Waterfalls

---

Waterfalls

This blog covers our time spent in Canada seeing the amazing Niagara falls.

A long day of flying from L.A. through Chicago and into Buffalo is how we spent the 3rd of November. Arriving in Buffalo was a pleasant surprise, the lush green landscape, the reds, yellows and oranges of the Autumn trees, the quiet upstate New York feel of the neighborhood was just the change of pace needed after the last few crazy days. I felt as though this is a place I could comfortably live if I was ever to move to the States.

We were all exhausted and Alysha and her Mum and Brother all had a cold so we decided to make tomorrow a lazy day. We hit the hay and didnt rise until around 10 the next day.

It's amazing how a good night sleep, a warm shower and a healthy-ish breakfast can recharge your spirits, we head out at around 11 to cross the boarder back to the US, where we need to be to board the Maid of the Mist. The US boarder protection officer is an extremely rough personality to say the least, their tone and questions make you feel as though you have commited a crime by requesting entry to their country, although I guess that is their job, to protect us from people with the wrong agenda.

Once back in the USA we head to the Maid of the Mist landing, the sights we get of the falls from the observation deck are already amazing, the sheer power of the water is evident as we watched the plumes of misty spray billowing up like steam from the bottom of the American Falls. We head down the elevator to the river to suit up in our souvenir, famous, blue, plastic rain coat and join the line for the next boat tour. From our pier we can see the Canadian company "Hornblower" on the opposite side of the river who has an equal line of people except all in pink, plastic rain coats. The site of the two competing companies from two countries almost compells me to begin a "U! S! A! U! S! A!" chant but I hold my tongue, I like Canada too.

The boat pulls into the dock, people shuffle off, we shuffle on. Straight to the top deck we go, I don't care how cold it is today, I am going to be in the thick of that mist and enjoy it. We chug out from the pier, enjoying the view of the American falls, crashing down to the rocks below, as we slowly putter our way towards the clouds of mist at the Horseshoe Falls. As we approach the recorded audio plays one last message, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Niagara Falls", then as if on cue the gusty wind blows a torrent of misty spray into us for the next minute or two as we edge nearer the falls.

Eventually the boat backs out, turns and returns to the landing as we are all frantically snapping the last few photos and laughing at how soaked out legs are now. Once back at the landing we return to the top of the observation deck and grab a few souvenirs from the store.

Finding a place for lunch is next on the agenda, iHop is the choice today and a good one it is because it brings the best offering I have seen all trip.. real espresso coffee. Man, oh man, I can not explain to you how much I am missing good coffee. After resisting the urge to stay in iHop all afternoon drinking their entire coffee stores, we do some shopping at the local outlet stores before heading back to watch some netflix at our accomodation.

Tomorrow we fly again, what is next on the list? The Big Apple itself, NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

Untill then,

*Ray Wave*

---

Photos

Flight from LA
Flight from LA

Falls from observation deck
Falls from observation deck.

Niagara
Niagara