Niagara Falls! The place that conjures up notions of honeymoons and romance! Well, read on. I had researched crossing the border into Canada and read of rudeness and searches of the RV, confiscating fruits, veggies, and meat, and profiling of Texans, because everyone in Texas has guns and therefore they must be carrying one or more. So we were anxious as we got to the customs checkpoint. A very nice young lady asked only for our passports (no vehicle papers) and asked what we were going to do in Canada, whether we had alcohol, tobacco, or firearms, mace, or pepper spray, and that was pretty much it. Have a nice day! The bridge. With that behind us, we headed for Niagara Falls at 100 kilometers per hour (about 65 mph). We settled in our campground and decided to spend the afternoon exploring and finding a place on Lake Ontario to paddle our kayak. This would be our best chance to accomplish that goal. Niagara on the Lake is a place a few miles north of the city of Niagara Falls and it is on the shores of Lake Ontario. It's on of those quaint historical towns that famous people have visited and some famous people have wineries, like Wayne Gretzky and Dan Akroyd. Finding suitable access to the water was a bit of a challenge as the shoreline was mostly rocky cliffs and with limited parking. But we managed to find a pretty good place and were blessed with calm waters. Note the Canadian flag on the pole. Probably the most important thing to do here is to take the ride on the 'Maid of the Mist'. This is a boat that takes you up into the 'horseshoe' of Horseshoe Falls. First, check out the layout of the place. This tour has been operating since 1850. The power of the falls creates great clouds of spray and mist and the boat goes right up into it. Every now and then spray would come down like rain, to the delight of the crowd. That's me in the blue raincoat . Another well-known attraction is the tour behind the falls. We heard a rather ho-hum reaction from someone who had been and decided not to do it. But after the Maid of the Mist we thought, 'what the heck'. We were here so might as well. It's quite a walk up the the actual falls and on arrival found out that the earliest we could go was an hour away. So we had lunch and made a few phone calls because we could call from here without international roaming. We were also at the top of the falls. Here's a few factoids about the falls. 20% of the worlds fresh water passes over these falls, at about 40 miles per hour. Water from 4 of the Great Lakes feeds them. We were lined up at the appointed time and were fed into those 'maze' things to control lines like at most theme parks. Certain numbers were released to go to the elevators. Once at the bottom, another maze to feed us to the place to get raincoats, yellow this time. Then yet another maze to go enter the tunnels to go behind the falls. Turns out there was no organized tour, everyone wandered around on their own. Makes us wonder why there were set times to begin. Anyway, in the tunnels there were two 'portals' to view the backside of the water coming down. There was also a viewing platform outside at the edge of the falls. Then we had to wait in line again for the elevators back to the top. Overall a disappointing experience, mainly because there wasn't that much to see. Not what we expected. Niagara Falls has the high-rise hotels and a couple of casinos, and a bustling tourist area called Clinton Hill. It's more like a carnival midway with Ripley's Belive it or Not, wax museums, haunted houses and other gaudy attractions. There are a few nice shop mixed in. and at night. Many people on the streets. I don't know if this is a romantic atmosphere for young couples today, but we'd pick somewhere else. Incidentally we were there at night because we had heard that the falls were lit with colored lights. There were huge spotlights on this side aimed at the two falls. Periodically they would put red, green, or yellow filters on. Wasn't too impressive for a color-blind guy like me, but now we know.
We are ready for tomorrow, when it's time to 'shuffle off to Buffalo' (NY that is. Old timers may have heard that phrase before.) We're anxious to be back in the land of MPH, gallons, and US money. Stay tuned. Chuck
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Who We Are
Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling in their RV since 2002 and have lately been taking longer, extended trips. This is our way to share our experiences. Trip Reports
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