Off to Niagara Falls!
It was a short 20 minute drive from the campground to Niagara Falls. A quick look at what we had to choose from led us to choose the Discovery Pass; one price and we get tickets to everything and a full day pass for the trolley.
Now where to begin. We started at the visitors center where we bought our tickets. A walk to the Observation Tower and we were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty and the majesty. The falls are enormous!
We walked out to the Observation Tower and could better see the American Falls and the smaller Bridal Veil Falls. We could only just see Horseshoe Falls in the distance.
Down the elevator to the Maid of the Mist after getting our ponchos. The Maid of the Mist is a boat ride out to the falls. They go in front American Falls, then right into the pool at Horseshoe falls. You can barely see the top of the falls, partly because of all the mist, but also because they are so far away.
After Maid of the Mist, we stopped by the van to drop off some sweaters and get some lunch. We took a walk to the Niagara Discovery Center. Interesting presentations of the geologic history of the Niagara Falls area.
A quick walk across the street to the Niagara Aquarium. Interesting place for an aquarium. It's a smallish aquarium with. The biggest tank is for the California Sea Lions. Go Figure. We watched the Sea Lion Demonstration and then a little magic show for the kids.
We walked back over the the Discovery Center to catch the trolley for a long ride over to Goat Island. Goat Island is an island in between the two falls. What luck! There was no line for the Cave of the Winds tour. For the Cave of the Winds we get ponchos and also sandals. I guess they expect that you're going to get a bit wet. We changed our shoes and walked out to the elevators. Down 125 feet and out through a tunnel to the bottom of the falls.
The walkway for the Cave of the Winds is torn down and rebuilt every year. Otherwise they would be crushed under about 50 feet of ice in the winter. Cave of the Winds is amazing. You get right up close to the American Falls and right under Bridal Veil falls. The kids had a blast with the Hurricane Deck. Sam and Jo got soaked!
We left the Cave of the Winds tour, hopped on the trolley and headed back to the visitors center for the IMAX Niagara Legends of Adventure movie.
After the movie it was past dinner time, so we walked this time over to Goat Island to Top of the Falls Restaurant. The pedestrian bridge to Goat Island goes over the American Rapids.
We had a nice dinner at Top of the Falls while overlooking the other side of Goat Island, the Canadian Rapids and Horseshoe falls.
Once night fell, they illuminate the falls. Giant spot lights from across the falls light up the falls. It's quite beautiful. They also have lights on the American Rapids.
Whew! A long long day with lots of walking. Back to the campsite and to bed.
We are headed to Johnson City, NY in the morning!
You can see even more pictures of Niagara Falls in our Niagara Falls Photo Album.
