Niagara Falls
Kim's mother has been visiting us this week, and one highlight of her trip was a quick jaunt over to Niagara Falls. She's wanted to visit Canada for years, and Kim and I were glad for the excuse to cross the border again, too. I hadn't been to Niagara for thirteen years and the others hadn't been there at all, so we all enjoyed it a lot.
I'll put a few more pictures behind a cut.
One of our first views of the falls came when Kim dropped me and her mother off before parking the car. Canada has really done a nice job of landscaping around the falls, including this nice aisle of tulips leading straight down toward the American falls in the distance.
The American falls are quite dramatic, with sheets of water crashing down onto piles of huge boulders. If you squint at the right side of the picture below, you may be able to see the boardwalks where the adventurous can get right up in the spray of the falls. (When we got closer, we even saw that some water from Bridal Veil Falls at the right washes right over the topmost walkway.) I might have tried that out, but we didn't visit the American side.
What Kim and I did do was get up close to the falls on the Maid of the Mists, a boat that carries you quite close to the base of the falls (as seen below). I didn't take many pictures on the boat, since the best shots all came when we were getting soaked (I decided it would be wise to keep my camera under my disposable souvenir raincoat). As in the first picture above, this is Horseshoe Falls, and it really is an awesome sight.
One of the most striking views, though, is looking down from the top of the falls. The translucent water on the verge is beautiful, and the power of the rushing water as it rushes over the edge is remarkable. And loud.
One of the less beautiful things about Niagara is its carnival atmosphere. Our hotel was separated from the falls by about three blocks of cheesy attractions like wax museums, "4D" movie theaters (the seats move), and haunted houses. I've copied the picture below from Google Street View to point out Google's attempt to protect web users from Dracula's hypnotic gaze. (Gotta love face recognition software.)
I'll put a few more pictures behind a cut.
One of our first views of the falls came when Kim dropped me and her mother off before parking the car. Canada has really done a nice job of landscaping around the falls, including this nice aisle of tulips leading straight down toward the American falls in the distance.
The American falls are quite dramatic, with sheets of water crashing down onto piles of huge boulders. If you squint at the right side of the picture below, you may be able to see the boardwalks where the adventurous can get right up in the spray of the falls. (When we got closer, we even saw that some water from Bridal Veil Falls at the right washes right over the topmost walkway.) I might have tried that out, but we didn't visit the American side.
What Kim and I did do was get up close to the falls on the Maid of the Mists, a boat that carries you quite close to the base of the falls (as seen below). I didn't take many pictures on the boat, since the best shots all came when we were getting soaked (I decided it would be wise to keep my camera under my disposable souvenir raincoat). As in the first picture above, this is Horseshoe Falls, and it really is an awesome sight.
One of the most striking views, though, is looking down from the top of the falls. The translucent water on the verge is beautiful, and the power of the rushing water as it rushes over the edge is remarkable. And loud.
One of the less beautiful things about Niagara is its carnival atmosphere. Our hotel was separated from the falls by about three blocks of cheesy attractions like wax museums, "4D" movie theaters (the seats move), and haunted houses. I've copied the picture below from Google Street View to point out Google's attempt to protect web users from Dracula's hypnotic gaze. (Gotta love face recognition software.)