Niagara Falls with Mom & Dad G

Last week, we had a great adventure with my parents, who met us in Niagara Falls for a few days. They had been travelling for a couple of weeks to a few cities in New England, and they made this their last stop. Neither of them had been to Niagara Falls before, so Mark and I got to be tour guides, and we had so much fun, revisiting some of our favorite places and doing some new things, too.

We picked them up at the train station late on Sunday afternoon, then, after checking in to the hotel, went for NY style pizza at a place that was on our way to the falls. We took a quick look at some views from the US side, then walked across Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian side, where we walked all the way up to Table Rock, taking in the views. After all that walking, we tried to find some ice cream, but the place Mark and I have gone before was closed! (We learned we were there during shoulder season, so some places still had limited hours). We found another place eventually, and after our snack break, we went back to the falls to see the illumination and fireworks. It was a late night, but we saw a lot for the first day!

  

On Monday, we focused on exploring the US side, starting with the Cave of the Winds, which is a series of steps and platforms right next to/below Bridal Veil Falls. There's a spot called the Hurricane Deck, which I think might have been Mom & Mark's favorite thing on the whole trip. You can stand right under the edge of the falls--it's pretty intense. Hard to get pics, though, with all the water and mist. After that, we took in some more views and had lunch at Top of the Falls, Mark's and my favorite restaurant in the area. After lunch, we explored the other view points on Goat Island and walked over to the Three Sisters Islands. Then we walked back to the Observation Tower, took the elevator down, and climbed up the Crow's Nest, another place to get a view of the falls from up close at the bottom. By late afternoon, we'd walked pretty much every path in the US state park! So, we walked back to our hotel, and drove up to the Discovery Center, where we walked a little bit of the Gorge Trail. Then we had dinner at a hotel restaurant near, but not in, our hotel, and called it a night. I think we wore ourselves out, clocking over 20,000 steps!

baby seagulls

those yellow spots are people in ponchos at
Cave of the Winds, where we were earlier

local fish and chips

out on Three Sisters Island, looking at the Niagara River

at the top of Goat Island

baby geese

the path leads to the Crow's Nest

on the Observation Tower

the Observation Tower from below

Mark climbing to the Crow's Nest

The next day, we focused on the Canadian side, staring with a leisurely morning walk from our hotel to Rainbow Bridge, then through all the beautiful gardens in the Canadian park between the bridge and Table Rock. Then we went to Journey Behind the Falls, where we took an elevator down to get an up-close look at the Horseshoe Falls, including some tunnels that go behind the falls (we saw the backside of water! :-). Then we looked through the shops at the Welcome Center and had lunch there at Horseshoe Patio Landing, an outdoor cafe with great views of both falls. After lunch, we took the WeGo bus up to the White Water Walk, a boardwalk along the river next to class 6 rapids (that's the highest class there is). The sound and size of those waves was pretty amazing--and totally not passable (no one's tried since the 70s, and that raft/boat only made it 10 seconds, and a bunch of people didn't survive...). Then we took the bus a bit further to the Niagara Glen park where we could see more views of the gorge as well as the whirlpool. We took the bus back to Rainbow Bridge and walked around more of the shops there, slowly making our way back up toward the falls. We had a fancy dinner at Queen Victoria Place Restaurant, with great views, especially of the American Falls. After dinner, we took a bit more time to enjoy the views, and strolled back across the bridge and back to our hotel.

back at Table Rock, looking at the Horseshoe falls from the side

views from lunch on the patio

views from lunch on the patio

the tunnel leading to the White Water Walk

the Gorge, from Niagara Glen

the Whirlpool

power plant

just waiting for the bus...

Queen Victoria Place--our fanciest meal

On Wednesday morning, we had our last breakfast together at the hotel before dropping Mom & Dad off at the airport and driving ourselves back to BG. It was so fun to share a place we love with some people we love, and we enjoyed the chance to catch up and spend some quality time together. Thanks again, Mom & Dad!