Niagara Falls - In Two Days

On August 17, we moved from Ohio to Niagara Falls, NY… well, actually North Tonawanda, NY, about 20 minutes from the actual falls. We continued to have good weather and good driving conditions. Shortly after getting set up, we signed up for tours to both sides of the falls.

On Monday, we were picked up at our campground and had a great tour guide for the American side. Our first stop was the Cave of the Winds. They give you a raincoat (say large yellow plastic bag) and non-slip sandals to wear for the tour. Both are needed as it’s very wet out there.

This is our first look at the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls from below.



See what I mean about large plastic bags?



After climbing around below these falls, we went back up to the top and walked over to the park above Horseshoe Falls. Even here you get wet from the constant mist.





I can’t imagine anyone being crazy enough to go over these falls. The amount of water rushing over is phenomenal. And half of the water from the river is diverted for electricity before it ever gets to the falls.

From there we drove out to Whirlpool Park. This is a natural whirlpool formed in the lower river basin. They told us that the direction of the swirl changes twice a day. We weren’t there long enough to tell, but it was definitely swirling around down there.



Then it was back to the falls for a ride on the Maid of the Mist. This time we were issued blue raincoats. Here we are passing the American Falls.



We couldn’t get any pictures of Horseshoe Falls from the boat as it was just too wet. The mist from that one is very thick, plus the wind was really blowing hard. But here’s another photo of the American and Bridal Veil Falls.



Notice the observation tower on the far left of that picture. That was our next stop and the view was really great.



It was after 4pm when we got back home and we were beat! But it was a great day and the vistas were awesome.

The next day, we did it all over again, but on the Canadian side. We were picked up at the campground again and eventually picked up all the others in our tour group and made it through customs into Canada.

Since we had done the Maid of the Mist the day before, we got to go into Skylon Tower. I can’t remember how tall it was, but the 360-degree views were really something. This is Horseshoe Falls with one of the boats right up close.



You can also see the dam upriver (far left) which is where the water diversion takes place.

Here’s the American and Bridal Veil Falls, which are to the left of the Horseshoe Falls.



This is the Skylon Tower from the outside. The little yellow “pod” on the side is an elevator, which is actually pretty good sized.



Our next stop was the Journey Behind the Falls. Once more we were issued lovely yellow raincoats. They take you down in an elevator and there is a large tube cut out behind the water fall. It’s pretty amazing to be standing right there with the water barreling down in front of you and hear the roar of it all. Then you can walk out to the viewing platform right beside the right-hand side of Horseshoe Falls.



You are right down at the base of the falls, here. This shot looks back across the river to the American side, including the falls, the observation tower and the Rainbow Bridge which we had taken to get into Canada earlier.



Once back on top, we had time to walk around this side of the Falls. We were just this close to the water and it was really moving fast!



They took us to Whirlpool Park, again, only on the Canadian side. It looked pretty much the same so I won’t bore you with yet another picture.

Our last stop was at the Floral Clock. It’s pretty good size and chimes at the quarter hour. We were there long enough to hear two sets and it was really pretty cool.



They change the flora in the clock twice a year. We saw post cards with several different pictures of how it has looked in the past. It was really quite interesting.

Getting back into the U.S. was really slow. Buses and tour vans have only one lane in which to get through. Once it was our turn, the border guards simply looked at each of our passports and then we were on our way.

We were the last of the group to be dropped off, and again we were pretty beat. We had a pizza delivered and just relaxed.

We left the next day, but we could see how one could spend another day or two in the area. The town of Niagara Falls, Ontario, looked really fun when we drove through it. There were lots of shops and tourist things all over. But we obviously didn’t have the time for that. Plus there are casinos on both sides. We just didn’t have the energy to go back in the evenings. And it would be wonderful to be at the falls after dark, when they are lit up. Perhaps we’ll get back again, but if not: we still had a blast!

(My apologies that none of these photos can be enlarged by clicking. I had a devil of a time getting this post done at all and that was an unfortunate by-product of my HTML edits.)