Niagara Falls

When we got there, a very friendly Niagara Falls guide offered to take our picture. While friendly, she was not exactly speedy and we stood like this for a long time while she focused and worked to "pose" us. Not a great effort, but a picture of me and my kids just the same.

Justin enjoyed the view and worked on getting some good shots on his camera.

They ran up and down the stairs playing in the "rain" for a long time!

Annalise admitting that she is too scared to go on the ferry.

And here she is, brave face on, and getting ready for the Cave of the Winds tour.

Enjoying the Tour

Bridal Veil Falls - This is the deck that Justin stood on so that he could be in the waterfall.

We woke up in Buffalo on Saturday ready to see Niagara Falls. We all felt charged up after a good night's sleep and we happily filled up on a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel. Like I said, it was a new day and we were ready for adventure. (Small Note: Jasmine was not as happy as we were and she let us know how mad she was when we went to breakfast - we returned to our newly improved room to find the foul smelling "presents" she deposited on the floor in protest to all of the changes going on in her life). Onward and Upward!

We drove to Niagara Falls but we were denied entrance to the parking lot due to the trailer. I did a tight little U-Turn and headed over to the "other parking lot" on Goat Island. As luck would have it, that was the perfect place to park! The kids hopped out and took about 20 steps before they could see the falls. We enjoyed the view together for a few minutes, the kids ran through the "rain" blowing off the falls, and they spent time looking through the binoculars before Justin decided that he really wanted to go on the ferry that went under the falls.

While the Falls were beautiful to enjoy from a safe distance, Annalise was not the least bit interested in experiencing them first hand. After trying unsuccessfully to bully his sister into riding the ferry (Example: "Annalise, we're going on it and that's final!"), he tried a slightly more diplomatic approach. He asked her why she didn't want to go on the fairy and she admitted that she was scared. He told her that if she could handle the shuttle launch simulator then she could handle anything! They eventually found a compromise and they both agreed on going through the Cave of the Winds.

The Cave of the Winds was spectacular! We were issued yellow rain gear and green river shoes before we were taken down to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls in an elevator. Once we were out there, the water washed over our feet and the rain from the falls fell on us. The ultimate experience was to go under the falls in the "Hurricane" section of the platform and Justin did this twice. He loved it! I wish I had a picture of him in there but there was entirely too much water for my camera to be anywhere other than tightly secured in the plastic bag.

Our departure from Niagara Falls was quite an adventure as well. John had called to say Hello and I was having trouble finding time to call him back because there was always either chaos to deal with in the car, a lack of cell phone coverage, or some combination of the two. I was talking to him when I looked up and realized that I was about to go over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada. That was certainly the bridge I wanted to take, but it was a Toll Bridge and I realized too late that had given my last few dollars to the parking attendant! I hung up the phone and got ready to give the guy in the toll booth my sob story and I was sure he'd let me mail in my payment in a little IOU envelope. No such luck there!

I gave it my all on the "Can I pay my toll through the mail?" pitch but he was having none of it. At least he was amused rather than annoyed when he said, "Do you have a credit card?" I breathed a big sigh of relief and said, "Of course!" thinking that this was all going to be OK and that it would be nice if they'd post the little VISA/MASTERCARD logo on the window so that I wouldn't have to panic over the cash situation. Nope. He smile an evil smile and told me, "OK, just run into the store over there where they have an ATM and get some cash. Oh dear lord! He was serious!

I had no other choice! Right there in the toll lane, I had to park the car, run across several lanes of traffic to the Duty Free, ask for the ATM, head clear over to the opposite corner of the store, wait for the dinosaur of a machine to spit out my money, endure the honking and screaming as the cars behind my car all jockeyed into different lanes, and climb back in to pay my $6. Not one of my finer moments. On the bright side, I remembered to get the receipt!

The rest of the ride was generally uneventful and we eventually made it through Canada, back into the United States, and on to Grandpa's house for some dinner at Good Time Pizza.