Upstate New York. Never base your travel times on mileage, here. Lots of small towns in green, green trees, gorgeous views, valleys, rivers, mountains. Speed limit on state highways gets up to 55 or 65, then–lurch–35 or 25 through a town. Speed back up on outside edge of town. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Got to Niagara Falls from Vermont several hours later than expected. It didn’t help that it took us a long time to get off the Champlain Islands (pretty much all 35 mph), and Rowan and I were trying to get postcards out.
So, finally got to NF, as stated. Too late to really do anything. All of us were tired, but we walked around a bit, out onto the obversation tower, and squished our pennies to have a likeness of Tesla, outside the visitor’s center.
We decided to stay the night. Found a room and food. If you like cocktail sauce with your quesadilla, and nothing you want to order available, the food to take nearly an hour to reach you, and the bill to be wrong, twice, eat at the Denny’s in the Days’ Inn. However, the servers were friendly and warm, and the room was comfortable. There was a photo of the Maid of the Mist at the Falls, which attracted Rowan’s attention. All the way to Vermont and back, Rowan insisted she wasn’t going to ride on the Maid, and I insisted she was! She was scared; apparently, she thought the Maid was a small boat, not a larger one.
Food notwithstanding: Day dawned. We showered and moved out. Straight to Falls. Bought Discovery Passes. More than worth it–it includes everything, pretty much. Adventure Theater, Observation Tower, Discovery Center, Aquarium. And the most important ones: Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds! We watched the Adventure Theater film “Niagara, Legends of Adventure”, first. It was fun and interesting. Off to the Maid of the Mist, laughing and excited. We put on our blue rain ponchos and boarded the Maid IV. Chugged happily to Horseshoe Falls and floated there below the falls, tossed about by the waves, with the splashing, churning falls soaking us! Delightful! Wonderful! Fun! Exciting!
“Can we do it, again?” crowed Rowan!
Off to the Cave of the Winds. We walked, cuz the trolley was taking a while. It is over on the island in the Niagara River. Put our belongings into a plastic bag. Put on the nifty water shoes they provided, and the yellow rain poncho. No worries, I’m already wet! (Suggestion: wear a swim suit or quick drying clothes if you are staying anywhere in the area, or can change clothes somewhere.)
Off to the “Cave”. You might have seen this in some old films: a series of platforms, near the falls (Bridal, I believe). Climb the platforms, watching bits of the falls tumble below and by you.
Keep climbing. More platforms. Wetter and closer to the falls.
Hurricane Deck! Reach out and touch the falls. Wait a moment, and the falls shift a little, pouring over you like a waterfall! Surprising, that!
Okay, like a shower (not as exciting). Nah, like a waterfall! Powerful–my heart was pounding, my breath was fast, and my laughter was deep and full-throated! It touched me to the core, filling me with its dangerous excitement.
Rowan didn’t want to go in the torrential corner of the Hurricane Deck, but a rain dog (full-circle rainbow) surrounded us. I convinced her the rain dog wanted her to do it, that it was sent by the Maid of the Mist to encourage and protect her. She held my hand and moved into the corner with trepidation, then laughed as the river tossed its waters over her. She loved it!
Jay’s turn: I’m not sure she wanted to go into the corner on the Hurricane Deck. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t resist its pull. She walked over into the corner, facing the falls. She turned, and the look on her face was priceless. Her face was suffused with pure joy! It was wonderful! I wish I could have gotten a photo of it, for posterity.
Somewhere in there, we had ice cream for breakfast. Doesn’t matter what time, it WAS our first food of the day. We took the trolley back over, tired but fulfilled. Fun and excitement over, we really had to leave. We were (surprise–anyone who knows Rowan and me isn’t–) running quite late. We had to push through to home, so poor Jay could get back to work.
After a bit, we were all tired and grumpy and the tempers came out a bit. More snarkiness than anything. Sorry, Jay.
Got into Downers around 4 a.m., to find they’d had another storm come through on Monday (tornado tore through two weeks before) and there wasn’t power in parts of town. First clue: no stop lights, stop signs on ground, and entire patches of dark.
So, home, grab stuff out of car, stumble in to bed. Poor Jay went home and went to work.
Thank you, Jaya, for everything. The trip was a lot of fun, no matter the ending. You are a true, true friend!
Well, that’s all on Niagara for now. There will be pics up, soon.
Oh, and Rowan and I started out again. At the moment, we are in Medora, ND, just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park!
Posting, soon,
Patti