When we parked our RV near the falls, a man ran up to our window and signed, “I’m Deaf!” We thought “cool!” to ourselves because, what are the odds that we bumped into a Deaf guy in Canada? Once we started talking, however, we found out that he was Jim Brigis, owner of an ice cream shoppe just around the corner. Of course, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to chat with a Canadian Deaf business owner and check out his store! It turned out, we had parked right behind his shop and he saw our RV driving in front of his store, and our big DeafNation RoadTrip decals slapped on the RV certainly captured his attention! We all enjoyed eating some excellent ice cream at his store and chatting with him. We learned that his business is doing so well, he is looking for a second location to expand to in Niagara. He then informed us that there were five Deaf dealers at the casino right across the street. We looked at each other with greedy eyes and decided to see them for ourselves after visiting the falls!

The walk from where we parked and to the falls was a rather long one, and most of it was spent shooting video and pictures from what felt like more than 1,000 different angles and locations! We certainly couldn’t get enough of watching the beautiful falls pour millions of gallons of water every second over the cliffs. Visiting the beautiful waterfalls was truly an uplifting and inspirational experience for all of us. After we finished seeing the falls and dining at Planet Hollywood, we were ready to hit the tables.

The legal gambling age in the United States is 21, and since I am 19 years old, I have never had the opportunity to play in a casino before, so it was a fun experience for me exchanging $40 for chips. We decided that we would try and find the Deaf dealers and talk with them before we played blackjack, and sure enough, we found all three that were on duty. When we asked if we could talk with them, they all became evasive and said that cameras inside the casino were not allowed, and that they could not speak to us inside the casino without prior permission from their superiors. Since they were all wrapping up their shift, we asked if they could meet us outside for a brief interview. They all obliged and sure enough, they met us outside. The only catch was, they had asked their bosses if they could talk to us and they flat-out said NO. Pleading with them, we offered to keep their names and the name of the casino anonymous, and they still felt uncomfortable doing so, so as a result of casino policy, we are unable to share with the rest of the world what being a Deaf dealer is like. Let it be known, however, that they ARE out there, and we met three for ourselves!

The trip to the casino wasn’t a total bust, though. After failing to get our interview with the dealers, we decided to call it quits and play blackjack for a little while before leaving for Hartford. While walking around looking for an available table, we saw two Deaf people playing roulette and chucked to ourselves how they were the third group of Deaf persons we had seen all day in Niagara Falls. Just five minutes later though, we met our fourth! The table we picked had a nice Deaf couple playing cards as well and they lived in Ontario. The guy, whose name we unfortunately never got, was extremely friendly and helpful! He gave me a lot of advice as to when to hit or stay with my cards, and before I knew it, I had won $250 and Kevin had won $200! Of course, I’ll attribute my winnings to beginner’s luck, and unfortunately have to wait either another two years before I can play again unless I cross the Canadian border! After Jed had to drag me and Kevin from the blackjack tables (but we were on fire, Jed!), we cashed in our chips. Could you imagine our surprise when we found out that our $250 and $200 was really $184 and $140 in American, respectively!?! Damn the Canadian dollar! We still happily walked out of the casino, however!

We then stopped by Jim’s ice cream store once again, which was right in front of where we parked and chatted with him for another 15 minutes. We exchanged e-mail addresses and our RV began its nine hour journey towards Hartford.

Today’s Lesson Learned: The Deaf world is a small place, and it’s even smaller when you drive around in a 32-foot vehicle with DeafNation plastered across it!