On the Road, Again!

...We will be checking out shortly. Yesterday was so super busy and fun! We started off the morning with a tour of the falls on The Maid of the Mist. We left from the New York side. We got on the top deck wearing our souvenir blue parkas. The temperature was 79 degrees farenheit and the man at the park said this was the coolest it had been in about three days of hot and humid weather. The American falls were lovely and the Horseshoe Falls were spectacular. The water was coming down mind-bogglingly fast and was a gemstone green. The power generated by the water movement was amazing!



After The Maid of the Mist we went to take some more photos and get t-shirts for the kids when the storm we had noticed moving in from Canada came in full force. The rain came down hard, so we took refuge in the gift shop. Rachel, Eve, and Noah got Maid of the Mist t-shirts. Aaron decided to wait for shops in Canada.


When the rain let up we went on a different tour called Cave of the Winds.


We got yellow souvenir parkas and disposable shoes. The kids were turned off by the initial smell of the guano created by the hundreds of gulls, but as we walked Rachel noticed these beautifully colored snails on the side of the path. We stopped did some snail rescues and took a few photos. We found out the decking for the tour is rebuilt every year due to the weather conditions. In one place some one had put nails in the shape of a smiley face. The kids favorite spot was Hurricane Deck where you get deluged with a torrents of cold water. I the kids went in repeatedly for photo ops! When we finished the tour we donated our shoes back to the tour, which has signs saying they will use them for foreign missions. Eve was the only one to keep hers.

Then, to the hotel for dry clothes and back out for a trip to...CANADA! We drove into Canada for a three dollar car toll. We parked near the walk in front of the falls. We were all struck by how gorgeous the falls were on the Canadian side and how manicured and lovely the landscape is kept. We took a walk up incline drive and went for lunch at Applebees. Then, a walk through the Galleria where they have a really neat fountain inspired by Nikola Tesla. On the way back down the incline drive we stopped at a little shop underneath the Cascade Inn. Aaron chose a cute shirt with a moose that has Niagara Falls Canada on it and a baseball cap that says Canada. Michael chose a grey shirt with a smiling maple leaf. I chose some chocolate...surprising...NO! Rachel got a really cute fuzzy topped pen with a red maple leaf. Eve looked at me and said she had to go to the bathroom again, so we asked the shop owner where to go. She said go up to the inn and go in..."Say...Hi, Tom!", then go through two doors and it would be on the left". Everything was exactly as she said and Tom was very nice. When we got back down to the store I told her thank you and that Tom was very friendly. She informed me that Tom was her husband and that she had trained him well. I replied that she had indeed!

We took a walk along the Canadian side of the falls and were continuously amazed at the beauty. We left after about 4 hours. The kids and Michael changed clothes and went swimming again. I went to the fitness room and biked for 50 minutes. When we were all done with that the kids took baths and we quickly got ready to drive back to Niagara Falls Park for the fireworks display at 10:00pm. Noah was surprisingly lucid, but wavered at the 9:58pm mark. The fireworks lasted about ten minutes and were very pretty. Eve passed out in Michael's arms on the walk to the car. After a snack from the vending machine teeth were brushed, prayers were said, and we crashed.

We will be driving through Ohio and West Virginia on our way home so the kids can see some other stuff on the way. SO I suppose I will be updating from home next!

Smiles!