Next thing on Samara's birthday wish list knocked off....Niagara Falls!!!
Yes it is magnificent even in winter when it is not in all it's glory so it must be totally amazing in full flow in summer.
It was an early start, as we had an almost 20min walk from our hotel to where we we were picking up the bus to Niagara Falls. Bagels and hot coffee from a great little food truck outside of Grand Central Station while we waited for our ride. There were only a few of us, Samara and I, another Australian couple, an American couple from South Carolina, a South African couple who couldn't go into Canada because of visa problems, and three Italian couples. Our guide was multi-lingual and spent a lot of time chatting to the Italians as she had been in Italy for Christmas, I think she forgot about the rest of us half the time!!!
The New York skyline at sunrise was as impressive as it is a night
...ok...I'm a sucker for NY so I think it looks magnificent all the time :) (not sure that Samara would agree with me)
I enjoyed the drive through NY State, it's very different from our last road trip, in hot, dry Nevada as opposed to cold, snowy NY, but both were a great chance to see life outside the city, and both made me think again about a road trip throughout the US in the future!!
Loved seeing the snowy fields and huge red barns, and ice on the rivers and those wide expanses of space. You know the US is a very patriotic country when in the middle of nowhere you see a farmhouse with a US flag flying.
We stopped at the small town of Montour Falls which looked like a picture postcard of small American town life, flags flying on people's porches and the main street with a great little diner, but for us the main attraction was the frozen She-qua-ga Falls (whose name means Tumbling Waters...not much tumbling today :) )
About 8 hrs after leaving NY Niagara River came into view, and from there our first view of Niagara Falls Park, it's a winter wonderland, with
the snow on the ground, icicles in the trees and squirrels searching for food.
And then the falls come into view and they're just as magnificent as you imagine, and photos don't do it justice.
We left the South African couple on the American side of the Falls and headed across the border into Ontario, Canada and a view of the Falls from the Canadian side. Not sure which I prefer as both views are excellent.
We then headed up to our hotel, the Executive Inn Super 8, which was interesting with the bath in the bedroom, good thing Samara and I both like showers :)
A hot shower and a change of clothes later and we hit the town, actually we walked the 3kms back to the Falls to see it at night with the light show.
It's spectacular by both night and day, and Samara and I weren't the only tourists around enjoying the chilly night air and winter views.
I'm glad we're here in winter because there aren't many tourists, it must get so busy here in the summer, it's a very touristy town-with lots of things to do with the families so I imagine it's a crazy place to be in the summer.
We rode the ferris wheel and got a good look at Niagara from the air and think it would be great to do a helicopter flight around here.
The walk back to our hotel took a little longer as we detoured via Denny's for a midnight meal- meatloaf which tasted so good and a chocolate malt...
It wasn't until later when we were back at the hotel checking out photos and the internet that we thought about the tower and how we should have gone up to the observation deck...on a clear day or night you're supposed to be able to see Toronto and it was a clear night :) Damn...a wasted opportunity!!!.
