Niagara Falls (6/26/2015)

What an Excellent Adventure today was.  Niagara Falls is definitely a WOW.  So glad to finally have gotten to see this wonder!  And the weather was perfect.  What is amazing here is how close, and how involved, you get to be with the falls.  You aren't just "seeing" it, you are "experiencing" it.  We loved it.

We got a fairly early start, even though Joe defrosted the refrigerator before we left.  We got out of here about 8:30, and started our tour at the Aquarium where we purchased our set of tickets (called the "discovery pass" which saved us 36% over purchasing tickets separately for each attraction).  We didn't tour the aquarium then, but finished up here.  I did get some pictures of a sea lion outside.

Our first tour was Cave of the Winds, and we were issued shoes and yellow ponchos for this walk along the falls.  And we needed them, but they really didn't keep us dry.

All suited up!

The wooden step structure that allows you to walk right next to the falls is taken down every winter and rebuilt every spring!
We got a drenching on this walk, and walked through water flowing onto the steps, over our feet in our sandals.  We got here fairly early (before 10:00 a.m.), and it wasn't busy at all, but it also wasn't too warm yet.  The ponchos helped, but we still got pretty wet.  (Joe rolled his pant legs up, so he finally got to wear "capris")

We got a good look at the boats ferrying passenger over to the falls.  The Maid of the Mist (blue) is from the American side, and the Hornblower (red) is from the Canadian side. 

On the way back up, Joe spotted this baby seagull right next to our walkway.  It even cooperated and turned its head for him.

Joe took 233 pictures today, so I'm trying to just post a few.  Every view of the falls was breath-taking, but it was so wet on the Cave of the Wind walk that he was afraid he would get the camera soaked if he took very many pictures.  But once we got back in the dry area, he got busy.

Of course, we are always bringing up the rear (especially Joe, with the camera), so it isn't unusual to catch some of our fellow Ruskateers resting on a bench.

But we were all wandering around enjoying the views.

This is a state park, and here is a little information about the falls.  Here are some other facts from their brochure:

• About 600,000 gallons of water flow over Niagara Falls every second.

• About 20% of the drinking water in the U.S goes Niagara Falls.

• Fish actually travel over the falls and about 90% of them survive.  Experts believe that the white foam from the rushing waters cushions their fall.

Next, it was back on the trolley to our next agenda item -- a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist.  First we grabbed some lunch at the cafe at this stop, and Joe had his first $7.60 hotdog.

We were issued our blue ponchos and boarded this boat.  It is absolutely amazing how close you get to the falls.  What an experience, and what a view!

Joe thought he would try taking a photo through his blue poncho to try to keep the camera dry, but you can see it is slightly "blue."

These are shooting toward the Canadian side.

Here's just some more pictures from the boat.

  We got off the boat, then went out on the observation deck.

Then we took another little walk up the side of these falls.  More photo opps!

Observation Tower, elevator shaft down to boat ride

My favorite picture

We finished up here, then went back to watch the Niagara Falls movie in the Adventure Theater, and then some of us treated ourselves to an ice cream cone.  Then we caught the trolley back to the aquarium.  Collins and Marilyn went ahead of us (they didn't have any ice cream) and stopped in at the Discovery Center, but we skipped that in lieu of the aquarium because it was getting close to closing time.  There was a nice penguin exhibit inside the aquarium, as well as various other tanks of fish, both fresh water and salt water, coral, etc.

When we bought our tickets here this morning, we were told (and there was a sign) that the sea lion show was cancelled today because they were filling the pool.  But they must have gotten it finished, because we were able to watch the 4:30 show, which was very entertaining.  It is amazing what they can train these animals to do.

Here it is jumping up to hit the ball.

 That sea lion that started our day, outside the aquarium.

We closed down the place and headed back to the vehicles.  Dave and Mazie elected to go straight back to the campground, so Joe and I rode with Collins and Marilyn.  Collins said they were going to "drive around," and I guess "around" was the operative word because we kept ending up in the parking lots of the Falls, where we had just left.  Then we went looking for a Mexican restaurant for dinner, and after a couple of false starts (with Joe giving directions), we finally found one -- a very good one, La Galera, with cute Mexican interior design (and good chips and salsa).

One of the things we had seen driving in this morning was this "pole field."  Collins and Marilyn knew what this was, so when we saw it on the way home, Joe got pictures.  It is a "hops field," and the hops climb the wires as they grow.  They had seen these in Canada, but we didn't know  anything about them, so we learned something today.

We got back to camp about 8:00 after stopping at the office and extending here for one more day (through Sunday night).

It was an Excellent Day!  We all were in awe of Niagara Falls.