The Falls! (or visiting a distant cousin)

Growing up with the last name of "Falls", the jokes went 2 ways: jokes of tripping and falling down, or jokes of being related to every waterfall that has been named by man. So, it was surreal to me to see my former last name plastered all over the place! I did kinda feel like I was visiting a relative! :)

Anyway, after a lovely breakfast at the inn, we head out for the falls. Warning: nobody ever tells you that you will get soaking wet when you go to Niagara! So this is YOUR fair warning! I guess at the height of summer, it would be refreshing...but not in 40-degree weather! Scott and I did go prepared with water-resistant coats, but no hats or umbrella.

We arrived and walked along the river until we got to the part where all the spray was raining back down.

We ran thru that part, then we were able to enjoy looking at the falls. The water really is powerful! I cant imagine what it must've been like for the first European settlers to stumble upon the falls for the first time! They probably HEARD the falls long before they reached them! They estimate that the "original" falls were downriver, closer to where the Rainbow Bridge is, back when Europeans first came! I guess that much water would errode the rock!

The mist and spray from the falls goes up hundreds of feet into the air! We were able to see it from the airplane when landing in Buffalo! (we didn't realize what it was at first...thought it was just fog or something) All that spray creates permanent rainbows....well, I guess as long as the sun is out!

We wanted to do the Maid of the Mist, the boat ride that takes you really close to the falls, but it was closed for the season.

There is also a pretty park that is along the river, so we walked around that and decided finally to find the Starbucks. After warming up with coffee, we walked up to the casino to shop a little and eat lunch. From the casino, there is an incline railway that we rode don the mountain, so we avoided having to get wet a second time! We left the falls area and drove the Niagara River Parkway to Niagar-on-the-Lake. The Parway was a gorgeous drive! It winds right along the river, thru vinyards and small communities, and you end up right on the banks of Lake Ontario at the mounth of the Niagara River.