Not Only Niagara Falls!

...so will your hair, so don't even waste time doing it. That's my tip for your day at Niagara Falls.

We had spectacular sunshine for our day at the falls and it was wonderful. We parked the bbow on Goat Island and walked out to Terrapin Point that overlooks Horseshoe Falls. The water literally thunders over the falls, and the farther out on the point you walk the wetter you get...but it's worth the wet.

There is an adventure passport you can purchase which included the major attraction sites and includes trolley transportation so we opted for that. When we purchased them ti was recommended that we start with Cave of the Winds so we walked there first. You are handed a clear thin rain poncho, a most interesting pair of sandals in your shoe size, and a plastic bag for your shoes. After changing you ride a 175' elevator to the base of Bridal Veil Falls where you walk on a series of wooden stairs and decks along the base of the falls. One of the decks takes you just a few feet from the pounding falls and there you will get pounded. It's amazing to be that close. Something in you just has to do it. Lucky you - you get to keep your interesting sandals.

Our next stop was for the Maid of the Mist tour where you board a bloat that takes you right up to both the American and Canadian Falls. To get to the boat you start on the Observation Tower which gives you a spectacular and dramatic 230' look out over the water below. My favorite part is standing up there and seeing the line of people walk our from the elevator into a small building and all walking out the other side of the building blue. In that small building you are given a blue rain poncho to wear on your boat ride. It just looks so funny from up above.

Gone are the heavy blue rain coats they use to hand out and now you are given a thin blue one that you can keep. The wind was really blowing quite hard and once the boat was moving it kept wanting to whip right up. At some point I decided to tie the bottom of mine together to keep it covering my shorts. Taryn was having trouble with hers too so I showed her and she proceeded to gather hers and tie it together like mine. Next thing I know the lady standing behind Taryn is laughing and pointing down. Taryn had accidentally grabbed that woman's blue poncho instead of the back of her own and had tied herself to that poor woman. It was so funny. That lady was from India and couldn't speak a word of English but she sure had a laugh over that.

After some lunch we decided to take in the new IMAX movie called "Niagara: Legends of Adventure". It sounded good on paper but was a great disappointment showing history assumed from legend. When it finally got to some actual recorded history it was better but certainly it was not what we expected.

The Discovery Center was also a great disappointment in the same way - very little actual history when there is so much interesting history of the Falls to tell. What a waste! Outside there was a rock wall for Taryn to climb and she enjoyed the challenge of that.

We decided to take the trolley back to Goat Island to enjoy the narration. It was close to the end of the day and the Trolleys were so packed with people that we wished we had walked. The paths along the water are just so amazing and close to the rapids and falls that I encourage choosing them whenever possible.

We made it back to the "resort" in time for one more swim. This pool is completely round which is something I haven't seen before. Packed up as much as we could to make our morning easy so we can exit quickly in the morning. Another big drive day ahead.