Niagara Falls - 2017

 

Niagara falls

 

My wife, daughter and I left for Niagara falls on Jun 28^th, 2017. It was an overnight bus journey from New York City to Niagara Falls ( Greyhound partner – American trailways).

Reached Niagara Falls (American Side) morning jun 29^th. Freshened up at the drop point and headed towards the Niagara falls State park. The first spot that we visited was Prospect Point. That was the first view of the American falls that we saw. We took some pics. Called up home and showed the view to our parents. We had breakfast at Starbucks and then headed back to the park. We bought the discovery pass. This pass provided us access to a number of other attractions at Niagara falls. Since there was a forecast of rain, we decided to do the maid of the mist boat tour. This was an amazing ride. We had to wear blue raincoats before stepping into the boat. The boat ride takes you close to the falls. We first went to the American falls and then to the Horse shoe falls (Canadian side of the falls).  This was a really amazing sight. There was just so much water and this was relentlessly flowing. It was a short trip but a very enjoyable one. By the time the boat came to a halt, it had started raining. However, we braved the rain and ascended a small hillock that was near the boarding point for the boat tour. After doing the boat tour we took the elevator and went to the observation deck and had a different view of the falls.

After doing the Maid of the Mist tour, we took the park shuttle to go the Cave of the Winds tour. Here we were given yellow raincoats and slippers (would have helped if this was given for the boat ride as well or we should have done this tour before the Maid of the Mist tour). The cave of the winds tour takes you to the landing point of the Bridal Veil Falls on the American side. We had to walk through a wooden ramp to get close to the falls. Here, you can stand under the falls and it is as if rocks are landing on your head.

Once we were done with the Cave of the Winds tour, we stopped for lunch at Top of the Falls. The restaurant has a good view of the Horseshoe falls. Food was good and once done we headed to the Horseshoe falls and viewed the falls from the Terrapin point. After lazing around for sometime we took the park shuttle to view other attractions. The restaurant and terrapin point was situated on an island which goes by the name Goat Island. While crossing over to Goat Island, you also get to view the American rapids.

Since it was nearly 6 pm, we could not visit the Niagara aquarium and had to turn back. We decided to spend sometime at Luna Island. From Luna Island we could view the starting point of the Bridal Veil falls (at the Cave of the Winds tour, we viewed and experienced the landing point of the falls). My wife as usual clicked a zillion pics. Since it got darker, we decided to head back. We were told that there would be fireworks at 10 pm later that night. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to do watch a movie on the daredevils who tried to conquer the falls. Be ith the lady who put herself into a drum and rolled over the falls and survived to tell the tale or the trapeze artist who walked across the falls on a role with no help other than a pole. It was almost 7.45 pm when we were done with the movie. Therefore, we decided to have dinner and head back to the park. At around 9.40 pm, we headed back to the Observation deck (referred to earlier in the passage) to view the fireworks. More than the fireworks, I found the lights projected on the falls to be beautiful. Different colour filters were used to show the falls in different colours. Once the fireworks were done, we lazed around the park for sometime before retiring for the night.

We started day 2 with breakfast at Comfort Inn (the hotel that we had spent the night in) and headed to the Niagara Aquarium. This is a small aquarium and the only thing of note was the sea lion show. We also visited the Discovery Gorge center. Once we were done with this we boarded the city shuttle just to get a tour of the entire Niagara falls area. It was an hour’s drive around the city and for a major portion of the ride we were the only occupants of the shuttle. It was  pleasant drive except for the small matter of a grumpy man driving the shuttle. After the tour around the city we headed back to the park. On the 2^nd day, we did not have access to the shuttle and therefore went around everywhere by foot. We did not find any good place to eat and therefore headed back to the same restaurant where we had lunch the previous day. After lunch, we went back to Terrapin point to view the Horse shoe falls. After spending an hour or so over there, we walked to the Three Sisters Islands. Over there we could see the Canadian rapids. 90% of the Niagara river flows on the Canadian side and hence the horse shoe falls looks a lot more majestic than the American falls. Once we were done with this, we headed back to the Horse Shoe falls and spent some more time there. Around 8 pm, we decided to head out of the park, have a light meal and wait for our bus back to NYC.