in later decades featured Lauren Hutton and Cindy Crawford, with jingles sung by Little Richard. Oprah Winfrey dedicated a segment of her talk show in 2007 to discuss the impact of Charlie advertising. She stated that the ads inspired her. She wanted to be "confident and fabulous" like the "Charlie girls." Revlon's Charlie