Day 8 of 30 Days of Mayhem: Niagara Falls

It is so amazing to be the same place for multiple days.  Not having to pack and unpack is such a luxury.  Waking up to the amazing view we have here in Niagara Falls just can not be beat.  

We had a slower day again today.  We didn't go down to breakfast until 9:00 or after.  Our big outing of the day was to do the boat tour of the falls.  Since we are on the Canadian side it is called the Hornblower.  It is operated by the same company as the American side Maid of the Mist and used to also be called Maid of the Mist.  At some point the name got changed on this side.  The only differences I could see were:  Ponchos in CA are red, US blue, which side of the river you leave from, cost - it is slightly cheaper from the CA side, crowd - there are more people on the Hornblower boats as there are more people staying on the Canadian side. 

The tour is not very long, 20 minutes or so, but it is definitely worth it.  We got a nice up close view of the American, Bridal Veil and Horseshoe Falls.  And the temperature, wind, and mist/precipitation changes were surprising and somewhat mind boggling.  From viewing the falls we knew it would be wet, but it does not prepare you for the experience.  Several times we remarked to each other about what would ever make anyone think getting in a barrel and going over the falls was a good idea?  Charlotte said she would do it for $1 million.  We told her it wouldn't be worth it if she didn't survive.  Having been to a bourbon distillery earlier this week Rehm decided if he was going to do it, which he thought it was a terrible idea, he would use a bourbon barrel.  I agreed that was a good idea as the fumes from the barrel might at least dull your senses or have you completely oblivious to your impending demise.

American Falls

Close up of outcropping on the American Falls.  You can see this spot in the picture above this one about 3/4 of the way to the right.

Bridal Veil Falls.  Why this fall has a different name from the American falls right next to it is beyond me.  I thought it was all the call the American falls until someone who would know pointed it out as the Bridal Veil Falls.  

Side view of Horseshoe Falls

Family in the mist.  Michael's face is covered by a water drop on the camera lens.  Sorry Honey, I did my best.

Heading back to port, the bridge crosses between the two countries

Close up of the base of the American Falls

Another Close up of the base of the American falls.  It seems rockier than the Horseshoe falls, but maybe you can just see the rocks more.  

After the Hornblower we were planning to take the bus back to the hotel for lunch.  We saw the stop for the place we were planning to come back later in the day to have a poutine snack and decided to change the plan and stop for poutine instead. The credit card machine was not working at the place we stopped.  Michael came to the table to let us know he was going to get cash and would be back, Charlotte asked why we didn't just go to KFC and get poutine as they had a sign out front saying they had it too.  We assured her that the place we were would have better poutine than the fast food place.  

Michael and Rehm consulting the bus route map

None of the kids had experienced poutine before.  They are now all fans.  Rehm has decided that his restaurant will serve poutine.  I am not sure at what point in his career path he plans to own a restaurant, I don't remember if it is pre or post president.  All of them were lamenting the fact that it was not available in Austin.  We informed them it was available in Austin at which point they wanted to know why we had not introduced them to this dish earlier.

We came back to the hotel.  I took a nap.  The kids and Michael worked out and swam.  Rehm helped cook dinner - Cincinnati chili and salad.  

We watched the fireworks from our window.  We discussed going down to the falls to watch the fireworks.  The hotel recommend watching from your room if you had a view and going down if you did not.  I'm glad we did not go down as the fireworks did not last that long.  They were beautiful and I'm glad we saw them, but I'm also glad we didn't have to spend all the time riding the bus down to the falls and back.  It would have made it take way longer than watching from our room.

Actually from the night before but taken after I posted.

Charlotte washed dinner dishes.  Everyone has started packing for tomorrow.  I have lunch made to eat on the road - pasta salad.  Tomorrow will mostly be a travel day with a brief stop probably in Springfield, MA.  Our destination tomorrow is Gales Ferry, CT where we will get to spend a couple of days with Michael's cousin Beth and her family.  I am so excited to see them as I have not gotten to spend time with them since we had a family reunion in 2009? I think.  

 

Video of the falls from Day 7.  I didn't post it yesterday due to technical issues.  But it is ready now.  Yay!

That's a wrap for Canada,
Jenn