Niagara Falls

Well, that was our last night in and around Toronto. There was one last stop to make before heading home, however.

We packed up and checked out of the hotel, and then drew up our plans to head out to Niagara Falls.

It wasn't very far away...about an hour and 20 minute drive. It was pleasant enough...the only thing we didn't have time to do was visit the wineries and see if we could find something we like.

Our map only took us so far, since was a pretty wide-view map, so we had to rely on signage for the rest of the way in. (Oh, come on. There's GOTTA be a lot of signs for Niagara Falls!)

We did pretty well...they lead you into town and as you come down the main street there's a gorgeous view of The Falls from the car. You can see the mist rising up from the area well before you see The Falls themselves. Even though this was the end of September, the place was still packed. We looked for parking, but had a terrible time finding any. Finally we found some sponsored by the Parks Department, but it was so very far away from The Falls that we had to take a shuttle back to the main attraction. The parking was also half the price of everything else that we'd found.

David was less than thrilled...for the last couple of weeks we've had him pretty hyped up to see Niagara Falls. (His talking globe helped on that point.) Then he started to think of how big it really is and how he'd really be going and now he felt scared of it and didn't want to go. Umm....too bad! Mom and Dad really want to see it, so....I think you're stuck, kiddo.

We got off the bus and walked to The Falls area...they have it pretty well sanitized, meaning that there are carefully paved paths with fairly high railings surrounding them, a good and safe distance from The Falls, and some well-groomed parks lining the other side. Niagara Falls wasn't as loud as I thought it would be...for a waterfall that dumps more than 1 million bathtubs full of water over the edge each minute, it sounded strangely quiet, looking at it from the top. (The path is probably 30-40 feet away from the falls, and six feet above.)

We do, of course, have pictures. (Scroll past the castle photos) It's a very pretty place...I also have a short movie of the Falls on the Movies page.

We'd looked at the website and found out that the Maid of the Mist tours were actually very reasonable...for about the price of one ticket to the top of the CN Tower, all four of us could taket he boat down to the foot of The Falls. Um....deal!

David REALLY didn't like this idea, but again, since we both wanted to do it, he was stuck. Lauren was totally ready for it. In fact, when I told her that some people had gone over the falls in a barrel, her eyes opened wide and she said, "COOL!" (Uh-oh.)

We had about a 15 minute walk to take, so we tried to pick our way through the crowds, and find empty pieces of fence here and there to see The Falls and take a picture. We finally made it to the boat area, got our tickets, and stood in a huge line. Still, it moved pretty quickly, and we were ushered into an elevator which went down to the level of the base pool, and we headed over to the dock area. On the way out the door of the "terminal" and towards the dock there was a girl standing there, passing out blue rain ponchos. Lauren got her own tiny poncho, whereas David was tall enough to wear an adult one. There were some huge tracks in the grass leading to the water and David said, "Why are there railroad tracks going into the water?"
"That's a ramp for the boats to be launched into the water at the beginning of the season, and taken out again when winter comes."
"Oh."
We watched a boat come in (one of "The Maids," as they call them) and soon it was our turn to board. Some of these boats can take 300 people at a time, so there was a quite a mass of people, and a bit of a mad rush to get the "good" places on the boat. There are no chairs....you simply stand along the edges (if you're lucky) for a view. We headed to the top of the boat and couldn't find a single open space, so we went back downstairs again. I spotted an elevated pipe near the side, and lifted Lauren up onto the pipe (standing) so she could actually see something, and stood behind her with both my arms around her. Doug found a spot next to me, and David stood and sulked.

The boat ride was about 30 minutes. It headed out into the water and they started telling stories about The Falls. The first person to go over the Falls was recorded to be a 43 year old schoolteacher named Annie Taylor , but who was really 63 years old. She expected to make big bucks touring and lecturing after the stunt, but her fame and fortune never materialized. There was also a 7 year-old boy named Roger who accidentally went over the falls in a bathing suit and a life jacket in the 1960s and was virtually unhurt...it was one of the Maids of the Mist who found him and took him on board. They were calling it the "Miracle at Niagara."

