Wow, it’s been awhile. Is anyone still reading anything over here?
Drew and I are still here. Doing well, still loving married life and each other. We just recently returned from a trip to Niagara Falls. It was lovely.
We had a hotel room on the top floor a couple blocks from the falls. Beautiful view.
We had Tim Horton’s everyday for breakfast. Coffee and fruit explosion muffin. Yum.
The Falls are pretty touristy. Wax museums of every kind filled the streets.
We skipped all that.
Our first day we visited Niagara on the Lake, a quaint and quiet town on Lake Ontario. We found a park bench and just sat and enjoyed the quiet.
We drove around and explored, marveling at the amount of wineries in the area. We pulled into one, which was really just a small shop that sold fruity wines. We sampled some, and walked out with a bottle of spiced apple.
We kept driving, and found a park at the top of the hill. We stopped and had lunch at a little restaurant that overlooked the water.
Then we ventured over and checked out Brock’s Monument. The towering monument is what drew us up the hill in the first place.
We ventured into the bottom of the monument and discovered that we could climb to the top. I asked Drew if he wanted to do it. His response? “Of course!” We excitedly paid our $9 and awaited our turn to ascend.
Halfway up, Drew panted, “Whose dumb idea was this???” The spiraling staircase was incredibly cramped (Drew hit his head at the top) and dizzying. The top was pretty cramped too, and the view was only visible through caged windows. Were they worried someone was going to climb through the tiny portholes and jump?
The kids that were climbing behind us (much faster than we were, I might add) commented when they arrived at the cramped top: “We just paid to exercise!” It’s all about the experience, kiddos.
The way down was slightly terrifying, as the steps were pretty narrow. One wrong move, and I could have slid down the rest of the way.
The next day, we were planning on doing all the touristy things we wanted to do: the boat ride and a walk behind the falls. So of course it rained.
Click here to see a video of the rain
It was peaceful to watch for awhile, especially up so high. We could see the clouds moving in for miles. But then I got restless. I was ready to explore!
Finally there was a break in the rain, so we grabbed our stuff and walked down to the falls. We got our ticket for The Hornblower, the Canadian boat tour. We were informed by the hotel that The Maid of the Mist had been sold to the Americans. The Hornblower was the better of the two tours. Watching their routes from above, they seemed identical.
We received our complimentary ponchos and climbed aboard. Drew immediately sought shelter behind the plexiglass. I embraced the poncho, while Drew shoved his in his pocket.
My iPhone was in a ziploc bag, to protect it from the mist and water. Most of my pictures are a little… drippy.
We floated past the American Falls, which are pretty “meh” when compared to the Canadian Horeshoe Falls. But they’re still beautiful, especially up close and personal.
Click here for video of American Falls
We continued to float along, getting wetter and wetter the closer we got to the Horseshoe Falls.
Water logged video of underneath Horseshoe Falls
So beautiful.
We got off the boat and decided to hang onto our ponchos, as the rain clouds had begun to reform. We started to walk toward The Journey Behind the Falls. It started to pour. Our ponchos came in handy. Drew is referring to that day as “The day I tried to give him pneumonia.” We decided to keep going, since we were probably going to be getting wet again behind the falls anyway.
We took an elevator down I can’t remember how many meters with a dude that didn’t seem like he got out much. When we reached the bottom, we hiked through a variety of tunnels and arrived at some small portholes that were drilled directly behind the falls.
Then we walked back through the tunnels to a platform directly next to the falls. Standing directly next to the powerful falls is pretty cool. Plus, rainbows!
We climbed back in the elevator with the same awkward dude, then walked back to the hotel, sloshy shoes and all.
We then got ready for our dinner at Skylon’s revolving dining room. This was the only part of our vacation that we planned ahead of time. Drew made sure to book dinner reservations. It was well worth it. The view is incredible, the food is pretty good, and the local wine was awesome.
I didn’t want to leave the table during dinner, because I probably wouldn’t have found my way back. Only the outer portion of the restaurant revolves, while the inner circle remains stationary. I don’t know how the waiters do it. I’d be losing my tables constantly.
I had the seafood pasta dish, filled with shrimp, scallops, and mussels. One of the mussels was stubborn and didn’t want to come out. I thought I had flung the thing across the room and panicked for a second. I was relieved when I realized I had only sprayed some of the sauce onto our table. And Drew’s shirt. Oops.
After dinner, we wandered up to the observation tower to watch the scheduled fireworks. Sadly, the rain had caused them to be canceled. I felt for all the poor employees, as the 4th of July event I had recently helped plan had technical difficulties, causing the fireworks to be postponed. Angry people took out their frustration on us. I wanted to hug each and every employee, from the gift shop cashier to the elevator operator. “You guys are dong a great job!!!”
Even though we missed fireworks, the view was still awesome.
Thanks, Skylon, for a great night.
The next day, we explored some more of the surrounding town. We visited a local pawn shop that has been featured on the Canadian version of Pawn Stars. A little later we walked down by the falls again, this time to admire them without rain.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the falls. I ordered a wine sampler. It had four local wines, and came with a fun card with tasting notes.
I discovered I am not a fan of Boco Noir.
Back to the falls: I played around with shutter speed on my camera, trying to get some cool water shots. It was hard without a tripod, and with so many other people milling around.
We spent our last evening relaxing in our room, enjoying the scenery from our window. I got annoyed cause the curtain was blocking my view, so I got creative. (Those are my jeans, in case you can’t tell.)
I did not want to come home. The 70 degree weather was perfect, and the scenery was amazing. I love Canada. I can’t wait to go back.
