Advertisement
Published: August 5th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Boat Loading
Everyone who came out of the building seemed to be coated in blue. Day 25 - Niagara Falls
It's a good thing we planned to arrive at the the falls first thing in the morning. We found parking without any difficulty and headed to our first activity. The Maid of the Mist is a boat that takes people right up to the middle of the Horseshoe Falls. We didn't have to wait too long in line to get tickets or to board the boat and we were able to get spots right at the top rail in the back of the boat. The views as we passed by American and Bridal Falls were spectacular but the power of being right in the middle of Horseshoe Falls was overwhelming. Our ticket price included ankle length ponchos. On the way over Anne wondered if we really needed a poncho that long. Standing on the deck at the bottom of the falls saw like standing in an enormous shower while a box fan blows at high speed. The ponchos were definitely needed. It was really fun to see that the US boats had blue ponchos and the Canada boats had red ponchos. After we returned from the boat ride we walked up some steps that ran
Red vs Blue
The boats that operated from the Canadian side had red ponchos. right by the American Falls. Tourists and selfie-sticks were everywhere. Once we were back at the top of the falls we took a trip to see the American Falls from the top. On the way we passed that line for boat tickets. The line was now at least an hour long where before we were able to walk right through with a short wait for the elevators. After looking at the falls we headed in to the town of Niagara Falls to find something to eat. Since it was only 10:20, the restaurants were not open yet. We headed to a Park in Old Town Niagara Falls to pass the time. They had the Park setup with ping pong, foosball, and giant versions of Chess, checkers, Jenga, and connect four. Michelle played chess with a boy visiting with his family. When they finished we walked back to the Hard Rock Cafe for an early lunch. We had fun talking about all the different rock videos they played on the walls. They seem to pick the most abstract videos to play and Michelle was very confused by them all. After lunch we walked back into the park. At this point the
Taste the Rainbow
(this space intentionally left blank) lots had filled up and traffic on the streets was snarled. We were even more relieved that we had chosen to catch the first boat of the day. We were thinking about doing the Cave of the Winds tour next. The Cave of the Winds takes you right out to the base of the American Falls where you can be blown away by the power of the falls. We crossed over to Goat Island and walked out to the overlook there that lets you look down on the path the tour takes. Watching the people get soaked made us rethink our plans. As we walked the rest of the way to the ticket booth we saw the 3 hour line for tickets and decided that we didn't need to get that close to the waterfall. Instead we walked the rest of the way around Goat Island to see the top of Horseshoe Falls. The amount of water that flowed over the falls could have filled Lake San Antonio in a matter of days or even hours. By this point we were hot and tired and ready for a break. We made our way back to the car and after braving
Still dry
Hah, take that Mother Nature. the traffic jam at the US side of the Rainbow Bridge we made it back to the campground. There are several types of KOA campgrounds, each with different extras. This KOA had paddle boats to rent, two pools, one with water slides, a jump pillow, pedal carts, and an arcade. We spent the afternoon relaxing, doing laundry, swimming, getting the oil changed in the van, and remounting the DVD player. Anne and Michelle also rented one of the paddle boats and spent time paddling around the small fishing lake at the front of the KOA. After dinner we had new neighbors from Wisconsin who were headed to the Falls tomorrow. We passed on the same advice we were given yesterday and invited them to share our campfire that night. We finished the evening in good company and plan to head out to Indiana tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0893s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb