Life's a Trip: Niagara Falls, New York

While we were staying up in Pennsylvania, Dan surprised us on his days off with a side trip up to Niagara Falls (and beyond...). The kids and I had never been, so we were all super excited :)!

As we got closer to our destination, we began to see what would anywhere else probably be smoke rising in the air. Not at Niagara, though! It was mist from the massive waterfalls...

It was only about a four hour drive, so we still had plenty of time to sight-see the same day we drove up. We found a place to park the car and set off to buy some tickets to get up close and personal with the falls.

America's oldest State Park!

We ended up springing for a package of tickets called the Niagara Falls USA Discovery Pass. By getting this package, we were able to do all the attractions on the American side for about a third less $. Since it was supposed to be quite a bit colder the next day, we decided to do all of the "get wet" activities that first day (it was still pretty chilly, we were there the very last weekend of the season before they closed some of the stuff for the winter). Tickets in hand, we took a scenic walk along the river, across a bridge, and over to...

...the Cave of the Winds! EEK! Ya'll, this was my least favorite thing we did at Niagara. I did not like it. It is basically a wooden boardwalk that is smooshed right up next to Bridal Veil Falls. Practically right up in it! I read online that the whole thing is taken down each winter and rebuilt each spring...so I couldn't help but wonder how well fastened this walkway was?? *sigh* Anyway, my man went, my kids went, so...I went, too.

From the amount of zig zag line control whatnot, I gather that this place is PACKED in the summer. Not so when we went. No line at all, we just walked right in, handed over our tickets at the first window, and walked back to the shoe area. The lady handing out the water sandals asked me everybody's sizes...I don't know :)! She laughed and handed us each a pair in the size she thought we'd need and they ALL fit perfectly! I SO need to take that lady with us the next time we go to buy shoes for the kids, hehehe...

Down an elevator, through a tunnel, and we were at the edge of the water. This is where we were given our lovely yellow ponchos. We were glad for this poncho in just a few minutes. Very glad.

A short path leads to the beginning of the boardwalk. It starts out ok, remotely dry and going down towards the water (away from the falls).

Then it turns and you see exactly where you are headed. Oh poop...

that's not sky...that's a WALL of water

At this point I was still following along. Last in line, but following.

they loved it!

Then it started to get really wet. Along with that water there was quite a bit of green slippery stuff. Not the best combo when you are heading straight towards a gigantic waterfall! I still followed along...

...until the last set of stairs, that is! The final climb that went the closest to the falls led up to the Hurricane Deck. I don't mind a good storm, even a hurricane (being from Florida I've seen my share), but NOT when said hurricane is in the edge of a waterfall. Nope. I decided to stay one level down and take a picture of the ones that wanted to go all the way up. When my husband saw my face, he commented on how white it had gone and agreed that this was probably a good idea ;)!

I was happy that they got to go all the way up and even happier when they came back down so that we could put a little distance between us and that wet, slippery boardwalk!

We ditched the ponchos in the recycling bin, caught the elevator back up to the top, and got in line for the trolley. I was glad trolley tickets were included in our Discovery Pack because my knees were still feeling a bit wobbly, hehe...