Niagara Falls

It turns out that we live within driving distance of Niagara Falls, and we've always intended to go. We decided that we should make a quick trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. (Of course, we'd started celebrating with our big Disney trip in May, but it seemed like we ought to do something a bit closer to the actual date, July 23).

Given my teaching schedule, we were a bit limited in when we could go, so we decided to leave first thing on Friday morning, 7/25 and head home on Saturday, 7/26 in the late afternoon. Geographically, we are near the southwest corner of Lake Erie, and Niagara Falls is between the northeast corner of Lake Erie and the southwest corner of Lake Ontario, on the border between the US (New York) and Canada (Ontario). We decided to drive along the north side of Lake Erie, through Canada, to get there, then come back home along the south side in the US to get home. It's only about 5-5 1/2 hours away!

Our border crossing into Canada from Detroit went smoothly, and we even caught a glimpse of Lake Ontario on the road. When we got to Niagara Falls, we checked into our hotel, this lovely Holiday Inn (on the Canada side). We had two pleasant surprises--a balcony and no daily parking charge!

The bathroom had a sink inside the shower/toilet room,
too--a great feature!

view from the balcony--the falls are right behind those buildings

another angle from the balcony

After checking in, we walked down this lovely street toward the falls. It's a really busy area, but nicely maintained. This was around 3pm.

What a view! These are the "American Falls"

and these are the "Horseshoe Falls"

the mist causes rainbows everywhere

The blue and white boat under the rainbow is the Maid of the Mist, which departs from the American side of the falls. It takes passengers right up close to both the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls (wearing ponchos for protection from the mist). We rode the boat the next morning, and it was awesome! I don't have any pictures of that part, though, because I wanted to keep the camera protected from all the moisture. :-)

 The photo above was taken in our favorite part of the Canadian side, right behind where the Horseshoe Falls drop down. It's so cool to watch the choppy water even out and fall over the edge.

This is the Table Rock welcome center.
We bought some souvenirs in the gift shop here--
a key chain for Mark and some tea for me.

close up of the American Falls. The smaller waterfall
on the right side is called Bridal Veil Falls.

Canada!

After taking in the views, we stopped at a Hershey store for a snack--we split the chocolate chip with butter cream cookie sandwich.

Along the way, there are also some beautiful gardens.

And, we decided to walk along the Rainbow Bridge which connects the US and Canada. The next morning, we drove along this bridge to cross the border.

At the border--I love the way the ladies
who happened to be behind me here
played along!

On the left is the US side observation tower and Maid
of the Mist dock. Along the right/top, the skyline on
the Canada side. Most of those tall buildings are hotels.

More of the gardens...

Besides the views of the Falls and the gardens, the Canadian side has a really commercial vibe. There are tons of hotels, restaurants, shops, and so on. One area we explored is called Cliffton Hill. This place was bizarre! I can't really think of how to describe it, but it reminded us of a carnival--lots of activities and attractions, but all a bit weird or over the top. We didn't spend any money here, but having read about it, we thought we ought to check it out.

a dinosaur themed mini-golf course

Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum

Ahh...back to the gardens! This rose garden must have been lovely when the bushes were in full bloom.

some Canadian money

As soon as we started planning this trip, we realized that it might get kind of pricey. Initially, we thought we'd like to stay in a falls view hotel, but we decided that would be too expensive. Instead, we picked out falls view restaurants. For dinner on Friday night, it was the Keg steakhouse in the Embassy Suites hotel on the Canada side. The view wasn't quite what we'd hoped (especially since we were several rows back from the window), but it was still a nice meal, and we got a free dessert for our anniversary.

view from our table

with the zoom on the camera :-)

my iceberg wedge salad

steak dinners--we should have split!

At night, the falls are illuminated with colored lights (projected from the Canada side). There are also fireworks several nights each week, and we were able to catch those as well (though I didn't take any pictures). This night viewing of the falls and fireworks was the most crowded part of our experience on either side of the falls.

The next morning, we got up early, checked out of the hotel, had breakfast, and drove across the Rainbow Bridge to the US side, where we planned to spend the day exploring the state park. At the state park, they offer a package called the "Discovery Pass" which gives a discount admission to five attractions: Maid of the Mist/Crow's Nest, Cave of the Winds, Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, Niagara Legends of Adventure Theater, and the Aquarium of Niagara. We did all five, though the first two were definitely the highlights, and it turned out to be good that we did them first thing in the morning, because the crowds and lines definitely grew throughout the day.

view from the observation tower

As I mentioned before, we didn't take pictures on the Maid of the Mist or the Crow's Nest, a staircase that takes people up close to the left side of the American Falls, but we really enjoyed it. If you ever head up to Niagara, Maid of the Mist is a must-do. I did pull out my camera for the Cave of the Winds, which takes people down to explore the area on the right side of the falls, near Bridal Veil Falls.

On our way to lunch, we stopped at a few view points. No matter the angle, the falls sure are beautiful!

We had lunch at the Top of the Falls Restaurant, and this time we got a window seat! It was also much quieter and less crowded than the Keg, so we enjoyed it more. And, we remembered to split a meal!

Buffalo chicken wrap

A trolley voucher also came with the Discovery Pass,
so we rode a couple of times.

The next group of photos are from the newly renovated Three Sisters Islands area. These are three islands just a bit upriver from the Horseshoe Falls.

Here we are at Terapin Point, overlooking the back of the Horseshoe Falls.

This area is called Luna Island; it's between the American and Bridal Veil Falls.

Bridal Veil Falls and Cave of the Winds below

After taking in all these amazing views, we saw the Legends of Adventure Theater film, which highlights some of the legends and famous stories of the falls. It was good to see once, but not something we'd feel the need to do again if we went back.

Then we walked over to the Discovery Center, which had a pretty lame video, and some educational displays. It was okay, but not particularly impressive to us.

After some deliberation, we decided to go to the aquarium, too. It was much more interesting than the Discovery Center, but, as far as aquariums go, fairly small. We did catch the penguin feeding and part of a show with sea lions and a seal, though.

This one's for you, Mom Cook!

After all that, it was 4pm, and we needed to get on the road. Other than some rain for the last half of the drive, it was a smooth trip, and we were back just after 10pm.

All in all, this was a wonderful whirlwind tour of Niagara Falls. If you haven't been, you should definitely try to go sometime--it's something to see! We think it would be cool to see the area in a different season, so maybe we'll make another trip one of these days.