Niagara Rocks!

Sunday, August 6…

Seahawk sandals!

Back in March of 1965 I spent a week in Buffalo (NY) visiting a college classmate. I vividly remember singing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious after watching Mary Poppins, wandering through a fabulous modern art show, and gazing at the frozen fantasy surrounding Niagara Falls. All that sparkly white was beautiful, but the falls we experienced today were so much more than beautiful. 

We started with IMAX images from the early days of Niagara tourism, including Annie Taylor, the teacher who celebrated her 63rd birthday by rolling over the falls in a mattress-padded barrel. Then we donned sandals and yellow ponchos, took an elevator down about 175’, and followed a wooden walkway to the “hurricane deck,” a platform just a few feet from the torrents of water (76,000 gal/sec) plunging from the river above. The boulders strewn at this level date back to serious rock falls in 1931 and 1954. The falls themselves are about 12,000 years old (in other words, geologic infants 😊).

So you take the elevator down 175', then walk back up (maybe 30')
to a platform where you feel both the spray and the "wind" created
by the force of so much falling water.

Clouds, mist, spray, wind, and the roar of rushing water,,,
 who could ask for anything more?

At this point you really feel like you're in the falls.

The water to the right is Bridal Veil Falls,
which is what we've been under/beside.

Shedding our ponchos (which are recycled), we grabbed some lunch and then headed for the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Blue ponchos this time (and this time we really needed them). No sandals, tho – I was glad I was wearing my Croc flats. Needless to say, the water was extremely choppy, and there was also a pretty stiff wind, but the views – especially of the Canadian horseshoe falls – are spectacular. Not the tiniest visual hint of the rapids leading to the falls – just massive walls of water powering into the basin below. Truly awesome. I’d rank Niagara right up there with the Grand Canyon. 

Poofy ponchos & the American Falls

Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls 

Peaceful flow northward into Lake Ontario (calm after the storm 😃)

After a quick stop at the observation tower (really nothing new about these views), we returned to the car and drove north to Lockport to visit the Erie Canal Museum (a local venue, but very well done). We enjoyed the interactive video, checked out the exhibits, and then wandered out to the current locks.

Replica boat in original lock.

Erie Canal, also flowing toward Lake Ontario

BlogThought...  Niagara Falls is always a busy place. I don't think it was super-crowded today, but there were still a lot of people from lots of different places. A couple times, tho, I found myself wondering if there are any Indians left in India. Some spoke English, others their local dialect. Beautiful children. Familiar family interactions. Gorgeous fabrics (the saris). Maybe, like parts of Europe, everyone has the same vacation block and this was the year to visit the U.S. (I heard lots of other languages too - not quite as many/often as in NYC, but I remember looking around once while we were waiting for elevators and thinking Greg & I might be the only Yanks in the group.)

Blue Ants...

Yellow ants...

Red Ants (Canadian side)

Classic Niagara