Rediscovering Niagara Falls

I hadn't been to Niagara Falls since I was about four years old, which is essentially a very, very, very, very long time ago. :) Just kidding, but I'd only been to been to this part of Wesern New York once before, and I had no recollection of what Niagara Falls looked like. I was grateful and excited that The Profs, our friends and hosts, had decided to take us there as part of our weekend in Buffalo.

The Profs, Husband J and I made our way from where we parked towards the falls, and the water on the Niagara River changed from virtually calm to this:

It was surprising to see the change, but it only got even more busy and downright dangerous.

If you've ever gone white water rafting then imagine Level 6 hard core rapids. Crazy. Mind you, we haven't gotten to the falls yet....

We finally made it to the fall themselves, and there are some things that you should know. First this is the U.S. side pictured below.

Lots of mist!

There are two sides for viewing the falls. One is actually across the border in Canada. Since I decided not to bring our passports (more on this in another post), we kept ourselves in the U.S. The two sides are very different though. The U.S. side is actually a national park. Based on my observations and from what The Profs mentioned, the Canadian side is much more developed with lots of hotels, restaurants and entertainment. The U.S. side allows you to get a little more up close and personal to the falls so that you can see how the water flows downward. The Canadian side seems to offer a better overall view, especially of the Horse Shoe Falls.

The Canadian side of the Falls as viewed from the U.S. side

This is what I mean about seeing the water descend. Cool, ain't it?

What's all of that white, hazy stuff in the background? Well, that's mist. The impact from the water falling so hard results in rather thick mist that floats upwards. Sometimes it felt like it was raining. Really...

There's more to do at the falls than just stand there and gawk. :) You can take a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist to try to get as up close and personal with the falls as possible. Husband J and I thought about it, but we weren't really in the mood (signs of becoming old fogeys perhaps?). I think we'll try next time especially if it's warm. It was relatively cool that day.

I'm smiling because I'm not wet with water from the falls. :)

There's an opportunity to walk behind the falls and explore the Cave of the Winds. Yeah, we declined that one, too.

The people dressed in yellow are standing in line to descend into the falls. Those are The Profs on the right walking ahead of us.

Check out the Maid of the Mist! Apparently those people get so drenched that they give them head to toe rain ponchos for the quick tour.

Maid of the Mist post-drenching

I was really glad to go back to Niagara Falls and to reacquaint myself with this gorgeous site that's right in my home state.

By the way, all of those hotels remind me that this area was a hot honeymoon spot for years. Married folks, would you have honeymooned here? :)