We saw some other people going on a tour BEHIND The Falls on the American side...a lot of the rocks at the base of the Falls was from some rock slides in the 30s and 50s.

Lots of seagulls were bobbing around in the water, and we saw one heron out there as well.

The Falls are 180 feet high, but the water underneath is even deeper. As we got closer to the Falls on the boat, the mist got heavier and heavier...my glasses were coated with water droplets and I had to look over the tops of them in order to see anything at all. Lauren turned her head and looked at me in surprise and then smiled. The announcer on the boat gave a few more narrations about the Falls and then, when it got loud enough that you would start having trouble hearing him, he says, "Ladies and Gentlemen....THIS....is Niagara Falls!" and they swing the boat around so that it's headed straight into the horseshoe, so all the passengers are facing the Falls. We were all getting completely soaked by the spray, and you could see a rainbow from end to end, and the sound of the water filled your ears whil the droplets fell off every surface of the boat and dripped into your eyes from your hair. I gripped Lauren's slippy poncho and leaned over close to her ear. "So when you hear Niagara Falls, think of this."

David didn't care much for it, but the rest of us had a great time! Someone on the boat asked Lauren how old she was and she said, "Three and three-quarters!" The woman blinked and said, "Well, I've never heard THAT answer!"

It was starting to get late by the time we got back...my feet were hurting quite a bit since I'd worn sandals. (It's not as stupid as you might think. I wore them because I figured I'd get wet. I didn't want my tennis shoes to get wet because it would be days before they dried out again and I wanted them for later, so I thought sandals were the best route. It was still a mistake.)

We needed to make it back to the shuttle bus by 6 p.m., or we'd end up walking back. What with having the kids in tow, I didn't think we'd make it. "Tell you what," said Doug. "You guys browse the gift shop, do whatever, and I'll go back and catch the shuttle myself. I'll be much quicker on my own, and then I'll pull the van up to where the bus parked and pick you guys up." That sounded like one of the best ideas I'd heard in a long time, so Doug stuffed the last remaining Canadian dollars into my hand and zipped away.

We did look around the gift shop, but nothing particularly stuck me. We headed back to meet dad, took a few photos and videos along the way, and ended up getting soaked by the mist again. I had to dry off my glasses before I could spot Doug.

We all piled into the van and then drove BACK to the parking area because it was in the middle of a park. It was dinnertime, so we broke out the cooler and made sandwiches. We ate dinner at a picnic table, and the kids were thrilled when more seagulls showed up. Naturally, they just HAD to feed the seagulls. (Video)

Eventually it DID get dark and it was time to go. They were doing some construction and the traffic was horrendous. They cut off all kinds of exits and there didn't seem to be any signage, and we ended up driving all the way to Toronto (!) before we could get to the highway combination we were after.

Another 14 hours in the car put us back in town...Doug was feeling very, very late, so he drove directly to work and I took the kids home from there. Of course it meant that I had to come and get him later that evening, but hey.

It was too late for me to get to class, so I ended up skipping it. (They automatically fail you after three absences, but as I pointed out to the prof, he's not going to get rid of me that easily, and besides...it's not like I'm there for the grade.

I got the car completely unpacked (this is a major feat, I get 1,000 bonus points, IMO) and filled up two boxes of stuff for the kids to put away, and then went back to pick up Doug.

I had just enough time to get him home and then had to head off for my LLL meeting, which I wasn't going to have anyway, but I got a call from a rather desperate mom whom I agreed to meet, and another one showed up anyway.

Unfortunately, we were locked out of the office we were supposed to meet at, and all of us ended up sitting on the sidewalk instead. (I offered to move it wherever they liked, but there were no suggestions. I'm not exactly mad at the office, but I AM determined to move the meeting now. I need more control than this.)