Niagara Falls

One of the great things about vacationing in the Finger Lakes is that it is so close to Niagara Falls, so we spent Thursday making a trip up there. This was a well planned event - we made sure to get the kids passports so we could venture into Canada to see the falls from there (supposedly a better view). Unfortunately, Uncle Chris forgot his passport (despite my nagging e mails) so he had to stay home. The rest of us loaded up into the van and drove on up to Canada!  This is when we first got there!

I was about Ben's age the last time I was at Niagara Falls and I remember being so impressed.  I can say that as an adult, it is still quite impressive.  I think the kids were also very impressed by the falls!

 

First up, we had to go on the famous Maid of the Mist boat trip, which takes you into the heart of the Falls!  So we got our ponchos and were ready to get soaked!

Family photo!

Everyone was a little nervous before getting on the boat...

 

We loaded onto the boat and made sure to get a primo spot right in front...

Juliette hunkered down into Patch's shoulder when the spray hit.

Here we are getting close...

 

Ben's ready to get wet!

The spray is starting to hit us here.  I don't think any of us quite expected to get as much water dumped on us as we did.  Whose idea was it to stand right at the front of the boat?  It suddenly seemed like a poor choice!  We all got soaked, despite the ponchos that were supposed to protect us!  It was quite an experience.  The boat pretty much stayed directly in the spray for a good 5 minutes.  I think we got the point after about 30 seconds and could have been happy turning around then!  Look at Juju's face in this picture!  This was as she was turning into Patch's shoulder, which is where she stayed for the entire rest of the boat trip!

Whew!  We made it!  Unfortunately, our camera did not.  As I said, we were not quite expecting there to be that much water.  Even with the camera well wrapped in a poncho, it sadly did not work after our voyage on the Maid of the Mist :(  So the rest of the pictures from our vacation are taken either from my phone or Patch's camera.  Let this be a lesson to anyone going on the Maid of the Mist - leave the camera on shore!  Here is a cute family picture though!

Then we went behind the Falls, which was pretty neat.  It is hard to tell from this picture, but that is a tunnel and the water from the Falls is rushing down on the other side of that gate we are standing in front of.

Then we went down to a platform that was right next to the Falls.  The pictures aren't great, but that is because there was just so much mist from the Falls!

 

 

This was after the boat trip when everyone was soaked!

 

It was a great trip.  I would have liked to had time to also visit the American side, but it was getting late and we needed to drive back.  Although I can't compare the two sides, I will say the Canada side is very nice!