The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: World

Events outside the U.S.

  • Niagara Movieland Museum 2004

    I remember as a child visiting a wax museum while visiting at Niagara Falls. At that time, there was no Clifton Hill or if there was it was a normal looking area. But as a child the wax museum really fascinated me with its 3d representation of history such as Marie Antionette and movies such as the African Queen. I do not know if this is the same place, or if it evolved into this place, but I really enjoyed going through this museum and all the movies and television shows that were represented here.

    They have all the great ones, Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones, Blues Brothers, and a slew of horror movies. A worthwhile visit for sure.

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  • Niagara Ripley Believe It Or Not Museum 2004

    This is one of those tourist traps in Cliton Hills but if it is half as good on the inside as it looks on the outside it has to be great. The outside is a building that has been tipped over by King Kong who is standing on what used to be the top of the fallen building and shaking his fist triumphantly in the air. How can mere mortals resist something like this.

    The inside was legit and fun, perhaps the thing that I liked best is when you come out of one of the exhibits and there is a couple taking a picture and your first instinct is to step back and let them take the picture. After a few seconds you realize that they are very realistic mannequins and you have just been “gotcha’d” by the good people at Ripley.

    A fun place, but isn’t everything on Clifton Hill?

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  • Niagara Whirlpool 2004

    If you walk downstream far enough at Niagara you will come to a circular like lake where all the water from the falls flows into. Right in the center of this lake is a whirlpool. It looks a little like a black hole with water as it sucks everything into it. Kind of scary.

    Above this lake with the whirlpool is a trolley that travels across the lake. People wait in line to be hoisted over this lake/river/whirlpool or whatever you want to call it. I had no intention of riding it but James Mom did and she said it was a fun trip.

    Oh well,to each their own.

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  • Niagara Fun Factory Arcade 2004

    The kid is barely one year old and already his favorite place is this arcade that we pass by on our way to almost everything in Niagara. Its like they say, location, location, location. James is simply fascinated by the sounds, lights, and motion of everything going on around him. We are kind of fortunate that we can visit this time of year since most of the school kids are in school so James has the arcade pretty much to himself.

    His favorite is a Sesame Street ride with Grover and Big Bird (or is it Bert and Ernie?). He just loves it and has to ride it each time we pass by. Usually when he is in his stroller he is sleeping but not when going through this arcade, or even near this arcade.

    So its official now, James has visited his first arcade and he likes it!

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  • Barrells Over Niagara 2004

    As you walk along the falls they really just have a fence so you don’t fall in and why not, you have this beautiful wonder of nature so why would you want to look at anything else? As we were walking along we came to this little “cove” for lack of a better word and it had all these trash can looking things that had writing on them.

    At first I thought it was one of those things that get autograped, sort of a Ripley was here thing, but on closer examination I realized that these were the actual barrels of people who went over the falls in them. A sort of museum for dare devils. Some made it, some did not. Kind of a creepy testimonial to the mental giants who threw themselves over the falls in one of these contraptions.

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  • Great Wall of China 1996

    After a 15 year absence from the Orient I found myself back, this time for my work as I flew into Beijing and then went on to Chon Quin. Probably the biggest thing I learned was there was not any Chinese food in China, at least not what they have at the China Buffet in my home town.

    This was actually a visit for my work, and I spent about 10 days working but did have the one day for sight seeing and did manage to see the Great Wall of China. I remember buying the camera that took these pictures from a tourist booth and when I went to take the picture, some of them were already taken. It was a used disposable camera. I also found that everything in China is negotiable. If you go into a store in America and its marked $5 the cost is $5. If you go into a store in China and its marked $5 that’s simply where the negotiating begins. In fact, in order to close the deal and get the final 10% of the sale for my company, I had to give up the tools that I brought with me, losing them during negotiations with the Chinese Government representative.

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  • Boblo Island 1987

    Another visit to Boblo which was without a doubt one of the best days of the summer. We used to leave for Boblo on the Detroit ships, which took over an hour to get to the island (but they did have a bar and dancing for the adults, which made them very popular on the way home). As a young boy I remember stairing at the huge engine that powered the Detroit boats.

    While the Detroit boats were fun, it was a long trip and kids would eventually get bored. The adults enjoyed them because of the bar and dancing on the boat. However they did add a port in Gibraltar MI with smaller boats (similar to Mackinaw but not as fast) and all of a sudden the boat ride was only about a half hour. We certainly preferred this as it gave us more time on the island and more time to go on rides.

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  • Boblo Island 1985

    The Boblo Island event was unlike anything probably anywhere else in the world. First off it was an amusement park that was on an island so you had to take a boat ride to get there and back. Second, it was in Canada so you were actually visiting a foreign country when you came (yes there were custom booths there but I don’t remember them ever questioning anyone either going or coming from Boblo). The Boblo boat ride was in itself an event and so popular that each year before the Michigan/Notre Dame game (when it was in Ann Arbor) there would be a boat race between the two teams using two of the Boblo boats. The amusement park operated from 1898 until its closure on September 30, 1993. Its amusement rides were sold in 1994. The park was located on Bois Blanc Island, Ontario.

    When we arrived at Boblo the entire family would ride the water log ride, after that we were on our own till about 6pm when we would meet back and go on the Pirate ride (which was near the docks) before leaving.

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  • James Dad in Hokuto Japan

    Right before this trip happened, the Russians shot down a passenger jet killing all on board. This put a little political spin on this exercise at the start, but at the end it ended up being routine and uneventful. We were told our visit was the largest deployment of U.S. troops to Japan since World War 2.

    James Dad was deployed as a part of a 900 man brigade controlled Battalion task force from 9th Infantry Division to participate in a bi-lateral exercise with the Japanese ground self defense forces & United States forces from 2-21 October, 1983.

  • Niagara Falls 1982

    Where we live in the midwest there are two very popular vacation points, each about six hours apart, the first is Mackinaw and the second is Niagara Falls.

    Niagara Falls is through Canada which means a trip through customs there and back (which is why we visit Mackinaw more often, who needs a customs headache on vacation). One advantage that Niagara does have is that you can drive your car to the Windsor train terminal and take a train to Niagara, spend a few hours there, then take the train back to Windsor and be back home the same day.

    This is one of those train trips as Peg, Loretta, and Louise are making the one way trip. The train ride is fun as they make a stop and let you put pennies on the track, then the train runs over them, flattening them into souvenirs for the kids.

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