Day 4 ~ Niagara Falls!

The day began with a delicious breakfast at our hotel, followed by a 200 mile drive!
We were happy to make the drive, though, for it would enable us to finally see Niagara Falls!

The beautiful Ohio landscape

 

I was astonished at just how hilly Pennsylvania was! I am not usually prone to carsickness, but the continual ups and downs of the surroundings made me dizzy to such an extent that I had to just go to sleep to keep from feeling sick!

 

We drove alongside Lake Erie the entire morning. It was incredible to look out the lefthand windows and catch glimpses of this vast expanse of water, and to be driving alongside it for the full 200 miles between Cleveland and Buffalo, and to realize that it was not an ocean but was just a lake! The Great Lakes always seemed so much smaller on the map...

We arrived in Niagara, got into the parking lot after a brief mixup at the ticket booth, got out of the van, and headed to the visitors' center. We then made our way to the lines for the Maid of the Mist and the Falls!

The INCREIBLE view from the bridge on the way to the elevator:

Walking out onto the bridge was a bit overwhelming for some of us... it was entirely unexpected to suddenly be so high up! And right there, over to the lefthand side, was - NIAGARA FALLS!!! The powerful rushing sound of the cascading water... the strong wind being generated by it... the vast view all around... the dizzying height, and the little specks of blue-clad folks down below... WOW!!!

 

We took the elevator down to the bottom of the falls to go on the boat tour titled "The Maid of the Mist".

We were all given blue plastic ponchos... Dad said it looked like we were at a convention of Dollar Store Jedis!

The ship started, and our fifteen-minute ride began!

The American Falls

The "mist" began fairly soon after we started. I put "mist" in quotes because it was more like a strong rainstorm, but without the lightning and with a different sort of thundering sound!

 

The American Falls cascading down!

 

Moving onward...

To Horseshoe Falls! The water was absolutely beautiful!!!

It was this lovely sea-green color with white swirls of foam all around... simply spectacular!

 

 

The bridge to the beautiful country of Canada...

After the Maid of the Mist tour, some of us went on a little walkway thingie, right up next to the American Falls!

Unfortunately, there was far too much water to get any decent pictures; indeed, I couldn't even see anything but gusts of wet grayness! Still... it was AWESOME!!!

Then we went to this lovely shaded grassy place by the top portion of the river!

There were lots of squirrels and gulls all around for watching -

or, as the brothers preferred, for chasing!

 

Photos from the Observation Tower:

NIAGARA FALLS!!!

Notice the little things floating in the water; those are the Maid of the Mist ships, 

each of which holds about two hundred people!

 

A modified photo of the river spilling over the edge towards Canada.

This neon outline thing is a pretty neat effect!

We returned to the park around 9:30 or 10 that evening to see the falls all lit up!

The photos are nowhere near as incredible looking as the actual sight itself, but it was fantastic!

 

Canada... I hope to visit it someday, eventually!

We ate some icecream on the way back to the hotel, and upon our arrival there,

promptly crashed into bed!