Niagara Falls

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Hi All,

Just had an amazing couple of days at Niagara Falls. Weather was bright and sunny but cold, -1. We had a long drive there, 7 hours in all, but a nice drive. Partly through the green mountain national forest and then on to the Interstate. At one point we stopped at Hogback Mountain for the wonderful 100 mile view and stepped out onto snow. Dave completely unprepared and in shorts! We went over to the Canadian side of the Falls as we had heard the views were better from there and they were! For those of you who have not been there we have to say it is a very unusual place. On the one hand you have the natural phenomena of the Falls and the Niagara River in all its glory. On the other hand you have the tackiness that has been built up around it on both sides of the border in the shape of hotels, casinos and restaurants. Look past that though and you see what everyone goes there to see which is the sheer volume of water that pours down the two major falls of Bridal Veil (American) and Horseshoe (Canadian). And if you are daft enough to get into the tourist boats, don a poncho and get soaking wet anyway, you will be treated to the most fantastic rainbow scene through the mist from the falls and hear nothing but the thunderous sound that comes from all that water. Further along the river you can see very very fast white water rapids(class 6, the best apparently) and read about the brave/mad men and women in the past who have taken part in astounding stunts including going over the falls in a barrel (sometimes surviving and sometimes not) or tightrope walking across them. You can also go through narrow tunnels behind the falls and see through gaps in the rock the torrents of water coming down. We had no idea we would be able to get so close! We stayed a couple of nights so we had a whole day there and it was fun and as you can see from the photos (just a very small selection of the many we took) it was spectacular.

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