Niagara Falls

Alex:
On July 30, as part of our last weekend before Laura started her pre-matriculation course (or preschool, as I liked to tease her) we went to visit Niagara Falls. It is about 1.5 to 2 hours away from here, depending on the route. On the way over, we took the scenic route along the lake, stopping at a little hot dog / burger / ice cream place in a tiny town for lunch called Brownies.

View of Lake Ontario from our car.

As we approached the Canadian border, we crossed over a dam and under an interesting looking building going over the highway. It looked like a neat place and a nice view, so we circled back and checked it out.


It was a little museum dedicated to the Niagara power station (full name: New York Power Authority Niagara Power Project Power Vista - what a mouthful!). Inside were a bunch of exhibits teaching kids about electricity and a diorama of the town. Outside was a nice view of the river and the dams on both the US and Canadian side.





































Laura:
After our stop at the Power Vista we continued up river to Whirlpool State Park. At this particular bend in the Niagara River the water gets very turbulent and generates a whirlpool.....hence the name of the park. We walked around the visitor center for a bit and looked at the whirlpool from the top of the cliffs.

WHIRLPOOL!!!!

Aero Car you can ride over the whirlpool (on the to-do list for next visit)

We also saw this interesting diagram showing how the falls have moved  up river over thousands of years due to erosion of the underlying rocks.

Click to Enlarge....far right = falls thousands of years ago....far left = falls current location. Pretty cool!

After viewing the whirlpool from the cliffs, we decided to follow the trail signs for a path that led down to the river's edge. These signs lured us in with promises of "easy skill level" and short distances.....this was a lie!!! The easy part was the path leading to the treacherous stone staircase that wound back and forth while descending 300 ft down to the river. CRIKEY!!!! Here we are walking down the stairs......

The further and further we went down the stairs, the more and more worried we were that we wouldn't be able to make it back to the top. There were so many steps and everyone hiking back up was  in incredibly good shape, wearing Camel Back water bags, and surprisingly out of breath! Not good.....despite these bad omens we carried on and finally made it to the bottom!!!

After a short rest at the bottom of the stairs (during which we consumed the last of our water supply), we started to head back up the stairs....slowly but surely.....

 

Despite our exhaustion, we finally made it back to the top! We went back to our cars to grab a snack and then take some time to recover from our epic hike. Next time we will definitely bring more water!!!!

Fully revived thanks to clementines and Cheez-its we continued on our journey to actually see the falls and crossed over into CANADA!!!!! The board crossing was an interesting experience because 1) I had to dig my passport out of the trunk right in front of the border patrol officer because I had forgotten to get it out and 2) the officer asked a suprising number of questions before letting us into Canada....do you have an items to declare....where are you from.....why does your passport say Missouri.....what do you do for a living....sir....ma'am.....why are you going to Canada.....how do you know each other....yada yada YADA!!!! Luckily we passed the test and were allowed to enter the country in one piece.

We drove around for a bit trying to find parking and finally settled on a state park lot that had a free shuttle to take you up and down the main drag near the falls....also the shuttles were called "People Movers" so we had to do it! LOL. After hitching a ride on the people mover we saw our first glimpses of the falls......

Alex:
There are a lot of rapids leading up to the falls, and then from behind the falls all you can see is the water disappearing into a giant cloud of mist.

All kinds of crazy rapids

Approaching the falls

Because we took the scenic route and stopped several times for various activities, we arrived in the evening as the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky.  So once we got in front of the falls there was a sweet rainbow from the sun setting behind us.

Sweet panoramic view

Alex took lots of really great pictures! If you want to see the rest, just come visit it us in Rochester. We can give you a slide show presentation or actually take you to see Niagara in person!!!!!

Someone was nice enough to take a picture for us!

This particular green water bottle has now been photographed in Belize, Mexico, Florida, and now at Niagara Falls!

Laura:
We walked around the edge of the falls for a little while, but the immense crowds and sweltering heat (86*F....pretty hot for this region, and the mist/humidity made it even balmier) kept our visit pretty brief. Just enough time to enjoy the falls and plan out what we want to do the next time we visit: ride the Maiden of the Mist, go during a less crowded weekend (Alex: it was a Canadian holiday so everyone in all of Canada was out visiting the falls during their extended weekend), visit during the fall to see the leaves change (per the suggestion of a park ranger), wear appropriate hiking gear for paths along river, possibly park in America and walk over to Canadian side to save time & money on parking in Canada, ride the AeroCar over the Whirlpool.

After driving around on the Canadian side searching for food (EPIC FAILURE due to non-updated GPS, lack of parking at existing restaurants, and very crowded streets), we headed back to the United States and had a tasty meal at a little Indian restaurant. We left Niagara pretty late, so we decided to take the quick way home to Rochester, i.e. driving on more direct toll roads instead of taking the backwoods scenic route. See map below....

All-in-all, we had an excellent time! It was really great to see this natural wonder in person and we definitely plan on going back....especially if we have out-of-town friends who want to go while they're visiting....hint....hint!


Finally, for your viewing pleasure.....

~THE LORAX~