Niagara Falls, NY - August 3

Niagara Falls, NY - August 3


Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in the U.S. Established in 1885 as the Niagara Reservation.


We are staying in Buffalo about 25 minutes from the Falls. Actually, we are in Cheektowaga but let’s not split hairs. 


We prepared ourselves to be a bit “underwhelmed” with the Falls since we have been to Iguazu Falls and it was pretty amazing. We can’t compare it to Victoria Falls as we haven’t been there “yet”. There wasn’t a ton of useful information on the particulars of the park like there was for Iguazu. The trolley stops didn’t say where they were going. A bunch of us were standing in a trolley line only to find out that to get to Goat Island we needed to be on the other side of the street. A simple sign could have clued people in. The trolleys were slow and crowded and we only used them twice as it was easier just to walk.


We arrived about an hour after the Visitor’s Center opened and still got parking in the close parking lot (only $10 per day instead of $30 in the parking garages further away). We bought our USA Discovery Pass which included admission tickets to Niagara Adventure Theater, Aquarium of Niagara, Cave of the Winds Trip, Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, and Maid of the Mist. It also included unlimited rides on the trolley between areas. We didn’t have any interest in the Aquarium or the Discovery Center, but it was still a good deal. 

 The bridge over the Niagara River

The black squirrel occurs as a melanistic subgroup of both the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel.

It’s a good thing we have our India Visas as I think we were in India and not Niagara Falls today. Seriously, about 85% of the patrons were Indian. 10% East Asian and the other 5% was everyone else. We learned it was Turban Day at Niagara Falls in celebration of Sikh culture. The Western New York Sikh community has the annual event to educate people about the Sikh faith and the significance of the turban.


First, we walked along the Prospect Point area which has great views of the U.S. Falls. It was a cloudless and very sunny day, which provided some beautiful rainbows in the mist. Sometimes we could see double rainbows. Unfortunately, the park was crowded and the patrons quite pushy. 

 

 feint, but double rainbow

 Hornblower (the Canadian Mist Boat)

 Maid of the Mist (the US Mist Boat)

 Rainbow Bridge

observation tower & platform

 me on the rail

 

The young woman that sold us our passes said we had a 2:00 time for the Maid of the Mist boat tour. In the morning after walking along the falls we wanted to go up to the observation tower which was also the entry for the Maid of the Mist and the guy told us there weren’t times for the boat you could just line up when we were ready. So, since we were in the area, we did the observation tower and then lined up for the tour. We brought water shoes and changed into them. They provide a large poncho that kept us dry.



We were lucky in that the boat ahead of us just filled and we were among the first dozen waiting for the next boat. I thought being up front would have had the best views, but someone else thought the back would be better since “they turn the boat”. While they do turn the boat, it’s just for returning and they are on the other side away from the mist. No biggie since the spray made it impossible to get photos after the lens gets wet. It was fun anyway and we got plenty wet.

 Greg's ready to take on "The Mist"

 Rainbow Bridge

 Cormorant 

 Horseshoe Falls (Canadian Side)

 the mist has covered the water cameras lens

We watched the 40 minute movie on Niagara Falls at the Niagara Adventure Theater, which was very good and quite interesting.


Finished with that section of the Park, we walked to Goat Island. (after waiting at the wrong trolley stop and there were enough people that we would have had to wait for at least 2 or 3 more trolleys to come. It was a nice walk.

 walk to Goat Island

me making fun of the lady who posed here before me

It was lunch time and instead of driving into town or walking we ate at the café on Goat Island. We had dried up burgers & fries. 

We checked out Luna Island and Tarrapin Point before going to see where we needed to go for the Cave of the Winds. It was about 1:30 and they were telling the people in front of us that it was sold out until 7:30 that night. We gave her our Discovery cards and she said you already have 2:00 times. So, the person telling us it was our Maid of the Mist times got it all wrong. Good thing we did the Mist tour early in the day and didn’t show up there at 2:00 when we should have been at Cave of the Winds. 


Anyway, it all worked out. I enjoyed the Cave of the Winds more than the Mist Boat. We had our own water shoes, but another thing the website didn’t mention was that they also provide souvenir water shoes for you to keep. It isn’t guided, so you can walk the area at your pace. It was the best views of the falls and you do get soaked. At the top you are wading in the water. Great fun!

 tunnel to Cave of the Winds

 me

 Greg

 Greg up on the left

 me

 me

After that we thought we deserved some ice cream, so we got in the slowest line of the 3 and got the girl with “attitude”. The line next to us served a group of 7 when ours had only made one of ours. It was worth the wait and we tried the Niagara Delight flavor: vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered peanuts and praline peanuts. I also tried Panda Paws which is chocolate ice cream with peanut butter panda paw cups and swirls of thick, rich fudge. 


We wandered around the area taking in the falls and then walked to Top of the Falls restaurant for dinner. We had a great view of the Falls and the food was good. We ordered 2 items to split. One was a Power Salad and the other was a sandwich called Beef on Weck. A Beef on Weck is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York State, particularly in the city of Buffalo. It is made with roast beef on a kummelweck roll, a roll that is topped with kosher salt and caraway seeds. It was a bit like a French Dip only much better. 

 Top of the Falls Restaurant

 Power Salad

 Beef on Weck

 view of the Falls at dinner

After dinner we walked to the trolley stop to the Three Sisters Islands. We walked across the 3 bridges to take in the views. The sun was going down, but still a long way from sunset. 

After that we walked back to Prospect Point where the fireworks would be around 10:00. 

 hot dogs

 Cormorants

 Canada Goose on the Falls

We stopped for ice cream before the illumination started.

 sunset

We thought the best place to watch the illumination of the Falls & the fireworks would be from the Observation Tower, so we went back there.


The illumination was very pretty. They started alternating Red, White & Blue, then just Red & White (for Canada) and then it became a rainbow of colors. Reds, Blues, Pinks, Oranges, Violets, Whites and then they had multiple colors on the Falls at the same time. In the background you could see Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian side) and it would be a different color. The Canadian side does something similar on their Horseshoe Falls.

The fireworks were pretty as well, and they were set off over the American Falls from the Canada side.

It was a madhouse getting out of the park. Everything at the park closes at 10:00 which means no bathrooms open. So, on the way home we stopped at the Western New York Welcome Center and despite no one being there, the lights were on, the doors open and more importantly, the bathroom was open. 

We got home around 11:15 or so.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/YZ6foU1AbCKHBdzo9


Tomorrow we are going to visit the Canadian side of the Falls.