Niagara Falls, eh? (Ontario)

I know of only two people east of the Mississippi who hadn’t been to Niagara Falls yet—Kris and me. It was high on our list of regional see-sights to sightsee, so we sallied forth to see it, or them, as a main course of our four-day, mid-October New York adventure. Mostly New York. Friends insisted the views were better on the Canadian side so we booked a Motel 6 there for two nights and I got my expired passport renewed in the nick of time. We burned up so much of Day 1 (October 12) at the Corning Glass Museum (below) that we ended up arriving at the M-6 after dark, which turned out to be just fine. The evening was still warm and the walk over to the thunderous falls was a perfect way to stretch out the car legs. We passed through the amusement mecca of Clifton Hill and descended to the river, where a wide promenade passes along the rim of the gorge to the falls. Arriving at night seemed to be a pretty special way to first experience the famous falls. One could almost sense one vast Great Lake falling into another.

We returned to the gorge in the morning and bought our tickets for the Maid of the Mist, a not-be-missed boat ride to the base of the falls. We put on our freebie, pink rain ponchos (for Breast Cancer Awareness Day) and boarded the Mist. Ten minutes later, we were in the actual midst of the mist, a roaring, swirling, churning spectacle that would clearly be the highlight of the entire visit. Kris cleverly renamed the boat the Damsel of the Drench, and she looked like one too. For that matter, so did I.

Clifton Hill.

You'll have to imagine the roaring sound.

Rapids downriver.

Aboard the Maid of the Mist.

Damsel of the Drench.

 

The rest of the day, cloudy and cooler now, was spent walking along paths near falls and rapids, visiting a so-so tunnel view behind the falls, the platform in blowing spray below, the cool, cozy restaurant above, and otherwise puttering around the Canadian side of Niagara marveling at the excess of casinos jutting skyward (as if the falls were not entertainment enough). We took an evening drive over to Niagara on the Lake for some last minute browsing and a dinner downtown.

The next morning's mist.