NIAGARA FALLS

Tuesday, September 11

Today we drove from Parry Sound through the natural beauty of the Canadian countryside, along the Georgian Bay of Lake Ontario.  Many of the roads are cut through walls of granite rock so when the sun shines on the rock it looks like diamonds sparkling, and the colors and patterns in the granite are like works of art.

The lines in the granite are from the drills that made room for the dynamite to blast the rock.

We drove south toward Toronto; a large modern city with spaghetti like freeways, many under construction and jammed with traffic.  Jim's knuckles turned white and I had all I could do from not gasping and screaming while fast driving, tailgating, aggressive, inconsiderate maniac drivers cut us off and wouldn't let us move over to the traffic lane we needed to be in.  With Jim's magnificent driving skills, we managed to get out of Toronto without getting lost or having an accident.  Whew!

Since it was September 11th, we didn't know if there would be extra security at the border.  The border crossing out of Ontario into Lewiston, NY was uneventful and it felt good to be back in the U.S.A.

We are camping for a few days at Lockport, NY which is located about 20 min. east of Niagara Falls.  This is a farming area with many vegetable stands, as well as acres and acres of grapes growing in the developing vineyards.  (More about Lockport in a future blog.)

Wednesday

Today we drove down to Buffalo, NY (home of Buffalo Wings) and crossed the U.S./Canadian border at Fort Erie, Ontario, then took the Niagara Parkway north along the Niagara River.  I read in a tour book that Winston Churchill once said "This is the prettiest Sunday drive in the world".  I think he exaggerated a bit, but it was nice.  We arrived in Niagara Falls, Ontario which has to be one of the most beautiful areas I've seen.  Not only are there spectacular views of the Falls, but the parks, gardens and flowers are incredible, as well as the architecture of the buildings near the Falls.

These are the gardens leading up to the Park Police Station.  The park gardens here have to be seen to be appreciated.

The falls on the left are the AMERICAN FALLS and the small fall on the right is the BRIDAL VAIL FALLS.  The buildings in the back ground are in Niagara Falls, NY.

These mammoth falls are called HORSESHOE FALLS. 

We took the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour. After going down 14 floors in an elevator and donning our fashionable yellow plastic ponchos, we stepped out into a tunnel that led the way to a platform where we stood under Horseshoe Falls.  We could feel and hear the thundering roar of the water coming over the falls in front of us.  It felt like we were standing in a rainstorm.  I wanted to take some pictures, but there was too much water spray and I decided it wasn't worth ruining my camera.

Our next tour was a boat ride on "The Maid of the Mist".  This time we donned fashionable blue ponchos and stood on the top deck as the boat went up the Niagara River past the American Falls and Bridal Vail Falls to the base of Horseshoe Falls.  As we got closer to the base of Horseshoe Falls, the "mist" turned in a torrential downpour.  Experiencing the power, and listening to the roar of all that water dropping 173 feet was amazing.  During the peak flow, an incredible 202,000 cubic feet of water per second goes over these falls.

I think Blue is his color!

Rainbow Bridge in the background; to the right are the American Falls, and further right is a small part of Horseshoe Falls. In the center of the picture you can see "The Maid of the Mist" just coming out from under a rainbow.