Strom Travel Diaries

Day 4 – Tuesday, October 18

We got up a little before 7:30, but didn’t really get moving until closer to 8:30. Our plan was to get some breakfast at the Starbucks in the hotel, plus some extra for Wednesday morning since we’d be leaving before they opened, and then get on our way. I had a yummy lemon poppyseed muffin, which I hadn’t had in years, and Mommy had an almond poppyseed.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Official Welcome Center (not to be confused with the Visitor’s Center, which seemed to mostly be a large food court). We went ahead and got some merch and spoke to a very nice woman about how to organize our day. She suggested we go to Goat’s Island first, then take the trolley to Prospect Point to catch the Maid of the Mist boat, and then make our way across the border to do the Journey Behind the Falls. She also suggested we try to make it down to the old power station as they had some interesting exhibits as well.

The Official Welcome Center was about a block from the bridge to Goat’s Island, so we took her advice and walked there first. Goat’s Island is between the two major parts of the falls. The American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are on one side and Horseshoe Falls is on the other. Coming from the US side, we crossed the bridge from the mainland to the island, which passed over the American Rapids. According to what our trolley driver later said, they are class 4 and would be fatal to us normal humans. From what I read later, it basically boils down to: the rapids and the fall won’t kill ya, but the landing will.

Once over the bridge, we went to the right, which took us to Luna Island, which is a tiny island between the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. After oohing and aahing there, we walked to the ticket booth for Cave of the Winds. The Cave of the Winds itself is no longer open to the public due to concerns over safety and the fact the multiple rock falls essentially destroyed it. But you can go down an elevator and then walk along various platforms that bring you right to the edge of Bridal Veil Falls. The wind and spray get intense as you get close. The deck nearest the falls is called the Hurricane Deck, though the conditions there are more comparable to a tropical storm. I was very glad I’d gotten the rain jacket for my camera!

After Cave of the Winds, we walked along the path to Terrapin Point, which is the US side of Horseshoe Falls. We definitely should have kept the ponchos from Cave of the Winds! Mom didn’t feel like getting up close and personal, so I went down to the observation area and ended up going down a secondary path by the Canadian Rapids. After collecting Mom again, we walked down to Three Sisters Islands to get a better look at the Niagara River and the Canadian Rapids.

From there we hopped on the Niagara Scenic Trolley, which took us around the lower tip of the island and back to the mainland. We were planning on getting some lunch at Prospect Point, but it turned out they were doing construction at the welcome center there, so the café was closed. We went ahead and traded in our Maid of the Mist voucher for two tickets and some postcards, then hurried to the Observation Deck for a quick view before taking the elevator down to catch the boat.

In our pink ponchos, so de rigueur, we boarded the boat and made our way to our preferred spots. I went up to the front of the top deck and Mom decided to stay downstairs. The trip itself was fairly quick, but very loud. I couldn’t hear most of the informative commentary until we were almost back to the dock. The trip went past the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls before entering the mist in front of Horseshoe Falls. And boy, was it misty! I could barely keep even one eye open! At one point my camera’s rain jacket came off and I had to scramble to put it back on.

One of the major talking points about Niagara Falls is the generation of power. Niagara was the site of the successful implementation of the production of electricity through water power and the use of Nikola Tesla’s AC generators. The Maid of the Mist boat is powered by a rechargeable battery that only takes seven minutes to recharge. The original power plants are no longer in use, but the Niagara River is still a major source of hydroelectric power for the region.

After the boat tour, we tried to find some lunch, but everywhere was either a 30-minute wait or closed. So, we went ahead and walked across Rainbow Bridge to Canada. Once there, we saw a restaurant called The Secret Garden Restaurant that was right next to the border office. We stopped there and got some soup (cream of mushroom for Mom and pasta faglioni for me) and garlic bread. And I got my spoon! Souvenir, not soup.

We walked down the waterfront, stopping to take plenty of photos, and got to the Table Rock Center at about 3:45. We found our way to the Journey Behind the Falls counter and got our tickets. The Journey Behind the Falls tunnels have been in operation, in one iteration or another, since the early 1900’s, originally with wooden walkways! Fortunately, they’d poured concrete walkways long before we got there. We donned ponchos yet again–at least all of these attractions had places to recycle the ponchos–and went to the two portals before going out to the observation deck. The portals were about ⅓ the way behind Horseshoe Falls. If you’ve ever seen an old-timey movie where they’re making it look like it’s raining by just dumping a bunch of water past a window and then throwing a bucketful at the actors every once in a while, it was like that but in real life. And much louder than in the movies.

The observation deck was immediately to the left of Horseshoe Falls, so you could see the edge of the water as it spilled over the cliff. I haven’t really said it yet, but all of the falls were absolutely incredible. Even as you see them with your own eyes, feel the sting of the spray when you get close, and hear the deafening roar, it’s difficult to comprehend the enormity of what’s occurring. One statistic that I read was that at its peak flow in the summer, enough water to fill 1 million bathtubs goes over Niagara Falls. Every. Minute. That’s…a lot of bathtubs.

After marveling at the falls some more, we walked around Table Rock Center, got some edible souvenirs (not that kind of edible!) and read some informational plaques about the building of the power station. Then we walked around more outside to enjoy the beautiful foliage and eventually made our way back towards the area of town that seemed to have all the stuff. We stopped at the statue of Nikola Tesla, which had been dedicated at his 150th birthday. We also stopped to look at some black squirrels.

We had dinner at an Italian buffet in the Sheraton hotel that had a view of the falls. Once it got dark enough, the lights were turned on on the falls and we could see some of it from the table!

Once we left dinner, we walked back down to look at the falls for a few minutes before we headed back Stateside. Of course, in Canada, just like in the US, smart people let the skunk cross the road and get well ahead of them before following. I am happy to report that we are smart people. Then it was just a matter of getting back to the hotel and warming up! Which was easier said than done. My feet were so cold, and by the time the hotel was in view I was just ready to be in bed. In my rush, I nearly took a headlong dive trying to step up onto the curb outside the lobby. Honestly, if any medical emergency was going to happen, we missed our opportunity when we crossed the border back into the States. The next day would be another early one, so after practicing my cool dance moves outside the hotel (that’s what it is if you don’t actually fall), we headed upstairs to get warm and get some sleep.