My plans for today were to get up before the sun, and to go watch the sunrise over the Falls.  Great idea, right?

Well these were foiled by the wind storm outside that kept me awake all night by smashing my door around and making me sit straight up in bed every time I was positive the sound was someone breaking into my room.

I ended up being awake pretty early, but not early enough.

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I was at Niagara Falls in winter.   One thing I wanted to do was the Maids of the Mist tour.  This is a boat tour where you go riding around the falls, getting completely soaked as water pours all over you.

I discovered that this ride was closed in winter, which I had to concede makes total sense.  I was freezing on dry land, I am sure it was dangerous to be out on the water in this weather.

As I walked along the water, I noticed that little kiosks were closed as well.   Like with Maids of the Mist, I can understand this as they may not do enough business in the winter to stay open.

What I found odd was that Applebees is closed for the season.   If you are unaware, Applebees is a chain restaurant.  I figured it would be open for people who live in the area.   Or for people staying in my hotel, which is attached to it.  Surely that alone would be enough to stay open year round?

But where I drew the line between “understandable” and “you have got to be kidding me” was when I found the Coke machine that was closed for the season.